My old greenhouse heater gave up the ghost during that cold snap in February

It was one of those cheap plastic ones I bought maybe eight years ago. I had it set up for my overwintering succulents and some young citrus trees. Woke up one morning and the whole thing was just dead, no lights, no hum, nothing. The temperature inside had dropped to just above freezing. I had to scramble, moving all the plants into my tiny laundry room under some grow lights for a week. It was a mess of dirt and leaves. Made me think about how I used to just trust that old gear without a backup plan. What do you all use for a reliable backup heat source in a small greenhouse setup?

2 comments

2 Comments

richard_ramirez12d agoMost Upvoted

Used to think a backup was overkill too, until I lost a whole tray of seedlings. That cold gets into everything way faster than you expect. Now I keep a simple oil-filled radiator on a separate plug just in case.

the_xena12d ago

Is it really that big of a deal though? A week in the laundry room with some lights sounds like it worked fine. Most of those plants can handle a chill for a night. I've had my heater die and just threw a blanket over the shelf for a night, everything was fine. Sometimes we overthink this stuff.