# Mediterranean > Part of: [Climate Zones](/climate-zones.md) · Provider: [DutchGreenhouses](/) A Mediterranean climate zone is a greenhouse region with mild wet winters and hot dry summers — Spain, Turkey, Morocco, Israel, coastal California. The mild winter tempts growers into unheated houses, and the resulting night condensation and disease pressure make humidity control, not heating capacity, the decisive system. ## Facts | Property | Value | |---|---| | Representative regions | Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Morocco, Israel, coastal California, central Chile categorical | | Dominant constraint | Winter night humidity and disease pressure categorical | | Common misjudgement | Treating an unheated house as a controlled one categorical | | Decisive system | Humidity control, with a minimum heating capacity to drive it categorical | | Summer requirement | Ventilation area plus shading or diffuse screen categorical | Climate zones # Mediterranean. Mild enough to tempt you into building cheaply. The winter nights collect the bill. ## Unheated is not the same as uncontrolled Where: southern Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Morocco, Tunisia, Israel, coastal California, central Chile, parts of South Africa and southern Australia. ## The climate that produced Almería Winters are mild enough that crops survive without heat, summers are hot but dry, and radiation is generous almost all year. That combination built one of the largest concentrations of protected cultivation on earth, mostly in low-cost plastic structures with minimal control. It works, at a level, and it is the reason the region exports enormous volumes of vegetables in winter. So the honest starting point is that a cheap house here does produce a crop. The question is what it gives up. ## What the cheap house gives up A mild winter night in a poorly controlled structure is a humid one. The crop transpires, the temperature falls, the air reaches saturation, and moisture condenses on leaves and fruit. That is the whole disease equation — and it is why unheated Mediterranean production runs so much higher crop-protection pressure than a heated house at the same latitude. A minimum pipe running at low output is not there to keep the crop warm. It is there to keep the air moving and the moisture off. Unheated is not the same as uncontrolled, and the difference between those two is where the margin lives. ## Summer is a shading and ventilation problem Radiation is the surplus here, not the shortage. So the screen package leans to shade and diffusion, and roof vent area matters more than insulation. Evaporative cooling works well because the summer air is dry — the same physics as the desert, without the same water scarcity, though water is tightening across the whole region and that is worth planning for now rather than later. ## The commercial question this climate really asks The gap between a plastic tunnel and a controlled glasshouse here is not survival. It is yield per square metre, product quality, and whether you can supply a supermarket on a date. That makes Mediterranean projects an unusually clear investment conversation: what does the next level of control return, at what capital cost, in your market. DutchGreenhouses® builds the high-control end of this climate. Get in touch and we will put numbers against the step up. From the knowledge base ## Reads you might find interesting ### Grow Like a Pro: Starting Smart, Growing Strong How Grow Like a Pro combines smart farming, CEA technology and local partnerships for eco-friendly, profitable, pesticide-free greenhouse pr Read article ### The Case for a College Greenhouse Why a college greenhouse belongs in the curriculum: teaching science, craftsmanship, business logic and sustainability, and preparing studen Read article ### The Case for a High School Greenhouse Why every high school greenhouse matters: how it makes STEM tangible, builds responsibility and teamwork, and helps students discover their Read article ### Greenhouses in Education: The Case for Schools Greenhouses in education reconnect students to reality — the full case for why every school, high school, college and trade program should h Read article ### The Origins of Greenhouse Horticulture: My Backyard A tour through greenhouse horticulture history: from 19th-century Westland fruit walls to the “City of Glass” and today’s international high Read article ### DutchGreenhouses Rebranded: A New Corporate Identity Announcing our new corporate identity — a visual style reflecting our dedication to advanced, high-quality greenhouse projects and The Futur Read article ## FAQ **Do you need heating in a Mediterranean greenhouse?** Not to keep the crop from freezing, but yes to keep it dry. A minimum pipe temperature is what drives air movement and lets moisture leave the crop on a cold night; without it the house cools to dew point and condensation settles on the leaves. **Why do unheated Mediterranean greenhouses lose crops in winter?** Unheated is not the same as uncontrolled. On a clear January night the house radiates heat to the sky, the air reaches dew point, and free water on the leaf is what fungal disease needs. The loss shows up as disease rather than as cold damage. **Is a plastic tunnel enough in this climate?** It is what much of the region uses, and it is why so much of the region fights the same winter problems. A closed, controllable structure costs more and removes the condensation cycle that limits the unheated alternative. **What makes the Mediterranean summer manageable?** Low humidity. Dry air means evaporative methods and ventilation both work well, so summer is a solvable problem in this zone in a way it is not in the humid tropics. ## Related [Climate Zones](/climate-zones.md) · [Temperate Maritime](/climate-zones/temperate-maritime.md) · [Humidity Control](/climate/humidity-control.md) · [Screening](/screening.md) · [Ventilation Mechanism](/greenhouse-construction/ventilation-mechanism.md)