I heard from a friend there is also something called a hot frame that uses compost to heat the insides. Really good idea.
Does anyone know if you can grow an auto outside in the winter?
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Surffreak and myself both grow under limited light and get tremendous results...this season I topped my record in the "test garden", and ended up with 21oz dry off a fruity chronic juice under 8 hours tapering down to 6 by harvest! This was all done in prime growing temps though.
However...any days the temps get below 10-12 degrees C growth will slow to a halt. If weather is like that often, I think time and seed would be wasted. Also consider the light is weaker in the winter.
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That might make it feasible!
I'm not to convinced I could do it because of the cold. In the winter in the worst situation I think we can go down to minus 2-4...but if the frame was insulated like with the $1 shop sun shields you put on the dash of your car to keep sun out...could use those for insulation and 6 mil poly around the frame...but I'm not doing that just yet as I am busy with other projects at the minute...
KapScot
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Noooo - don't use reflective materials....
Couple of tips from the allotment spring to mind.
Line out the floor/bottom sides of your coldframe in black matting to harness as much heat from the sun as you can. Similarly black pots will absorb more winter heat helping to keep soil temps up. Thin (bought off the shelf) polythene shelters offer little protection because they have no bricks/concrete slabs or other dense objects that can retain heat (thermal mass). Similarly use larger pots because if you get a snap frost it wont be the air temp that kills it - it will be the soil temp. Pots could also be buried into the soil - or held in a bed of straw to help ward off frost.
Good Luck tho << geez hard enough growing in summer lol.
Couple of tips from the allotment spring to mind.
Line out the floor/bottom sides of your coldframe in black matting to harness as much heat from the sun as you can. Similarly black pots will absorb more winter heat helping to keep soil temps up. Thin (bought off the shelf) polythene shelters offer little protection because they have no bricks/concrete slabs or other dense objects that can retain heat (thermal mass). Similarly use larger pots because if you get a snap frost it wont be the air temp that kills it - it will be the soil temp. Pots could also be buried into the soil - or held in a bed of straw to help ward off frost.
Good Luck tho << geez hard enough growing in summer lol.
That's actually some good advice. Thanks spliffscot.
Salutations Kelpie-Dog,
A long while ago i had a reflexion which made me refer to some on-line sunlight calculator, eventually:
My reasoning was that the problem with window-sills ain't much different from that in geen-houses: the light comes from the sky while the cultivation space remains contained indoors. Maybe you can get some hint there, in any case i doubt it's a good idea with no light supplement(s), especially into the flowering phase... I believe the poor plant would look weak and prone to deseases anyway, so at least i'd wait for the end of winter when the length of a day starts lasting longer again.
Good day, have fun!!
A long while ago i had a reflexion which made me refer to some on-line sunlight calculator, eventually:
My reasoning was that the problem with window-sills ain't much different from that in geen-houses: the light comes from the sky while the cultivation space remains contained indoors. Maybe you can get some hint there, in any case i doubt it's a good idea with no light supplement(s), especially into the flowering phase... I believe the poor plant would look weak and prone to deseases anyway, so at least i'd wait for the end of winter when the length of a day starts lasting longer again.
Good day, have fun!!
Thanks for your input. Interesting thoughts Egzoset. I haven't set anything up. To busy with other projects at the moment.
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Yer thermal mass and soil temps are your problem - autos will try and grow in any light (its just the yield that varies at the end).
If you were to build a slightly larger coldframe than u think you need and add a lot of bricks around the lower edges (the bottom 18" up normally stops a groundfrost) and add paving slabs underneath all matted or painted black to absorb the sun, you might still want to resort to extreme frost protection (this assumes proximity to the house like in this is in your garden).
I also grow Chilli plants and when in transition (indoors to outdoors) they are a bit tender- so when I kick the summer ones (last years overwintered ones) out into the coldframe in late Spring there can be some scary moments like OMG 4degC predicted (way to cold for my recently pruned coming out of hibernation chilli plants << you can pay more for some of these than Mephisto Beens lol). So I go down and add about 15L of VERY HOT water in 2 containers which goes down between the bricks the plants all sit on). This only adds a couple of degC to the bricks but makes a huge difference overall, as all the temps balance out on a frosty night in the cabinet).
Never lost a chilli plant yet
Hope this helps.
If you were to build a slightly larger coldframe than u think you need and add a lot of bricks around the lower edges (the bottom 18" up normally stops a groundfrost) and add paving slabs underneath all matted or painted black to absorb the sun, you might still want to resort to extreme frost protection (this assumes proximity to the house like in this is in your garden).
I also grow Chilli plants and when in transition (indoors to outdoors) they are a bit tender- so when I kick the summer ones (last years overwintered ones) out into the coldframe in late Spring there can be some scary moments like OMG 4degC predicted (way to cold for my recently pruned coming out of hibernation chilli plants << you can pay more for some of these than Mephisto Beens lol). So I go down and add about 15L of VERY HOT water in 2 containers which goes down between the bricks the plants all sit on). This only adds a couple of degC to the bricks but makes a huge difference overall, as all the temps balance out on a frosty night in the cabinet).
Never lost a chilli plant yet
Hope this helps.
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