Greenhouse Grower

equipment_thermometers




	Equipment Every Greenhouse Should Have by John Erwin Professor, Department of Horticultural Science University of Minnesota How many times would you like to know your pH and EC immediately to decide what to fertilize with at that moment? What is your plant temperature? Is your media temperature what you think it is? Do you have a virus in your crop? Are your lights positioned to give you the amount of light you need for night break lighting or supplemental lighting? What temperatures did your plants get exposed to during shipping? New instruments available on today can answer these questions. Thermometers Infrared thermometers measure the surface temperature of whatever you point them at. They are an invaluable piece of equipment that every grower should use to determine their media/air temperatures. This piece of equipment has one of the quickest paybacks of any that you could purchase. They help you reduce heating costs when plants are warmer than you think and help improve germination and rooting by providing optimal temperatures. All greenhouse temperatures should be based on the plant and media temperatures – not air. This instrument helps you to do that. You can see more information on infrared thermometers at this Web site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrared_thermometer Where do you buy one? Infrared thermometers can be purchased from a number of places. In general, prices vary from $50 to $300. The most expensive thermometers will have the highest resolution (+1oF), whereas, the cheapest will have the least resolution (+>2oF). A list of websites that offer infrared thermometers is shown below: Cole-Parmer: http://www.coleparmer.com/catalog/product_index.asp?cls=45628 Infrared USA: http://www.infrared-usa.com/Category.aspx?CategoryID=69 Omega: http://www.omega.com/prodinfo/infraredthermometer.html Raytek: http://www.raytek-northamerica.com/tools/free_form_content/view.html?phase=show& id=1117741090&tool_id=38&cat_id=2.5 Thermoworks: http://www.thermoworks.com/products/ir/index.html?gclid= CNnH5bOWuYwCFRlmWAodAmiZRg