First Greenhouse Forgetfulness

[Araucana Nest]

Hello, this is my first gardening post. I plant vegetables every year and surround my house with fruit trees in zone 8B. This year I got a greenhouse. It is perhaps more hoophouse; cheap but will be a good experience. My goal is to plant tropicals in that area and cover them for cooler weather and frost protection. I saw a youtube video where a Canadian grew tropicals in her greenhouse with no added heat.

My first hurdle is simply to remember to open it up before my plants cook. Is there an app that would work for this situation?

 

[Sally PB]

There are all kinds of thermometers that can to connect to smart phones. There are venting options that have programmable opening/closings too. They aren't cheap, though. How about setting reminder alarms on your phone to remind you to check?

In zone 8b, how much protection do you need for what you are growing? If it's just protection at night for the most part, then I would save the $$$ and cover/uncover as necessary.

Getting a greenhouse (in zone 5) made me pay attention to the weather even more than my garden did. Good luck!

 

[vall]

The smaller the greenhouse, the harder it is to prevent from overheating. I don't use an app, but I have a remote thermometer that I can read from inside the house. I have a fan going during the warmest part of the day for circulation, in addition to opening the door/vents.

 

[vall]

20x10 is a pretty reasonable size. My thermo came from home depot, it is not bluetooth but it was cheap < $20 and has good wireless range, no alarm though. I'm sure they have some that connect to your phone and/or have an alarm, but they'll cost more.

 

[Araucana Nest]

There are all kinds of thermometers that can to connect to smart phones. There are venting options that have programmable opening/closings too. They aren't cheap, though. How about setting reminder alarms on your phone to remind you to check?

In zone 8b, how much protection do you need for what you are growing? If it's just protection at night for the most part, then I would save the $$$ and cover/uncover as necessary.

Getting a greenhouse (in zone 5) made me pay attention to the weather even more than my garden did. Good luck!

Thank you. I saw some apps but didn't know what to look for and yeah, the hundred dollar plus ones are not feasible. I'm just learning with this one. I like it because I can remove it entirely for most of the year. It will get down to 16 here a couple of times from November to March. Hoping to keep the bananas going without dormancy and also grow more veggies. I'm really enjoying it so far but yeah, I will have to set the alarm on my phone at least before I kill everything accidentally.

 

[Araucana Nest]

The smaller the greenhouse, the harder it is to prevent from overheating. I don't use an app, but I have a remote thermometer that I can read from inside the house. I have a fan going during the warmest part of the day for circulation, in addition to opening the door/vents.

Is that a thermometer that has bluetooth? It's 20 x 10 with 7.5 ft middle so not really small, but the weather is so up and down in November. we can go from 16 - 85 this month.

 

[Araucana Nest]

20x10 is a pretty reasonable size. My thermo came from home depot, it is not bluetooth but it was cheap < $20 and has good wireless range, no alarm though. I'm sure they have some that connect to your phone and/or have an alarm, but they'll cost more.

Thank you. I'll look.