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Gennady Gushchin 04/1/2015 | 9231
In times of crisis in energy resources, heating a greenhouse using biofuel is very effective. Farmers have long noticed that animal waste products, like biological raw materials, emit enough thermal energy.
The main types of biofuels are plant waste and animal manure.
Animal biofuels
Among waste products that are successfully used in heating greenhouses, the leader is rightfully considered horse manure. During the process of rotting, the temperature of manure reaches 60℃, then gradually drops to 35-40℃ and can remain in this temperature range for about 3-4 months. Such manure can be combined with any type of biofuel, for example, with sawdust, bark or food waste: take 70% of the manure and 30% of other types of fertilizers. It is combined with straw in a 1:1 ratio.
Fresh horse manure is often used to fertilize flowers, especially roses. Semi-rotted is used for spinach, cucumbers, cabbage, and zucchini. The next year, after fertilizing the soil, you can grow tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, beets and other root vegetables in this place.
Cow dung also suitable for heating greenhouses. Its decomposition process is long, its quality is inferior to that of horsewood, but it is able to maintain a temperature of about 20℃ for 3 months. It also combines well with other types of fossil fuels.
To obtain high-quality humus, you can take 30% foliage or sawdust and 70% mullein. Or you can take 40% tree bark or household waste and 60% cow dung. Cow manure is mixed with horse manure in a 1:1 ratio.
Cow manure is used to fertilize beds for growing tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, cabbage and zucchini. But this type of fertilizer is not suitable for radishes.
Sheep (or goat) manure is now widely used for heating greenhouses. Its decomposition process can produce a temperature of 30-35℃ and maintain it for 90 to 120 days. The increased nitrogen content in such humus can cause plant burns, so it must be taken in very small doses, 3 times less than cow or horse manure.
Sheep manure goes well with any organic waste. But it is not advisable to add fat, remains of bones or wool to it - this will complicate the process of rotting.
Sheep and goat manure is suitable for feeding legumes, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, radishes, beets, and parsley.
Pig manure, of course, inferior to the previous ones, but can warm up the greenhouse to 14-16℃ and keep it that way temperature regime about 70 days. It is advisable to use it with leaf humus or horse manure to avoid soil oxidation in greenhouses. It is better for such manure to rot within 2-3 years.
Rabbit droppings has a high value among organic fertilizers and is sometimes not inferior in energy qualities even to horse fertilizer. It is not used in its pure form, as the soil may lose valuable nitrogen. Rabbit droppings are added to the finished compost in an amount of 5-15%.
Tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, peppers, asparagus, eggplant, and cauliflower respond best to the application of rabbit droppings.
Plant biofuels
Straw. Wheat straw is best suited as biofuel for a greenhouse, since other straw, such as rye or barley, burns out faster. It is important that the crops from which straw is prepared are not treated with herbicides. Straw goes well with different types mineral nitrogen fertilizers, but retains little heat.
10-15 days before planting the plants in the greenhouse, the straw must be watered hot water(about 60℃) in several stages to warm it well, and then add mineral fertilizers. As a result, the temperature will rise to 45℃. After the temperature drops to 28℃, the straw is covered with a layer (about 10 cm) of fertile soil.
Straw can be used only for short-term heating of the greenhouse, but tomatoes and cucumbers grown on such biofuel give an increased yield.
Tree bark. Wood bark that rots for about 4 months can warm the soil to 25℃ and maintain this temperature for up to 4 months. It goes well with manure and sawdust. Suitable for many crops, especially tomatoes and cucumbers.
Sawdust. This popular woodworking product is quite cheap for the amateur gardener. When mixed with other biofuels, sawdust can warm the soil to 20℃ and maintain this temperature for about 2 months. They are widely used for growing tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, and herbs.
Leaves and grass. Fallen leaves, tops different cultures- there is plenty of all this on any personal plot and can be successfully used to heat a greenhouse. Such organic fuel will maintain the temperature at 15-20℃ for about 3 months. In combination, for example with manure, a mixture of leaves and grass will effectively heat the greenhouse. This type of biofuel is widely used when growing cucumbers, cabbage, tomatoes, onions, and herbs.
Weakly decomposed peat Excellent for heating greenhouses, especially if mixed with mullein (about 30%). Increases the yield of tomatoes and cucumbers, cabbage, zucchini, and onions.
