What is the best insulation for a greenhouse?

We know that greenhouse insulation is a horticultural task that must be taken seriously during winter. Gardeners can learn about the many ways to insulate their greenhouses in various ways. You may need to buy insulation materials, but do you really need them? Or, do you know what kind of greenhouse insulation you need? Do you have doubts about these similar questions?

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Common Material for greenhouse insulation

Horticultural bubble wrap

Bubble wrap is considered one of the best insulation materials for greenhouses. These materials are inexpensive, easy to use, and widely applicable.

Using bubble wrap to seal gaps in the greenhouse frame can reduce the rate at which heat escapes. When choosing bubble wrap, experienced gardeners know that the bigger the bubble, the better. This is because larger bubbles allow more light to enter the greenhouse and provide better insulation.

Some horticultural bubble wraps have more features such as UV resistance. When choosing a gardening bubble wrap, pay attention to these additional features, and you may be more pleasantly surprised.

Horticultural bubble wrap can be easily attached to the interior of greenhouse kits such as portable greenhouses, aluminum greenhouses, wooden greenhouses, and more. Even if you are facing the challenge of winterizing your greenhouse for the first time, you can learn to set up horticultural bubble wrap in a very short time.

Sealant

Strictly speaking, sealant cannot be counted as a greenhouse insulation material. But no matter what kind of insulation you want to use to help your greenhouse survive this winter, you'll need a sealant to fill cracks in your greenhouse structure before everything is done.

The most popular sealant available is silicone caulk; other sealants may not be as durable and easy to use as this.

                     (sealant for greenhouse)

Remember, checking the greenhouse seal is a prerequisite for all greenhouse insulation measures. Once the greenhouse sealing process goes wrong or is overlooked, your next horticultural tasks will face many challenges.

Polycarbonate

Polycarbonate is particularly good at insulating greenhouses. This material is lightweight, UV resistant, and flexible. Moreover, most polycarbonate sheets maintain excellent quality at temperatures below -40°F and up to 284°F.

Most polycarbonate sheets are made using hollow multilayer walls with air pockets. Double-walled panels are commonly used to insulate greenhouses. If you want better greenhouse insulation, triple-wall panels are better because of their excellent insulation properties and superior strength.

If you plan to choose polycarbonate to insulate your greenhouse, it is important to note that the thicker the polycarbonate, the lower the light transmission. Thicker polycarbonate improves insulation by about 30%, but light transmission may be reduced by about 10%.

Gardening Fleece

Horticultural wool is a gardening material that can be used all year round. In the winter, gardeners often use horticultural wool to protect plants from frost, rain, snow, high winds, or hail. If your greenhouse is unheated or unheated, horticultural wool can be used to wrap or cover plants to provide protection.

Heavy-duty horticultural wool can be used as an alternative to polyethylene as greenhouse insulation. You can use clips or double-sided sticky pads to secure heavy-duty horticultural fleece to the inside of your greenhouse.

          (gardening fleece)

Horticultural fleece is available in a variety of sizes. You can find different qualities and weights of horticultural wool. If used with care, good quality horticultural wool will last for several years and has the advantage of being UV-resistant, tear-resistant, and rot-resistant.

The disadvantage of most horticultural wool is that it cannot be used multiple times, so if you want to choose horticultural wool for greenhouse insulation, you should try to choose a good quality horticultural wool that lasts for a long time.

Heavy-duty Polyethylene

Polyethylene materials are often used in agricultural, commercial, and domestic greenhouses. These materials are usually inexpensive and come in large rolls. Most gardeners prefer to insulate their greenhouses by fixing polyethylene material to the outer frame of the greenhouse.

It is ideal to use polyethylene on wood and metal-framed greenhouses, but it is not recommended to use polyethylene directly on PVC-framed greenhouses unless you have primed the frame in advance. Exposed PVC will degrade polyethylene with increased use.

Polyethylene Carbonate

Polyethylene carbonate is a hard and durable option. Although polyethylene carbonate lasts a long time, it is also relatively expensive. Polyethylene carbonate is generally more expensive than polycarbonate, and for some gardeners, polyethylene carbonate is a less cost-effective option. Polyvinyl carbonate is usually multilayered to withstand strong winter winds. Polyethylene carbonate is usually slightly milky in appearance and available in a variety of transparency.

Polystyrene foam sheets

When we discuss greenhouse insulation, we may overlook the greenhouse foundation. However, cold air can enter the greenhouse through the foundation, which can result in approximately 15% heat loss. You can use some polystyrene foam panels that are about 2 inches thick to insulate the outdoor boundary of your greenhouse. These plastic sheets need to be vertically aligned and extended down into the soil to at least one foot. In addition, you should choose the right material to strengthen the greenhouse foundation to reduce heat loss. Gravel, clay, and peat rock are good choices. Cement, concrete, and wood are not recommended because of the poor insulation effect.

Other blackout fabrics

In addition to the materials mentioned above, you can also choose from a variety of blackout fabrics as well as fabrics for greenhouse insulation. Fabrics such as linen or old curtains, for example, can be used to wrap plants to protect them from frost.

