Cold air infiltration is an often overlooked but expensive source of heat loss and crop stress in heated greenhouses and covered retail spaces. This alert outlines how to recognize infiltration problems and offers practical steps to reduce drafts, protect crops, and improve heating efficiency during the production and sales season.
Cold air slipping in through doors, vents, fan housings, and small gaps or cracks can create localized cold spots, increase fuel use, and cause chilling or freezing injury in floriculture crops. This alert highlights common sources of infiltration and explains how to tighten structures, protect plants, and improve heating efficiency.
In floriculture production, keeping air temperature relatively uniform around the crop is essential for consistent growth and high-quality plants. Even with properly sized heaters and working environmental controls, unwanted cold air can create pockets of low temperature that stress crops, reduce marketability, or even lead to plant loss.
Cold air entering through cracks and openings behaves differently than the gradual heat loss that occurs through glazing. It can create cold corridors near doors, sidewalls, and vents where plants are repeatedly exposed to air several degrees below the setpoint. It also raises the risk of chilling or freezing injury to foliage, buds, and flowers near leak points, especially in cold-sensitive species. These temperature dips can cause uneven development within a greenhouse bay, leading to inconsistent height, delayed flowering, or visible injury in specific rows or benches. Fuel use increases as heaters work harder to replace warm air lost through leaks while reheating incoming cold air.
Understanding where cold air is entering and how it moves across the crop is the first step toward reducing these risks and improving heating efficiency.
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