Household waste. May consist of fabric, paper, food waste. Within 100 days household waste capable of maintaining the temperature in the greenhouse at 36-48℃. Suitable for growing any vegetable crops.
Biofuel procurement
The process of preparing biofuel for greenhouses begins in the fall. Any biological fuel is placed on a flat surface in the form of a shaft, compacted so that air does not enter inside. It is worth noting that plant fertilizers must first be dried and then stored for further processing. Manure is placed in piles 3 m long and 2 m high, around which a small ditch is dug to drain the filtrate (liquid fraction of manure).
The greenhouse in which biofuel will be used must be small in size, or the plants must be covered with film to retain heat.
Before using biofuel in a greenhouse, it is necessary to prepare trenches 40 cm deep for late planting of crops in greenhouses and 75 cm for early crops. The manure needs to be shoveled. At this moment it is enriched with oxygen and begins to warm up. Then you can add straw, waste, grass, leaves of trees and shrubs, sawdust. It would be a good idea to add dry lime to avoid the appearance of fungus. Sometimes a little is added to biofuel to improve heating. hot water or laying hot bricks and stones.
Along with the enormous advantages, biological fuel has one significant flaw: It is very difficult to regulate the temperature inside the soil.
Choosing required type biofuel for heating the greenhouse, consider all the nuances. And then the harvest will certainly please you.
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If you are heating with biofuel, you should know that animal manure is not only an organic fertilizer , but also an excellent biofuel for your greenhouse.
Biofuel for a greenhouse can be: horse, cow, pig, goat, sheep manure, the contents of compost heaps and waste from some industries.
In addition, house waste, tree leaves, crushed remains of sunflower, corn, flax fire, sunflower dust and some other industrial waste can be used as fuel for greenhouses.
Manure is used as fuel only in the spring when constructing a greenhouse; under no circumstances should it be added in the fall. Manure freezes over the winter and cannot be heated or used for heating in a greenhouse. Heat from the listed types of fuel is released due to the vital activity of thermophilic microorganisms that decompose biofuels. This process occurs most intensively with fuel humidity up to 70% and good air access and nitrogen content. The temperature of biofuel (manure) rises to 70 degrees in the first ten days, and in subsequent days drops to 30 degrees and below. Manure for greenhouses is collected at the end of autumn, when the air temperature drops, it is placed in piles and compacted well. Compaction reduces the flow of air, this will prevent premature heating of the manure. The width of the stack can be made up to three meters, and the height no more than 1.5 meters. The pile of manure is covered with peat, leaves and soil, this will protect it from freezing. About a week before placing manure in the greenhouse, the manure is heated. Heating of manure is done by shoveling the pile and throwing it with a pitchfork from the pile into loose piles up to two meters high. Such heaps, with the supply of oxygen, flare up within three to four days, and the temperature in them rises to 50 degrees, the manure releases nitrogen and steam comes from it. If after throwing the manure it does not catch fire, you need to help him. To do this, add dry manure sprinkled with hot water to the raw manure, and place it in the middle of the heap with manure. You can make a fire on a sheet of iron and throw manure on the resulting coals, leaving a hole for draft. Shovelling the manure is repeated after two days.
Horse manure is considered the best for heating greenhouses, it heats up quickly, reaching a high temperature, and provides the greenhouse with heat for several months. However, it can be difficult for gardeners to obtain horse manure.
Cow manure, unlike horse manure, is too wet, has high density and limited air access. Highest temperature burning of cow dung is 50 degrees, the more it decreases quickly. It is effective to use cow manure for heating greenhouses only when mixed with materials that impart looseness. This can be tobacco or wood leaves, sunflower dust, dry peat chips, if you have them in your yard, you can use their droppings. Moreover, the additive should not account for more than 1/3 of the volume of the total fuel. Cow manure has an acidic reaction, which, after filling the soil layer, leads to the growth and reproduction of fungi (toadstools), which appear on the surface of the soil among the crops, thereby constraining them. To prevent the growth of toadstools, before pouring the earthen layer, sprinkle the manure with lime - fluff at the rate of 0.5 kilograms per meter or 1.0 kilograms of wood ash.
Pig manure is very wet, moister than cow's, cold. Therefore, it can only be used for heating greenhouses in a mixture with other materials. For example, pig manure can be used in the following ratios: horse manure 50%, cow manure 30%, pig manure 20%. You can make another ratio: horse manure 30%, cow manure 25%, peat 20%, and pig manure 25%.
