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  • From: "David Inglis" <mhcsa AT bcn.net>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Question about heating small greenhouse
  • Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 08:39:26 -0500


>Has anyone messed with biomass for heating?
I attended a workshop during winter on winter season production with Steve
Moore and others. Part of his presentation included his seedling heating
unit which is heated by vegetable based compost that is later used for
growing crops and finally spread on the growing beds in the house.
The unit is built on the north wall of a 30x96 unheated greenhouse using a
two foot high section of rigid insulation placed between the double poly and
the hoops as one retaining wall and a 5 course wall of concrete blocks laid
loose as the other wall. the space between is filled with a veg based
compost [low N slow burn heat source] topped with 3" of finished compost
bio filter] and topped with a layer of twinwall polygal. Seedling flats are
placed on a frame under the polygal.The rest of the greenhouse is not heated
but is carefully designed and he says the temp. inside the seedling unit has
never gone below 50F + the added benifit of increased CO2.
There were also presentations on soil heating systems though nobody there
was using biomass as the heat source. The delivery system wouldn't change
any way.
I have a huge pile of leaves brought to my farm by the town folk that cooks
at 100F- 120F all winter but it is not a simple matter to elegantly transfer
that heat to where I need it, in the greenhouse.
Does anyone have info on the b.t.u. potential of various compost
feedstock's?
> (though somewhat expensive) to pour
> the greenhouse slab over lengths of cement pipe over a
Where we are, greenhouse construction is not subject to zoning restriction
or property taxes unless concrete is involved so I avoid the stuff if I can.
Conditions of farming are also changing so fast that I like the idea that I
can remove any structures I use and no one would know they had been there in
a couple of years.
Yours
David Inglis
Mahaiwe Harvest C.S.A.
329 North Plain Rd,
Housatonic
MA 01236





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