Hot-water Bottle Greenhouses

Fluffius Muppetus is having a ‘Winter Blog Carnival’, and even though it is not winter here Downunder, but summer… I thought I would participate. So here is my contribution.

Hot-water Bottle Greenhouses

For those of us who cannot afford the space to have a full sized greenhouse in and around our homes and gardens to help start seedlings off early before the last frosts have disappeared, that is before they could survive the cold out in the garden.

A way of getting seedlings started a little early towards the end of winter is by using hot-water greenhouses to warm the seeds and the surrounding soils. These are a cheap alternative to finding the space and money for a full sized greenhouse.

The idea here is to get yourself an old esky or a polystyrene box as your base greenhouse. In the bottom of which you place a couple of hot-water bottles, filled of course with freshly boiled water. But have them wrapped with old towels or blankets or bubble-wrap etc. This is to keep them insulated and only allow their warmth to dissipate slowly.

Then place the seed trays on top of this layer.

If you are growing seed that does not require light to germinate then you might consider putting a lid or an old towel or blanket over the top of the esky/box to help keep the warmth in and around the seed trays, for the first few days or week, until you see signs of germinating seedlings. Germination rates and times will have to be watched to see when you need to remove any light excluding top off of the ‘Greenhouse’.

Another idea is to wrap plastic food wrap over the top of the container, to help keep moisture in and around the seed trays, or to place the whole box inside a clear plastic bag. These can be obtained from around items purchased in bulk, or from around blankets/doona’s, or even using one of those vacuum storage bags, with the zipper openings. In the cheap stores here in Aus, you can purchase clear plastic covers that are meant for over computers and the keyboards that would also work.

These plastic sheet/bag toppers may need propping up with sticks or something similar, to stop them sagging down into the box, with the weight of the moisture that will accumulate on the inside layer.

The heat from these hot water bottles will probably last for about 12 hours a cycle, and probably will have to be done twice a day for about a week. This method should help the seed come up fairly fast. Then bring the seedlings out of the box and harden off somewhere still fairly warm and bright.

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