Excellent biofuel for greenhouses and greenhouses, This is a waste product from cotton production and requires moisture when used. Both sunflower husks and tree leaves require heating. These materials do not ignite easily, so they must be heated. To begin with, they are moistened with hot water or slurry, then mixed well and loosely placed in piles no more than one meter high. You can lay the material in a pit for a greenhouse and make a hole in the middle, pour boiling water into it and cover it with covering mats. After four days, the fuel will warm up to 60 degrees. Now it can be used as biofuel.
Before laying heated manure to the greenhouse, The pit for the greenhouse must be cleared of snow. Manure is laid out at the bottom of the pit from the edges of the pile, it is cool, and then it is placed from the middle, it is hot. Manure is laid in a loose layer, without specifically compacting it, but also without leaving voids. A greenhouse filled with fuel is covered with frames and mats. After three days, the manure will settle; if it settles too much, it must be added, but not higher than the level of the lower side of the barn. You cannot step on or walk on the fuel stored in the greenhouse. Now you can pour the soil layer. The soil should be turf, humus, peat and compost. The thickness of the soil layer in a greenhouse depends on the crop being grown. On average, one frame requires 0.2 cubic meters land. A greenhouse buried in the ground using biofuel can begin to be sown in March. Over the entire season, you can harvest 3-4 vegetable crops.
During the energy crisis, all people are increasingly paying attention to renewable energy sources. Heating a greenhouse or hotbed with gas is quite possible, but not cost-effective. Nowadays, a biofuel greenhouse is the most economically beneficial.
Farmers have long noticed that animal waste products emit heat under certain conditions. In addition to manure, biofuel for a greenhouse is any biological raw material that releases heat during decay.
Champion among biofuels
It turns out that horse manure is the best at releasing heat during rotting.
During decomposition of horse manure, under certain conditions the temperature may be briefly reached about 60 degrees and after some time the temperature of the manure drops up to 33-39 degrees. This temperature can last for about three months.
Horse manure can be mixed with any other types of biological waste in almost any proportion. However, not everyone can keep horses for these purposes. Thus, this type of biofuel is not available to everyone.
Cow biofuel
The waste products of other animals are also good biofuel for greenhouses, although they are inferior in quality to horse manure. Cattle, pigs, rabbits, ducks, geese and other animals are also suitable for these purposes.
Due to the fact that the livestock is large cattle at most, they produce manure in large quantities. Buying cow dung for use as biofuel is not a problem. It decomposes with the release of heat over three months and is capable of maintaining or greenhouse up to 20 degrees. Cow dung is heavy and heats up slowly. It should be used in mixture with other types of biofuels.
The most common plant-based biofuels
Straw
This is one of the most common types of biofuels. In areas where grain crops are grown, purchasing rye, wheat or oat straw is not a problem.
Straw as biofuel mixed with minerals nitrogen fertilizers, warms up quickly, but also cools down quickly. There is a reason to use straw for short-term heating. Straw also warms well when mixed with other waste.
Sawdust
Waste from the wood processing industry in the form of sawdust is also suitable for heating greenhouses and greenhouses. In some cases, sawdust can be purchased at a symbolic price. Sawdust, as a waste from the wood processing industry, sometimes seriously pollutes environment. Under the influence of atmospheric precipitation, formaldehydes are released from sawdust, poisoning water sources.
State sanitary and environmental services mercilessly fine enterprises that have mountains of sawdust on their premises. Sometimes woodworking enterprises are very willing to give away sawdust for little money to anyone who wants it. Sawdust as a biofuel is best mixed with other waste. They heat up slowly, no more than 20 degrees, and do not heat for long, no more than two months.
Bark
Rotted bark - steadily heats the soil for almost 120 days up to 25 degrees.
Bark is one of the sawmill wastes. At large sawmills there is a lot of this waste. To utilize the bark, large financial costs enterprises. Mainly transport costs.
If you express a desire to buy sawmill waste, bark, small chips, etc. enterprises always meet halfway.
Tree leaves
Fallen tree leaves can also be used to heat greenhouses. They heat worse than sawdust. But there are many of them and they are free.
They can and should be used with other types of biofuel: manure, straw, grass, sawdust. To quickly warm up the leaves, they need to add nitrogen fertilizers.
