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Gardening in Canada

Anyone have any tips for the best time to put plants in a greenhouse?

8 years ago

My husband and I purchased a greenhouse last year so this will be my first year using it. It is aluminum frame with corrugated plastic walls, automatic vents in the roof. I started my seeds early March so I am curious when it's recommended to move them into the greenhouse. I live in a zone 3b, so we are still experiencing chilly nights. Some of the plants will permanently reside in the greenhouse but some will be planted in containers on my deck. What is the best way to go about this - when should I move them into the greenhouse and what is the easiest way to make that transition?

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Comments (3)

dowlinggram
8 years ago
It depends on whether or not you will supply nighttime heat. I live in Zone 3 and I have an electric heater with a temperature gauge that I can set that I use at night and on cloudy cold days but even on cloudy days the temperature may be good. The sun generates a lot of heat but at night there is no source of heat. On a sunny day the outside temperature can be below zero and it can be over 80 in the greenhouse and you have to have the vents open. I keep my heater at about 8 degrees most nights but if it's going to be a warmer night I just may put it on freezeguard. On a very cold night it may go a little higher. I have a mini max thermometer that tells me the lowest it went at that night and the highest it went in the day. and I tested it out all over my greenhouse when I first got it so I know the coldest part of my greenhouse. My thermometer sits in a small box on the underside of my bench--so it's not effected by the sun on it.

I usually open my greenhouse the middle of April but that date depends on the weather. I may be a week later this year. All my plants that I've grown under lights go out then and I begin planting seeds according to the days to start early on the seed packages

If you are not going to use supplimental heat you will have to think of some way to prevent your plants from freezing because the greenhouse itself will only give you a couple of degrees of frost protection
tmick22 thanked dowlinggram
ianna
8 years ago
I think you should post in the northern forums (zones 3 and up) for consults.
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tmick22
Original Author
8 years ago
I ended up putting my plants in this past weekend, after experimenting with a heater to find what the ultimate setting would be. They have done very well so far, even after being transplanted in their permanent pots so thank you very much for the suggestions dowlinggram!

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