How to keep a Greenhouse cool in the desert or Hot Summer?

For all of you who have got their haste shoes on, here is what you can do to keep a greenhouse cool in the scorching heat of the desert. You can add thermostatically controlled fans, place vents, damp the greenhouse two times a day preferably in the morning and evening or you could place shade cloth over your greenhouse for cooling.

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Okay, so you came here to know about, ‘How to keep a greenhouse cool in the desert?’ right?  Yes, I KNEW IT! Alright so here’s the plan. I will explain and you will read and by the end of this article, you will know pretty much about how to keep a greenhouse cool. So to eat the fruit we must first plant the seed, we must first learn what a greenhouse is?

What is a greenhouse?

Greenhouse is a structure with walls and roofs, mainly made from transparent materials in which we can control the temperature and other key factors such as; the presence of pests, humidity, and light. These factors affect the growth and health of the plants inside.  We ensure that plants grow healthy and fast inside the greenhouse by providing the best possible conditions ( optimal Temperature, Humidity, and Light) for plant growth.

How to keep the greenhouse cool?

A greenhouse is an artificially created controlled environment for plants to grow fast and healthy. Now as  we know the ‘what’ of it; let’s learn the’ how?’  Okay so basically the temperature in a greenhouse is controlled strategically by the following methods.

• Installing an intake fan and exhaust vent.
• Using a Shade Cloth.
• Damping the greenhouse.
• Using just exhaust vents.
• building the greenhouse in shade or with the help of tree plantation around the greenhouse.

How to use FANS to keep a greenhouse cool?

You might now have an idea by what I’ve just told you so far, let’s get into a bit more details. Let’s start with the placement of the fan, a thermostatically controlled fan can do wonders by pulling cool air into the greenhouse and pushing warm air outside. The key point with ventilation is to keep the fan low so it pulls in the cool air and places the exhaust vent high on the opposite wall to push out the hot air. The fan should be placed in such a way so that it is facing the plants. you can check out the fan here on Amazon.

Place a bucket of water outside in front of the Fan to make the greenhouse much cooler (You can also place it inside). Yet a far better and costly method is to install evaporation pads in front of the intake fan which will work best than just a bucket of water. You can check the evaporation pad here on Amazon. You will need to sprinkle the water on this pad for evaporation. This needs a bit of DIY work, but it is very effective. You will need a small pump, a container to catch the water below the pad, and some PVC pipes. The pump will pull the water from the container and will sprinkle the water on the PAD through small holes drilled into the PVC pipe.

The water will evaporate as the evaporation has a cooling effect, so it will cool the air around it. This cool air will be sucked into the greenhouse by the fan. The fan also helps with pollination because inside the greenhouse there is no wind to shake off the pollen so the fan is also a replacement for the wind.

How to use Shade cloth to keep a greenhouse cool?

A shade cloth can also do wonders for your greenhouse. keep in mind that a shade cloth placed on the roof will be more effective rather than a shade cloth on the sides or underneath the roof. Shade cloth can create a temperature difference of four to five degrees, this may not sound much but it can do wonders for your plantation. Woven shade cloth is constructed from poly-propylene, it leads every other shade cloth in lifespan and in weight as it has a lifespan of ten to twelve years and has thirty percent more weight than shade cloths made from knitted poly-ethylene. But knitted poly-ethylene shade cloths are more versatile in nature providing the greenhouse with hail protection, wind protection and can also be used to fence the greenhouse or you could save yourself all this trouble by building the greenhouse in shade i.e.
underneath a tree, in summers the tree will provide shade and in the winters the leaves fall of letting the sunlight through to the greenhouse, so basically it’s a win-win situation for your plantation.

How use an exhaust vent to keep a greenhouse cool?

Exhaust vents are necessary for the greenhouse as water is for us.  I’m not kidding, exhaust vents have more than one benefit for your greenhouse, not only it keeps the greenhouse cool by circulating the air, it keeps pests away as well. Pests that find your greenhouse comfortable, some opportunistic bugs are just waiting for conditions to favor them, circulating air keeps pests such as whiteflies away from your greenhouse. Vents also provide fresh air to the greenhouse which helps plants synthesize their food via photosynthesis. ( These vents will intake carbon dioxide from outside, if there were no vents then the carbon dioxide level will decrease because plants consume carbon dioxide for photosynthesis), now all we need to know is the best possible location for vent placement, don’t worry I got you covered. The best possible location to place a vent is exactly opposite to the door of the greenhouse. But there is no harm in placing additional vents on the side walls but the one opposite to the door is a must as it will provide the best air circulation for your greenhouse.

How damping keeps a greenhouse cool?

Vents and fans play a small role in the bigger picture, the cherry on the top for your greenhouse has to be “DAMPING”. Damping is the best thing that can happen to your greenhouse. I can’t emphasize this enough, Damping is the most key step you can take to make your greenhouse more optimal for the plants in a hot climate. it works on the principle of evaporation. Basically, you are increasing the humidity of the greenhouse by spraying water on hard surfaces (surfaces that can observe water) so evaporation can take place slowly when water evaporates it has a cooling effect. This cooling effect combined with the humidity of the air because of evaporation makes your greenhouse heaven for plants in hot summer days. In the triple-digit desert heat, the greenhouse stays between 85 and 90 degrees. Before damping the temperature of a greenhouse is roughly around a hundred and thirty-five degrees and is 85 to 95 degrees after damping, there are also more sophisticated greenhouse misting systems on the market and even commercial greenhouse fogging systems.  do you need your greenhouse to be even cooler, an evaporative cooling system is yet another option?

Short Summary:

So remember, a good fan, ventilation and damping are the key components of a successful greenhouse and this sums it up. Congratulations you now know exactly what steps to take to keep your greenhouse cool in hot summers. Jokes aside, to run a successful greenhouse is not easy but if you follow what I’ve just told you, I’m sure you will be running a successful greenhouse in no time.