Seasonal bedding plant growers may be less affected by high fuel costs during the winter than a year-round greenhouse production facility - they may not be heating all their greenhouse space during the colder months of the year - but spring heating costs can quickly reduce already thin profit margins. Many bedding plant growers have been examining alternatives to reduce fuel use.

For many years, Penn State researchers have been investigating the practicality of using unheated high tunnels for vegetable and cut flower production and season extension for these crops. The research lessons learned suggest the potential for unheated high tunnels to be used as bedding plant production space to partially or, in some cases, fully replace heated greenhouse space. The objectives of this research:

• To determine which plant taxa were sufficiently cold tolerant to be grown in an unheated high tunnel in the early spring.
• To evaluate relative marketability and cost of production for bedding plants produced in an unheated tunnel compared with those produced in a traditional spring heated greenhouse.

Many growers are already using high tunnels for cut flower product, and high tunnel research has been done for a variety of floral crops, the use of high tunnels hasn't really been explored for container-grown crops.