For any farm or homestead, a greenhouse can be a huge help. It can give you a head start on the season or protect crops from harsh weather. But unless you’re designing your greenhouse to be airtight and have no ventilation at all, there’s going to be some heat buildup from time to time, and you’ll want to keep your plants cool. Suppose you’ve got a greenhouse that isn’t built adequately or doesn’t have proper ventilation. In that case, it can get scorching in there during the summer.
Sometimes a lack of airflow can be a problem even if you didn’t build your greenhouse. If you’ve got a lot of shrubs and trees around your greenhouse, it might block off airflow from being able to move through properly, so you want to try to keep the greenhouse away from anything that might block the wind.
Here are five tips you can use to keep your greenhouse cool:
1. Install Fans and Louvers
You can install fans and louvers on the exterior of your greenhouse to help move air around and let hot air out. If you’ve got a standard solid panel door, there’s a good chance you can install a fan above it to help circulate the air. Or you could simply open up windows and doors on opposite sides of your greenhouse to provide plenty of airflow. This will also let the sunlight in, helping warm things up faster inside your greenhouse.
2. Install a Dedicated Air Conditioning System
Some crops need to stay in a controlled environment, so they can thrive and grow. So for those specific crops, it’s best to install a dedicated cooling system that can handle the greenhouse’s specific needs. This is especially helpful, so your crops stay nice and cool throughout the summer.
For handling a larger greenhouse, you might want to invest in industrial systems that rely on a constant supply of water and electricity as well as industrial fans to pull outside air into the system and filter it before sending it back out again. If you want to keep temperatures down to a perfect 72 degrees all the time, you might consider installing a dedicated industrial air conditioning system. That way, even if it gets hot in there, you’ll be able to maintain a comfortable temperature for your plants and crops.
3. Plant Shade Crops
Certain plants actually do better when they experience warmer temperatures. Corn is one example of a heat-loving plant that prefers hotter temperatures. This is why it’s good to have a good mix of plants in your greenhouse, so you can maintain a nice crop rotation plan for when certain crops need more heat and others don’t.
The legumes family of plants are another example of plants that actually do better in these conditions, which gives you the option of planting shade crops that can help keep your greenhouse cool. These plants like it warm and humid, and they leave behind nitrogen for other crops to use, which is a great benefit.
4. Take Advantage of Natural Circulation
Another good way to keep your greenhouse cool is by taking advantage of natural ventilation and fresh air. Rather than blocking things off and making the greenhouse as airtight as possible, open it up, let the breeze flow through, and use industrial fans to enhance airflow. This can help prevent some of those hot conditions from building up inside your greenhouse.
In addition to natural ventilation, you should be sure to use the exhaust fan when you’re done working in your greenhouse. Just like your indoor kitchen or bathroom, hot air needs to flow out of the greenhouse as soon as possible. If you let that hot air collect inside for too long, it can cause problems and lead to things heating up quickly and becoming difficult for plants and crops.
5. Use Shade Cloth and Nets
Finally, it’s helpful to consider the specific plants you’ll be growing in your greenhouse and how they can react to high temperatures. Just like sun exposure, certain plants require more shade than others. If some crops or plants need a little more protection from the heat, consider using shade cloth or nets. This creates a type of sunscreen for your greenhouse. It provides the perfect amount of shade so your crops grow at their best and can handle the hot temperatures more easily.
If you want to keep your greenhouse cool, there are many ways for you to do so. From balancing the different crops and plants inside of your greenhouse to opening up windows or installing a dedicated air conditioning system, these five tips will help regulate temperatures in your facility.
