Buy a small cheap electric heater and use the bubble wrap for insulation. My GHs are insulted on the inside with heavy duty bubblewrap from a local packaging co. Only the south wall and roof isn't insulated.

I use a electric heater along with 1/4 " insulation boards on the north side / east side walls and then covered with plastic , the remaining GH is covered with just 6 mil plastic

Many thanks. Today will be a warm day here. I'll bubble wrap my north wall, which includes my door. My door is a (free) recycled really expensive full glass storm door. I have a buddy who is a builder and it came from a high end remodel job. My east wall is my house brick wall though. I'll go shopping for an inexpensive electric heater, think I'll look for one with a thermostat of some kind though. Greenhouser2, do you not bubble wrap the ceiling/roof because of cutting down on the sunlight? I wish I could use some kind of ultra small woodstove in there as we have ample supply of woods. We heat our house with wood exclusively. Do you guys think my tomato project will succeed?

using bubble wrap on the ceiling is okay. tomatoes need warm nights like 50-55

So what is your back-up plan? If the power goes off during an ice storm, how do you heat it? You can use a portable gas grill or kerosene heaters. You gotta have a backup plan.

Yes, the BW does cut back a little on the light but I think I'm going to do the south wall and roof next spring. Too late now as all the plants are in for the winter. It doesn't really cut back that much light and veggies don't produce in winter anyway... days are too short. I may as well save more money and do the south walls and roof also. I have the stuff already so we'll use it.

My backup plan is a kerosene heater kept in the garage near the GHs.

One thing you might try is getting something white on the north wall to reflect sunlight (and heat)down to the plants. Also, if sun hits the ground next to the south wall, try putting down something reflective (painted white) to bounce more light into the house. With extra sun coming in you might be able to insulate the south wall with clear bubble wrap. With heavy insulation, a small space heater set at 50 or 60 might keep the gh toasty. good luck, Tim

Hey do you mind telling me what kind of business you work for? I need to scope out some places (like yours) that get this kind of material, so I can use it in my GH. I have not tried calling around to places yet. If anyone has had success finding materials like bubble wrap and thicker big pieces of styrofoam from local businesses, I'd like to get an idea of where to start looking.

Also I heard from someone on here of blocking off the eve part of their roof or area where the pitch starts to form, with sheets of insulated materials. cutting the space down, so that the heat doesn't rise up and go away.

I've got a 24' x 8.5' Rion and while they do not happen all that often we do have ice storms. The last really bad one left me without power for 3 or 4 days. There's no way I'm going to try to have gas run out to my greenhouse so I was thinking that a high BTU kerosene heater might do the trick. I'm concerned about setting it up and leaving it running without constant supervision. When filled how often do they need to to checked? I also assume that you need to open up a vent in the greenhouse a little to let in fresh oxygen rich air.

I've never used a kerosene heater, so this may be a silly question...do they typically have thermostats? I'm guessing you can regulate the heat output somehow.

Thanks,
Don
www.justplainorchids.com

Thank you for all the feedback. This is great. Back up plan...we haven't lost power since we've been here but this winter could be it. I have a propane heater I can use as long as I'm careful. It doesn't have a thermostat so it couldn't be left on. We own a small window treatment business, part of Blind Brokers Network. We're in VA near Virginia Tech (Blacksburg). There are BBN dealers throughout the country. When shutters are packed they usually are packed in 1" styrofoam. Blinds and shades are usually packed in bubblewrap. A typical house can produce a truckload of bubblewrap, styrofoam and of course corrugated cardboard. Most dealers just throw it away. Not worth the trouble of sorting and keeping. We just hate to see the landfill filled up with re-useable stuff. Check your yellow pages for small independent dealers (we're independent but sell Hunter Douglas and Norman International mostly). Someone out there would probably gladly have you pick it up at the jobsite rather than have to haul it away. As for my tomatoes, I think the tomatoes already on the vines will ripen ok but I'm thinking that light, heat and pollination are going to keep me from having tomatoes into the deep winter. I think I'll go ahead and wrap the entire inside with bubble wrap and also do some white to reflect as some suggested. Maybe my grow lights will help some. If my tomato plan fails I have plenty of stuff I'm making room inside the house for that can go in there till later in the season when seed starting starts. Thanks again.

I just re-read your notes about the brooder-heat lamp. Have you tried using the heat lamp under a 5 gallon metal can? Put a small hole in the bottom of the can using a church key to allow some air circulation. Turn the can upside-down over the heat lamp. The can heats up and radiates heat. A small fan will disperse the heat for you.

rjinga I get my bubble wrap from a furniture store. This stuff has bubbles between two sheet of plastic. No idea now may mils but it's pretty thick. I can't pop the bubbles even if I step on it. I'm not sure how the sofa's are covered with it but it looks like a giant pillow case. Most open up to sheets that are 9' X 9' with a seam down the center. Great stuff. I have my entire greenhouse lined with it and double lined on the north wall. I also get sheets of styrofoam there too. It's not the best stuff but for free it's great. Any all that stuff would just end up in the landfill.
Bernie

I have a 45000 btu furnace like the ones in a Travel trailer, it uses propane and 12 Volt Dc for power. I have battery backup, 5 deep cycle batterys that are charged by solar panels. The furnace will run 72 hours on the charge in the batterys. I also have a propane vented wall heater that has 32000btu and uses a milivolt thermostat these require no electric to them.