Grass
Grass, agricultural waste, potato tops, rotten hay, etc. can be used to heat greenhouses.
The herb is not as effective as other types. Heats up quickly and cools down quickly. It must be used in mixture with other types of biofuels. Even such biofuel will heat up greenhouses without problems.
Linen fire
During the primary processing of flax at flax mills, fire is formed - production waste, which can also be used to heat greenhouses. Since brome accounts for up to 60% of the total amount of flax, it is produced in thousands of tons. If the flax mill did not think of using a fire for heating in boiler rooms and other types of production, it can be used in heating greenhouses.
Cotton industry waste
Waste from the cotton industry is located near large industrial facilities and are not available to everyone. Large pulp and paper mills sometimes have significant problems with production waste. Therefore, you can get them almost for free.
Procurement and storage
Procurement period and storage
Biofuel procurement begins in the fall. Any biofuel is piled on flat areas and compacted to reduce air access.
Different types of biofuels are stored differently. Straw, grass and leaves are stored dry. Manure is stored in piles up to 3 meters wide and up to 2 meters high. The length of the ropes is not limited.
Each ditch should have a small ditch around it to collect and drain the filtrate from the manure.
Types of biofuel proportions
Science in this matter of manure has long studied everything, measured it and makes the following recommendations:
Horse manure can be mixed with:
- Straw (50\50)
- Food waste (70\30)
- City garbage (60\40)
- Koroy (70\30)
- Sawdust (70\30)
Cow dung can be mixed with:
- cow + horse manure (50/50);
- cow dung + house waste (40/60);
- cow manure + measles (60/40);
- cow manure + sawdust (70/30);
- wood leaf + cow dung (household waste) (70/30);
Science is science, but in real conditions you need to use everything that is at hand, in general, adhering to the above recommendations.
Preparing the greenhouse for operation
It should be taken into account that there are differences between greenhouses and greenhouses. (Compare: and)
Buried greenhouses are best suited for heating with biofuels. A buried greenhouse is one of the simplest. It can be made from scrap materials.
Large greenhouses where people can walk freely, and even with the use of small-scale mechanization of walk-behind tractors, etc. Not suitable for heating with biofuel.
The truth is simple: the power of biofuel is not enough to heat a large volume of air in a greenhouse. All the heat will go up and there will be the most comfortable temperature under the greenhouse roof. Buried biofuel greenhouses are most suitable for these purposes.
As an option, you can consider covering the plants with film in a large greenhouse to reduce the heated volume.
When laying greenhouses, they are oriented from east to west
Adding biofuel to a greenhouse
They begin to add biofuel to the greenhouse in advance. Prepared trenches are cleared of ice and snow. At the same time, 2 weeks before planting the greenhouse, the biofuel must be heated. To begin with, it is shoveled, taking manure from one pile, and another is formed next to it.
Thus, oxygen begins to enter the manure and, due to the activity of bacteria, it begins to warm up. At this time, you can add whatever you have: sawdust, straw, leaves, grass, food scraps and other organic materials.
It should be taken into account that sometimes biofuel in greenhouses begins to be affected by various fungi. To prevent their occurrence, it is necessary to add dry lime to biofuel.
For better development bacteria, it is necessary to add mineral fertilizer to biofuel, which contains nitrogen. The depth of the trench for laying biofuel can reach 75 cm.
For various types greenhouse science recommends trench depths:
- Early greenhouses 75cm
- Medium greenhouses 60cm
- Late greenhouses 40cm.
For better heating of biofuel, it should be watered with hot water. Sometimes heated stones and bricks are placed in biofuel.
Greenhouse on straw
If it is possible to purchase wheat, rye or barley straw, the greenhouse can be laid on straw. To do this, straw is placed in the trenches 2 weeks before planting the seedlings. It is watered with warm water for two weeks. After 2-3 days from the start of the greenhouse, nitrogen mineral fertilizers are added to the moistened straw.
After about a week, the biofuel in the greenhouse begins to warm up and its temperature rises. The strong smell of ammonia indicates that the process of processing straw by bacteria has begun. After 2 weeks from the start of laying biofuel, soil is poured onto the straw. The greenhouse is ready for work.
