Extra Warmth!

[kHT]

For years I have wanted to put a couple rain barrels in the Brugmansia House, this past fall I was able to do so. It is my understanding that when the water
warms up if you loose power these will keep the area warm until you can get the power back. So Wed. was the big test........as we decided to do some electrical
work and was without power for 10 hours. We were in the lower 50s all day but the Brug house didn't drop in temps all day, stayed the higher 50s. The house and
other greeenhouse temps dropped to the 40s by late evening and it was cold! By 9 PM the power was back on. How many other folks keep water in their greenhouse
for added warmth, I even noticed the heaters weren't running as much when I worked in there.

[Bob Scott]

K, Are the rain barrels dark color? That will make a big difference!
What sort of floor in the greenhouse? A dark stone will also act as a heat sink. Of course you never wear shoes so that could be a dance in the making for your happy toes

[kHT]

OED, They are white and I only have one blue one. I did the white so I could monitor the color of the water as I can't allow them to get to green due to what I use them for.
Just have pea gravel for the floor as it's the gravel area off the driveway. Don't laugh, had an electrician out last week to do some work and he was shocked I could walk on
the gravel without shoes in the cooler weather. Got to keep those toes happy!

[Bob Scott]

Wouldn't bleach in the water keep it from getting green......or are you talking about your toes?

[kHT]

Not the toes, they are run through the gravel daily so that makes sure they aren't green. To put bleach in the water isn't a good thing for the lovely ladies of the night.
We try to circulate the water daily and make sure we open one barrel when it rains to get the water flowing. Glad you are back!!

[Gardentoad]

You can tape a black trash bag to the sunny side of your rain barrel and it will absorb more heat.
I use 6 black 20 gallon storage containers under the benches in my greenhouse. It helps with holding heat in the winter and then in the spring when it's still too cold to connect the hose I start using some of the water from them to start my seeds.

[kHT]

Will have to give that a try, thank you for the idea.

[thy]

An old advise for keeping the frost outside a greenhouse or shed is to put barrels filled with water inside- there will be no frost until all the Water is frozen.

LOL Great advise with 40 and 50 degrees

Stones will keep the heat for some times

[kHT]

Thy, funny you brought that one up. A couple of my neighbors have fire pits or BQ and the smoke has really cause issues this year with the Brugmansia. The
only other thing is to go solar to make sure there is power. A discussion I had last year when we had our electrical box updated and new line to the north side
of the house in hope of not loosing power like in the past. Last winter was great, no power loss but again it wasn't a good test as we had a mild winter.