In the online store, you can find all kinds of special shading clothes, such as:

• Alumina reflective shading cloth. These aluminum shading cloths are usually made from a mixture of aluminum and various chemical fibers and are durable. The unique alumina properties reflect unwanted sunlight and harmful radiant heat in greenhouse greenhouses.

• Knitted shade cloth. This type of shading cloth is usually made of a mixture of high-quality polyethylene cloth and other fabrics, which has the characteristics of high strength and durability. The gardener can freely cut the shade cloth according to the size of the greenhouse. The knitted design ensures no tearing and wear, and is easy to use.

How to choose the right greenhouse insulation material

Your greenhouse sizes

If your greenhouse size is small, you will not incur much expense no matter which insulation material you choose. Your choices are many; polycarbonate, polyethylene, aluminum oxide reflective shade cloth, and other materials are available as options.

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Generally speaking, greenhouses smaller than 6'x8' in size are considered small. For example, Quictent 71 "x36 "x36" mini greenhouse, Quictent 56 "x29 "x77" indoor greenhouse. if you want to insulate this type of greenhouse, horticultural fleece, polyethylene cloth&#; and other inexpensive and easily available materials are perfectly suited to insulate your greenhouse.

If you have a large greenhouse, you need to think more about the choice of insulation material. If you want to choose more expensive materials such as polycarbonate, you have to accept the high cost of materials. However, this does not mean that inexpensive materials such as horticultural wool are the best choice, because you must consider the insulation effect of these materials and whether these materials will cause adverse effects on the plants.

Your greenhouse material

We know that some greenhouse insulation materials are not suitable for certain types of greenhouses, such as heavy-duty polyethylene can perform perfectly in wood and metal frame greenhouses, but cannot be used directly in PVC frame greenhouses. This is because exposed PVC degrades polyethylene.

Therefore, it is not the high-end material that looks better. If you need to choose greenhouse insulation materials in winter, you need to know your greenhouse materials in advance.

             (white greenhouse)

You need to know what your greenhouse is made of, whether it will react chemically with other materials, and whether the insulation material you want will be able to cover your greenhouse directly. These are all issues that need to be considered because you don't want to find out about the problem only when you are using it.

Take the Quictent 20' x 10' x 7' Heavy Duty Large Greenhouse as an example.

This heavy-duty greenhouse is perfect for winter use because its frame is made of galvanized steel frame, which is durable and strong enough to withstand winter winds and rain.

The first thing to decide is how much of your greenhouse you want to keep warm and so need to insulate. Usually a greenhouse starts to fill when the weather is warming in spring and in the cold of winter it's probably just overwintering some tender perennials and getting an early start on some seedlings so not needing all the available space.

Greenhouse Insulation Material

The standard and best material for insulating your greenhouse is simply bubble plastic. Bubble plastic can be obtained with various sizes of bubble, the 20 mm large bubbles are best as they allow more light through and are better at retaining heat. Each bubble holds air which means the sheeting works in a similar way to double glazing.

Correctly applied bubble wrap will also cut down on draughts which suck out the warm air.

Horticultural Bubble Wrap Insulation

You are best buying purpose made horticultural bubble wrap rather than packaging wrap. The horticultural bubble wrap is tougher and UV stabilised and will last longer, at least three years.

Decide how you are going to insulate and measure up so you know how much insulation to buy. Allow some extra for overlaps and wastage, 10% extra should be about right.

How to Install the Insulation

If you, for example, decide you need half the house insulated drape a curtain of bubble plastic from side to side. You are best to insulate the half furthest from the door so a cold blast of air won't enter the warm area when you enter the greenhouse on a winter's day. Use two pieces of wrap, one to the left and one to the right with an overlap in the centre to form a doorway to the warm area.

For an aluminium greenhouse you can buy special clips to hold the bubble wrap. These clip into the channels on the glazing bars and then onto the bubble wrap. For wooden greenhouses drawing pins will suffice.

If you have a large greenhouse with excess space above head height, drape the bubble wrap from side to side to form a roof at a lower level. This again reduces the volume you have to heat.

Otherwise, start from the ridge apex and work down to the vertical glazing bars. Then fix the insulation to the vertical faces.

Useful Additions

A maximum-minimum Greenhouse Thermometer is useful so you can check how the insulation is working for you. A hygrometer is also very useful to warn you when the house is becoming too humid and requires ventilation. Too humid an atmosphere will encourage fungal diseases such as botrytis.

Temperatures for the Winter Greenhouse

To keep your greenhouse frost free you need to ensure the temperature stays at 2 degrees C or above. Most tender plants such as citrus fruit trees, half-hardy fuchsias and pelargoniums (geraniums) require a warmer temperature, around 7 degrees C. If you are raising plug plants for an early show or spring hanging basket, a slightly higher 10 degrees C is preferable.

Very tender tropical plants usually grown in a conservatory or in the house will need a minimum 13 degrees C. Incidentally many cacti are tolerant to low temperatures since deserts can get surprisingly cold at night.

Take Care with Heaters

Be very careful where you position Greenhouse Heaters and that the bubble wrap is firmly fixed as if it falls onto a heater it presents a fire hazard.

With paraffin and gas heaters, remember they produce a moist heat and require airflow for correct operation so avoid blocking all the vents. With electric fan heaters, place carefully so that nearby plants are not scorched.

Copyright © John Harrison

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