To calculate the temperature in a greenhouse or hothouse, you can make an automatic regulator
Food for thought
When calculating the amount of biofuel for heating greenhouses, it is useful to know the volumetric weight of some biological materials:
- Horse manure - 540 kg/m. cube
- Cow manure - 600 kg/m. cube
- Pork manure – 800 kg/m. cube
- Tree bark – 600kg/m. cube
- Tree leaves – 360kg/m. cube
- Wood sawdust – 240kg/m. cube
- Straw in bales – 180kg/m. cube
- One of the best mineral fertilizers containing nitrogen is urea. It contains about 46% nitrogen. The second name for urea is urea.
- Wood ash neutralizes acidic soils
You can start filling greenhouses with manure from mid-March. Having done this work in such extreme early dates, you will be able to plant heat-loving crops in protected ground structures at least a week earlier than usual. Well, this article will tell you what type of biofuel is best suited for these purposes.
In order for a greenhouse to be truly warm, it must first of all be deep (from 50 to 75 centimeters) and abundantly “stuffed” with suitable “fuel”.
The northern wall of the greenhouse should rise above the opposite side: then the frames will lie in an inclined position and the sun will more actively illuminate the plants grown in it. The best material considered for guys wooden logs with a diameter of 12 to 14 centimeters. In this case, the glazed frames must fit tightly to each other and do not contain noticeable gaps. To do this, it is recommended to cut out special protrusions in the sheds in which the frames are installed.
The best biofuel for both a greenhouse and a greenhouse is horse manure. It is light, burns evenly and for a long time. Cow manure is denser due to the water it contains, so it warms up more slowly. Pork and sheep are also inferior to horse meat in their ability to generate heat, but at the same time they contain more nutrients than cow meat. In addition, pig manure tends to acidify the soil, so it is used only in conjunction with the application of lime.
Various organic mixtures are also excellent biofuels for greenhouse structures: for example, 70% cattle manure + 30% wood waste or 35% cattle manure + 50% straw + 15%.
Any waste of organic origin is also suitable for the role of greenhouse biofuel: sawdust, chopped plant residues (grass, weeds, fallen leaves), household waste, waste from the food industry.
In the fall, the selected biofuel is tightly placed in a stack or heap, covered with several layers of film, and additionally insulated on top with various unnecessary rags. It is important to ensure that the pile not only does not freeze, but also does not catch fire ahead of schedule. If the mass still shows signs of burning (the temperature inside the substrate has risen and steam has begun to swirl above it), it must be scattered with a pitchfork, and when it cools down a little, rake it again into one place and lightly compact it.
Two to three weeks before the planned work on filling the greenhouse, the cover is removed from the heap and carefully moved with a pitchfork to a place cleared of snow, creating a looser heap. An increase in temperature, combined with freer air circulation, provokes the start of heating of the substrate. Millions of millions of microorganisms intensify their activity to process organic matter into accessible humus, while its temperature rises.
If the combustion process is too slow, you can pour hot water over the pile, or add a little raw material to it. Sometimes hot stones or quicklime are buried in it. To ensure uniform heating, it is also advisable to shovel it every two to three days.
If you decide to use wood or bark as biofuel, then for heating for every 10 kilograms of these materials you should add 55 grams of urea, 120 grams of superphosphate, 100 grams of potassium chloride and lime. Fertilizers are combined with wood waste, mixed thoroughly and placed in a heap.
As soon as the temperature of the biofuel rises to the required 55-60 degrees, it can be used to fill a greenhouse or greenhouse. The greenhouse is cleared in advance of remnants of snow and last year’s humus, if you have not removed it in the fall. Frames and decks are cleaned of dirt using a 10% solution of caustic soda or a weak solution of bleach.
Biofuel is thrown onto the bottom with a pitchfork in a layer of 15-20 centimeters, without compacting and making sure that no voids form at the edges and corners. Cold manure from the outskirts of the heap is placed at the bottom, then it is the turn of hotter manure, and the burnt manure is completely discarded. Without allowing the biofuel to cool, frames are placed on the greenhouse and their surface is insulated with straw mats or any rags.
After 3-4 days, when the biofuel warms up again and naturally compacts, it is leveled with a rake and sprinkled with fluff lime at the rate of 0.5 kilograms per square meter of substrate. Then a small layer of sawdust or peat is made on top to absorb the released ammonia. And finally, pour the soil mixture in a layer of 10 to 20 centimeters, into which the seeds are sown or seedlings are planted. While working, try not to step into the greenhouse. For convenience, you can simply throw a wide, strong board over it.
