Opening the doors and windows, and placing fans will create movement of air in the greenhouse, and therefore helps to cool it. Furthermore, it enhances the strength of our plants. It is just important to make sure you close the windows appropriately when it gets windy, to prevent them from damaging. You can do this, by completely closing the windows upwind, and having the windows downwind opened slightly.
However, opening the windows will not reduce the temperature enough on a hot summer day. So the aquaponics team had to think of another way to lower the temperature. Another well-known method of cooling a greenhouse is installing a shade cloth. To place this shade cloth we had to install nylon wires, also known as “Atlas wire”, under the roof of the greenhouse. The shade cloth we have installed does not block out all sunlight, so the plants still get enough of it for photosynthesis. However it blocks out enough light to lower the temperature in the greenhouse significantly.
