16 degrees this morning. Like most of the country, colder than normal this early in the winter. It certainly pays not to procrastinate with fall chores. Hives pushed together and lightly insulated, tender plants inside before freezing temps. This greenhouse is built with 2x6 standard framing and good insulation. It is where I do most of my winter work and keep over plants. WIth a bit drafty polycarbonate roof however, night time temps do get a little lower than Id like. Here you see the citrus plants do well, but the tomato plants in hanging baskets took a hit from our recent cold temps. Daytime temps are sunny and warm, but if they were not, Id have to heat this with a low propane heat at night to keep it (& the water pipes in the walls) from freezing. Late hatch of Young turkey poults are growing fast and will need to be transitioned outside when the weather is more mild. But for now they are toasty. Those raised beds have radient heating pipe under the pea gravel, hooked to a water heater with a circ pump on a timer. That is the only heat I have in here and it is very economical to run. Usually more than adequate, except in bitter cold spells when I need a little more additional heat. Ive got the shop vac all emptied and ready for a good floor scrubbing. Thats one of my chores for today. Its nice to actually have some time to to something other than bee work. Catching up on clean up is first on the list. Sugar blocks are drying nicely. You can see the larger oversized pans had to be tipped a bit to get them in the unit, but it wasnt as bas as I though it would be. I did let them set for a couple days on a flat surface to the moisture wouldnt settle to the lower side when tipped. I only turn on the small hot plate at night to help keep the greenhouse warm. Since my blocks are quite thick, it does take a couple days with heat to get them set.
Posted on: Sat, 15 Nov 2014 18:48:45 +0000