Once the biomass begins to decompose, its internal temperature will reach 55-75 degrees and will remain at this level for 2-3 weeks. Subsequently, the temperature slowly, over the course of a month and a half, decreases to 25-38 degrees.
By the way, you can “fill” a greenhouse with biofuel according to the above scheme in late autumn or early winter. Then in the spring (somewhere in mid-March), to start the combustion processes, heated stones are dropped into the organic matter or boiling water is poured over it. Already 2-3 days after this operation, cold-resistant crops (radish, dill, lettuce, cabbage, onions, etc.) can be sown in the greenhouse, and after a couple of weeks it is time to plant seedlings of cucumbers, tomatoes and other sissies.
In beds where perennial or winter crops are sown, you can spread a thin layer of peat chips or ash and cover them with black film to quickly get early green produce from them. Do the same if you want to sow salad mustard, lettuce, radishes as early as possible in the beds prepared in the fall, Chinese cabbage, dill and other green crops.
There is especially a lot of work in March in greenhouses. First of all, they need to be cleared of ice and snow, disinfected with a 10% caustic soda solution if you did not do this in the fall, and also bring biofuel to them if it lies quite far from them.
Then, to heat the greenhouse, hot manure (horse), straw (cow) or other biofuel, such as compost from tree leaves or organic waste, is placed in the pit, which, when decomposed by microorganisms, releases heat.
Horse manure is the best biofuel. Mixed with a bedding of straw and sawdust, it is quite loose and moderately moist. In a week it can warm up to 60-65 degrees. It cools down gradually, only after a month its temperature drops to 30 degrees.
Cow manure is too wet, dense, and does not heat up well. The maximum combustion temperature reaches 45-50 degrees, but it decreases quickly. The quality of cow manure is significantly improved when mixed with loosening materials, which are added in equal parts by volume. Such materials include dry peat chips, sawdust, etc. If there is a choice of biofuels, cow manure is better used for greenhouses at more later bookmarks.
Pig manure is wet and cold. It is used in the same way as cow's, in a mixture with other loose materials.
Many gardeners use waste from city landfills for biofuel. It is heated artificially, creating “hot” pockets. In 7-8 days, the garbage heats up to a temperature of 60°C and retains it for 45-50 days.
An available biofuel for the gardener is tree leaves. In their pure form they give a low temperature, but when mixed with mullein or pork manure (1:4) they heat up to 50 degrees. To do this, in the fall, fallen leaves are placed in a stack so that they do not fly away; they are covered with earth, old film or boards.
Then the manure must be heated. To do this, throw it half a meter to the side with a pitchfork to loosen it, lay it loosely in a stack up to 1.5 meters high, without compacting it in any way, otherwise it will not heat up.
To heat up manure faster, a hole about half a meter deep is usually made in the pile and filled with horse manure. If there is no horse manure, then hot spots in the manure pile can be created by boiling water, stones heated over a fire, or quicklime poured with water. After this, the stack is covered with straw manure or peat chips.
When the entire stack is heated, it is transferred a second time and after 2-3 days it is placed in a greenhouse. The looser the manure is placed in the greenhouse, the faster it will “burn.” But you can’t fill a greenhouse with unheated manure.
Before filling the greenhouse with biofuel, it is necessary to put sawdust, dry leaves, and straw manure in a layer of about 10 cm at its bottom in order to well isolate the hot manure from the frozen ground and provide it with a free flow of fresh air.
Then the hot manure is laid in layers, carefully adjusted along the edges and corners and compacted a little so that no gaps form. In this case, it is necessary to put cooler manure from the edges of the heap on the bottom, and hotter manure on top. And burnt (gray) manure should be discarded, because... It is not suitable for filling a greenhouse.
Then the greenhouse is covered with frames and insulated with mats. Well-burning manure gives decent sediment in 3-5 days. It is trimmed and sprinkled with fluff lime or wood ash to prevent the growth of various fungi.
Then a layer of sawdust or peat chips 4-5 cm thick is placed on the manure, and only then greenhouse soil is poured on top in a layer of 10-20 cm or boxes with seeds sown in them are placed for seedlings.
The basis for preparing greenhouse soil is turf soil, the physical properties of which are improved by adding leaf and manure humus, peat and river sand.
If the manure is not covered with a layer of sawdust or peat chips, then sowing boxes should not be placed on it, since the released ammonia can destroy the seedlings. And peat, sawdust and soil absorb ammonia vapor well.
