Fleece for winter protection?

[Iain]

I'm in the countryside of Sussex, England, with frost and snow during winter. I have a new 8ft x 16ft greenhouse, including shelving.

My collection of succulents is quite small, including Echeverias and a few Agaves.

If I keep the plants dry over winter, will it be sufficient to cover them with a few layers of agricultural fleece to keep out the cold?

I don't want to insulate using bubble wrap, nor artificially heat.

[Iain]

No replies.

Doesn't anyone use fleece for winter protection? Or are cactus spines the problem here?

[adetheproducer]

I did not add additional covering last winter just lined the inside of my plastic g/h with bubble wrap and that worked fine even through those very cold weeks we had although I did bring indoors some of the more sensitive species. This year I have an improved cold frame, wooden frame with that dual layer polycarbonate glazing. I made a suit to cover it out of bubble wrap and use the cover from one of them cheep tomatoe g/h you can buy in pound stretchers to add a third layer. Hopefully that will be enough insulation. I was considering fleece but is a little expensive. You can use newspaper to cover which I will do if we get the same lows we had last winter, if your plants have gone into dormancy the lack of light won't be an issue.

[Aiko]

No replies.

Doesn't anyone use fleece for winter protection? Or are cactus spines the problem here?

I always bring my plants inside when first chance of night frosts will appear. No hassle with bubble wrap or large heating bills. I just keep the plants in an unheated room on the first floor. It will never go below freezing up there, and they don't need light when dormant. My winter active plants I keep in a cold frame that I keep on a table in my greenhouse. This cold frame I do heat with a small heater that I control with a precise thermostat. But it is just a small area and thanks to the stagnant air between the cold frame and the rest of the greenhouse, it does not lose a lot of heat when the heater is on. It only switches on once every hour or so for a minute or three, on the most cold nights.

[Iain]

I did not add additional covering last winter just lined the inside of my plastic g/h with bubble wrap and that worked fine even through those very cold weeks we had although I did bring indoors some of the more sensitive species. This year I have an improved cold frame, wooden frame with that dual layer polycarbonate glazing. I made a suit to cover it out of bubble wrap and use the cover from one of them cheep tomatoe g/h you can buy in pound stretchers to add a third layer. Hopefully that will be enough insulation. I was considering fleece but is a little expensive. You can use newspaper to cover which I will do if we get the same lows we had last winter, if your plants have gone into dormancy the lack of light won't be an issue.

Hi Adetheproducer

Fascinating. No heating?! (if I've correctly understood). So I'm not being stupid thinking that a good range could be kept in an unheated greenhouse with some protection? And the advice about low light not being an issue is reassuring. Thank you.

All the best

Iain

[Iain]

No replies.

Doesn't anyone use fleece for winter protection? Or are cactus spines the problem here?

I always bring my plants inside when first chance of night frosts will appear. No hassle with bubble wrap or large heating bills. I just keep the plants in an unheated room on the first floor. It will never go below freezing up there, and they don't need light when dormant. My winter active plants I keep in a cold frame that I keep on a table in my greenhouse. This cold frame I do heat with a small heater that I control with a precise thermostat. But it is just a small area and thanks to the stagnant air between the cold frame and the rest of the greenhouse, it does not lose a lot of heat when the heater is on. It only switches on once every hour or so for a minute or three, on the most cold nights.

Hi Aiko

What small heater do you use?

All the best

Iain

[DaveW]

Note I do not grow any Other Succulents and none of my plants are winter growers or tropical ones like Melocactus etc.

My cactus greenhouses, including now a 12'-6" x 18'-0" one, have been unheated for a decade or more and drop below freezing every year. Some plants you have to bring in the house for winter, but it's surprising how many cacti will stand temperatures down to freezing and a few degrees below if covered with newspapers. Either just overnight when the sun is not on the greenhouse, or for a week or two in sunless weather if dry and dormant in winter during cold weather. If not watered and dormant from say end of September to end of February in the UK they do not etiolate if covered for a week or two, but if the sun comes out during the day they are best uncovered and covered again at night.

My greenhouse is lined with bubble wrap however, but for immediate covering over the plants on the staging's I use newspapers since they soak up any humidity which polythene will not as condensation can form on it. Probably fleece would be OK too, though as you say spines, particularly hooked ones, could be a problem. However you can always cover with polythene sheet, bubble wrap or fleece provided you put newspapers over the plants first to soak up any humidity like blotting paper and avoid spines catching in the fleece.

With around 1000 plants and seedlings bringing all indoors would be impractical for me. However with these methods you still can get plant losses in bad years with protracted cold spells if the sun does not come out to warm the greenhouse during the day, simply because the plants can get gradually get colder and colder, rather like humans body temperature dropping with hypothermia..

I leave my bubble wrap up all year as it helps to avoid scorch in summer and with an 18ft greenhouse is too much trouble keep putting up and taking down every year. but if you leave it up you really need UV (Ultra Violet) stabilised bubble wrap or it deteriorates after a year or so in the sun. However it is obviously more expensive at first cost:-

http://www.bcss.org.uk/foruma/viewtopic ... 1&t=156936" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ideally of course a heated greenhouse just kept frost free is best, but with our dearer heating costs in the UK bubble wrap insulated heated greenhouses are still the most cost effective way of saving fuel costs.

[Iain]

Dave: Many thanks for your informative post. What is the lowest recorded temperature (taken inside the greenhouse) your plants have survived?

[DaveW]

Around 28F from memory I think covered over with newspaper.