Greenhouse how to heat up the best way

I am building a 116’ x 20’ green house in lake county want to know if red soil is good to plant in or should I go with elevated beds or smart pots instead ? Also what is best heaters to use being it’s winter ? Thanks

I would use elevated beds or tables whatever you can afford to make. Tables be best cus you can control the heat all around the root mass. If you have natural gas that prob be cheapest option for heating. No matter what its gonna be an expense. Can do a forced heat with wood stove and some heatsinks with fans. Other option be propane. I would say electric or gas but I feel depending on where you live that those would be to costly. There isnt to many wrong ways to heat a space. If it works it works just what one is more cost effective giving the situation with the costs on fuel, electricity, natural gas.

Hello,

I am uncertain which Lake County you reside in or what your local temperatures are on average. Provided you have access to it, which I would be surprised if you did not. LPG(propane in North America) would be the most cost effective (compared with electric) and provide a considerable boost in CO2.

There is an alternative that would save money in the long run but would require planning and a bit of hard work. You can use a rocket stove and a large thermal store. Have a look at this querky fella HERE. I know a greenhouse grower in the U.K. who uses a rocket stove in his greenhouse with great success.

The concept is relatively simple. You burn wood intensely and the wood gas in a secondary combustion chamber. The exhaust is done in a serpentine pattern to maximise heat transfer to your thermal store. (masonry, used brick, rocks or clay mixed with straw) There is very little smoke coming out at the end of your exhaust do to your secondary combustion chamber.

I am making this sound more complicated than it is. Mount your trusty keyboard and Google rocket stoves. I think you might like it.

Cheers,
Will

Greenhouses are commonly heated using natural gas or propane heaters suspended from the ceiling.

To heat something that size you'd want some kind of a forced air heater. It could be electric or gas such as propane or natural gas. There are also radiant heat solutions. But the question is what are you trying to do? If you're growing in a greenhouse in the winter you're not going to be getting decent light you're wasting your time. Unless you're supplementing the light.

They make systems that are called bench heating. Its like radiant floor heating but they heat the trays the plants sit in. Not cheap but it's something many greenhouse growers swear by.