At the time of backfilling, there should be a space of no more than 7-8 cm between the ground and the frames, but as the biofuel settles, this distance increases and frees up space for growing plants.
Before placing it in the greenhouse, the manure is heated by beating it, carefully transferring it with a pitchfork into loose piles up to 2 meters high. In the early stages, this interruption begins two weeks before placing manure in the greenhouse, and in later periods - 7-8 days. You can also warm up the manure artificially by adding dry manure to the wet manure, and moistening the dry manure with hot water. It’s even better to pour several buckets of “steep” boiling water into the middle of the heap and immediately cover it with straw mats.
For quick heating, you can place hot stones or quicklime in the middle of the pile. For the same purpose, you can light a fire in the middle of the heap by placing a box of sheet iron over it. When coals appear, manure is poured onto the box, leaving room for traction.
For uniform heating, the interruption is repeated after 2-3 days. Manure is ready for packing when its temperature reaches 50-55 degrees. At this time, the manure begins to steam and the smell of ammonia appears.
The greenhouse is filled with hot manure after clearing of snow and ice. First, a layer of sawdust or dry leaves up to 10 cm thick is poured onto the bottom of the greenhouse to isolate the frozen ground from manure. Then hot manure is placed evenly and loosely on the sawdust.
In the middle of the greenhouse, it is lightly slammed with a fork to compact it, and at the edges - a little harder. Burnt manure (it gray) there is no need to put it in a greenhouse. A greenhouse filled with manure is covered with frames and mats and they wait 2-3 days until the manure settles. If there is a strong sediment, it is added.
Before filling the soil, the manure is leveled, but no longer compacted, and sprinkled with fluff lime or a double rate of ash to prevent the development of pathogenic fungi.
The maximum temperature inside the manure layer occurs approximately 7-10 days after it is heated, then it gradually decreases. However, heat generation may continue for 2-3 months.
If manure is difficult to obtain, then the greenhouse is built using solar heating. In this case, you should not dig a pit; the greenhouse box should be placed in a sunny place on fertile humus soil. In this case, the northern side of the greenhouse frame should be 12-15 cm higher than the southern side, then the plants will be optimally illuminated by the sun.
Then the prepared soil is poured into the greenhouses. Peat composts, composts with turf, humus soil, etc. are used as soil. The composition of the soil and the thickness of its layer depend on the crop that is going to be grown.
When growing potted seedlings, add a layer of soil 6-7 cm thick, for potless seedlings by sowing seeds or for green crops (radish, onion, dill) - 10-15 cm, and for cucumbers and tomatoes - 20-25 cm.
To insulate a greenhouse at night and in cold weather During the day, you can use mats made from burlap and stuffed with straw or spare glazed frames. Kraft paper bags in which cement is carried are very convenient for these purposes. The paper of these bags does not allow water to pass through and retains heat well. Mats made from these bags are as reliable as straw mats. You can also use old blankets, worn out clothes, etc.
Well, the epicenter of gardening events is now on your windowsill. The most important thing is to ensure that the seedlings do not stretch out. Therefore, it should be watered as rarely as possible, but without allowing the soil to become too dry, and put it in a bright and cool place. This will slow down rapid growth and will allow you to get strong seedlings.
And now about the flowers. If you have roses growing on your property, then it is very important to sunny days When the air temperature rises above zero degrees, ventilate the roses covered with frames or boxes. To do this, throw away the snow from the end sides of the shelter and lift the covering material for the day. But don’t forget to leave the cover down at night. Such ventilation will help prevent roses from dampening off and the development of dangerous fungal diseases.
If you still haven’t decided which varieties of vegetables you will plant and sow on your plot, then the time to think about this topic is coming to an end. Remember that throughout the winter, various experts advised you on the pages of our newspaper about different vegetables and varieties, about their advantages and disadvantages, because... The time for winter reflections on the garden theme has come to an end.
And one last thing. While there is still a lot of snow on the site, they need to fill the barrels, because... in April, water will be needed when planting in a greenhouse and when sowing early on the site, especially if it is early spring.
On the contrary, it is necessary to divert water from greenhouses and greenhouses. To do this, diversion ditches must be made in advance on warm days. On the slopes, on the contrary, it is necessary to make transverse stripes to retain water when the snow begins to melt.