I wrote about heating the greenhouse during the winter back on January 15, 2015, “Keeping Your Cactus Warm.” At the beginning of this winter Bill installed a small natural gas heater in an attempt to bring down the electric bill generated by the two small electric space heaters I had been using. We haven’t compared utility bills yet to see if the change worked, but I can tell you the natural gas heater has done a better job of keeping the temperature consistent without having to check it and turn it up or down.

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Bill also converted the butane heater in the barn where the bigger plants spend the winter in hopes of saving money on energy. The gas heater in the barn has always done a good job heating, but again, we haven’t compared bills, but it is just bound to be cheaper.

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The real issue, however, was always the greenhouse, and regardless of the anticipated savings, the gas heater has proven to be more dependable. It is a tad larger than the electric space heaters, but there were two of them to dodge as I watered. I do have to sort of tiptoe around to the back of this heater to get to plants, but that’s doable. The plants seem to be thriving, so I guess it is doing something right.

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Don’t know if you have access to natural gas, but I would suggest you look into it. It is working well in my greenhouse.