Expert: Sarracenia Northwest - 1/19/2012

Question
As we get into the cooler parts of the winter mywindow has been getting colder and colder. After ditching my green house do to electric bills and the fact humidity isnt always a good thing all my plants have been doing good. in my west window but not now iv noticed its very cold like high fortys at night which i know is ok for highland. however the days are cold too. like the high 60s i know this is to cold for day i even invested in a heater. it still does not bring the temp up cause im not allowed to run it in the day. i thought about just keeping them out of the window seal altogether and only puttting them in there when the sun is shining but i am ussaly not home due to school. so i cant have artificial lights. and no heater during day.....hmmmmmmmmmm any sugestions

Answer
Hi Robert,

Artificial lighting would be my first suggestion, that way you don't have to have them in the window when it's really cold.  Lights can/should be on a timer so you don't need to be around to turn it on and off.  A simple two-tube shoplight assembly would be using around 80 watts, and would supply a little heat to your plants.  That's way less power than a space heater.  Another option would be heat mats.  Here's an example: http://www.greenhousemegastore.com/product/seedling-propagation-mat/seed-startin

The thought I had is taking them to school.  Do you have any teachers that would enjoy hosting your plants?  Sometimes schools have big windows and steam heat that is more consistent.

Hope this helps.

Good Growing!

Jeff Dallas
Sarracenia Northwest
http://www.cobraplant.com