While growing your own plants in a backyard greenhouse is a great way to save money on grocery shopping, it can still be quite costly if the setup is inefficient. Fortunately, there are many ways in which you can improve your chances of growing an outstanding crop without having to spend a fortune in the process. In this guide, we will look at a few ways in which you can streamline your greenhouse when it comes to the costs involved.
Greenhouse Winter Heating & Blocking Up Leaks
If you’re thinking about growing crops during the wintertime, you may need to heat up the interiors of your greenhouse. To reduce the strain your heaters experience, simply follow these easy tips and techniques in the future:
- Look for gaps where hot air can easily escape out.
- Install a thermal screen to prevent heat loss at night.
- Ensure the louvers on your fan aren’t bent out of shape.
- Install insulating board around the greenhouse’s perimeter.
- Paint the north wall white to prevent further heat loss.
With all of these measures in place, you’ll find that your greenhouse actually retains higher temperatures for a lot longer. This means that you won’t have to rely on the heaters you’ve installed and can thus reduce your electricity bills.
Power Consumption & Tech Upgrades
Of course, there are plenty of other ways in which you can stop consuming so much electricity in the greenhouse. Here are some of the most common techniques that you can use:
- Opt for a ventilation system that has a high “ventilation efficiency ratio”.
- Upgrade your lighting to something that is more environmentally friendly.
- Add reflectors to your lights to reduce the number of bulbs required
- If your greenhouse has a motor, make sure that it’s not too large.
- Clean your fans as excess dust adds weight and consumes more power.
- Keep an eye on your control systems so you can spot issues as they arise.
By staying on top of all the above matters, you can drastically reduce your electrical consumption without sacrificing your yield.
Fertiliser & Composting By Yourself
Regardless of the size of your greenhouse, the fertiliser that you use will ultimately add up to be quite costly. This is especially true if you’re growing crops throughout the year whether you own a couple of grow tents or a fully-fledged glasshouse. Of course, there’s an easy way around this particular predicament; simply make the compost on your own. Whenever you are preparing meals, keep all of the vegetable scraps and place them in the compost bin outside. You can even add items such as egg shells and coffee grounds that you would otherwise throw out. In this way, you can stop spending money on fertiliser and opt for an alternative that’s free. You’ll also help the environment since you’re recycling your home garbage as well.
Pesticides & Living with Nature
Lastly, you may be spending needless amounts of cash on pesticide to help eliminate those pesky creepy-crawlies. The problem here is that some of these “pests” can actually help the survival of your greenhouse plants. Instead of killing every insect that you see, take some time to find out which ones are useful. You might end up boosting your crop as a result.
Spraying everything with pesticide also makes it likely that you consume some of these chemicals in the future. After all, you’re eating the crops that you spray. Instead, save your cash and simply learn to live with the bugs. The vast majority of them aren’t harmful anyway, so there’s no point in poisoning your flora just to get rid of the few that may cause some damage.