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greenhouse build a greenhouse
- Thread starter Sunshine
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i built a mini greenhouse on the front of my garage, today i just put in a cement foundation to act as a heat sink and drywalled the north side, to stop our dreaded north westerly winds. tomorrow i am on a quest for bubble wrap to act as a greenhouse insulator...... no.... i really doubt i will be able to use it in winter. the unit is to allow me to grow from May to October without running 60 plants into the house every night.
hey qbv, my mom lives in calendar bay...... she is a cool, hip, 83 year young chick, who plays bingo in the bay, when ever i fly back i take her, we do the mom and son thing and tag-team at bingo! and she likes to bring folk to King's, All You Can Eat Buffet..........urrrp! been there a few times my self! and doesn't your local IGA carry Lake Trout! Now that i miss, plus pulling smelt out of nippissing.
sunshine, you can only do what mother nature has given you the tools to do with, -30C is not a friend and no amount of sunshine and insulation will fix that, like qbv points out, you are going to have to plan your plant growth around a season or time frame. so, Jan/Feb you sow your plants indoors(assuming super hots), then target May to enter the greenhouse, knowing very well that unless you heat the greenhouse, it is daytime only and everything has to come in at night. By July, you lose need of the greenhouse and then by the end of Aug, everything is back in, in the evenings.
good luck champ!
hey qbv, my mom lives in calendar bay...... she is a cool, hip, 83 year young chick, who plays bingo in the bay, when ever i fly back i take her, we do the mom and son thing and tag-team at bingo! and she likes to bring folk to King's, All You Can Eat Buffet..........urrrp! been there a few times my self! and doesn't your local IGA carry Lake Trout! Now that i miss, plus pulling smelt out of nippissing.
sunshine, you can only do what mother nature has given you the tools to do with, -30C is not a friend and no amount of sunshine and insulation will fix that, like qbv points out, you are going to have to plan your plant growth around a season or time frame. so, Jan/Feb you sow your plants indoors(assuming super hots), then target May to enter the greenhouse, knowing very well that unless you heat the greenhouse, it is daytime only and everything has to come in at night. By July, you lose need of the greenhouse and then by the end of Aug, everything is back in, in the evenings.
good luck champ!
I'm building a greenhouse well expanding and fixing it up for all year growing check out my thread on wind turbines it's not inexpensive but it's a hobby that you could make money from. What part of Canada? with a well built cold frame you can grow to dec,,,
can you link me on your thread please?
I tought about the solar panel with a heating unit but I don't know if I would be heating the greenhouse for nothing. I mean if the heat would be excaping trough every window haha
http://thehotpepper....4-wind-turbine/
I plan on building on the front so I can walk in close to the door behind me in the storage room and then open the greenhouse door. Solar was more expensive and did not produce as much....In the fall/winter I get less sun and more wind...
http://www.slideshar...ion-background1
http://thehotpepper....og/page__st__40
I plan on building on the front so I can walk in close to the door behind me in the storage room and then open the greenhouse door. Solar was more expensive and did not produce as much....In the fall/winter I get less sun and more wind...
http://www.slideshar...ion-background1
Clear Silicone Caulking tight screws and tight plastic with some light bulbs for heat and lightcan you link me on your thread please?
I tought about the solar panel with a heating unit but I don't know if I would be heating the greenhouse for nothing. I mean if the heat would be excaping trough every window haha
http://thehotpepper....og/page__st__40
A good place to get DIY info/plans etc.
A lot of stuff they use is scrounged...
Mother Earth News.
http://www.motherearthnews.com/
http://www.motherear...reenhouse plans
http://www.motherear...Greenhouse.aspx
https://www.motherea...CFWXhQgodnz4ACg
They might not have exactly what you need but they have several plans etc. that could be combined to get what you need.Solar wind scrounging stuff.Ideas that give you a point of reference as to what to look for as far as a starting point.
Mother Earth can be a goldmine of info.
They have been around a LONG time.I used to have a 2 ft. stack of their mags.
Wish I still had them...
They were each about an inch thick , way back when...60's/70's.
Good stuff in general.
Don't care for some of the tree huger extreme stuff but don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Ya ,I'm getting that old,another aging Hippie...
A lot of stuff they use is scrounged...
Mother Earth News.
http://www.motherearthnews.com/
http://www.motherear...reenhouse plans
http://www.motherear...Greenhouse.aspx
https://www.motherea...CFWXhQgodnz4ACg
They might not have exactly what you need but they have several plans etc. that could be combined to get what you need.Solar wind scrounging stuff.Ideas that give you a point of reference as to what to look for as far as a starting point.
Mother Earth can be a goldmine of info.
They have been around a LONG time.I used to have a 2 ft. stack of their mags.
Wish I still had them...
They were each about an inch thick , way back when...60's/70's.
Good stuff in general.
Don't care for some of the tree huger extreme stuff but don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Ya ,I'm getting that old,another aging Hippie...
your not going to use solar to heat a greenhouse, it just too expensive. even a 12Volt ceramic heater is going to draw way too much power.
i was in costco today, and they are pushing their new line of solar equipment. to use a 12 volt heater was $1,499. that gave you the 1200 watt generator and 2, 15 watt solar panels, the rep said that should be enough to keep the batteries charged, he said you would be surprised at how the panels keep that batteries charge.... . but, my simple calculations don't add up.
that is one expensive heater. i could just run a power cord to my 1200 watt, quartz heater and let it run all winter and that still wouldn't come near $1,500.
i was in costco today, and they are pushing their new line of solar equipment. to use a 12 volt heater was $1,499. that gave you the 1200 watt generator and 2, 15 watt solar panels, the rep said that should be enough to keep the batteries charged, he said you would be surprised at how the panels keep that batteries charge.... . but, my simple calculations don't add up.
that is one expensive heater. i could just run a power cord to my 1200 watt, quartz heater and let it run all winter and that still wouldn't come near $1,500.
Here is mine with the heater, stays 80 degrees, could also make it hotter.
I'm told you can find this heater at Home Depot closer to winter weather for $20-$30. I picked mine up for $50 shipped. I have about $200 in the entire greenhouse but a lot of it was stuff I wanted to do to make it aesthetiacally pleasing.
I'm told you can find this heater at Home Depot closer to winter weather for $20-$30. I picked mine up for $50 shipped. I have about $200 in the entire greenhouse but a lot of it was stuff I wanted to do to make it aesthetiacally pleasing.
A LOT of solar etc. depends heavily on what you are using it for and the location-climate etc.
My parents house has been off the grid since the early 80's.
Dealing with climate etc. has a LOT to do with what you can or cannot use.
Snow on my parents cells cuts down on juice if they don't keep the panels clear in the winter.
Their panels do now ,follow the sun so the only thing they really have to keep snow free is the solar water heaters in general.
Their house was built to be totally solar.
Dad was a Mechanical Engineer and worked with mostly Heat Transfere(Mercury heat shield up to the shuttle craft,then geo thermal wells before he retired).
When the house plans were OK'd they asked him if his house was going to be on the moon or something...
Solar doesn't mean just electricity.
Could mean just sunlight and needing less heating or whatever.
Placing your greenhouse in a southern exposure with the proper materials goes a long way to saving $ on heating etc. if you have to resort to other means(heaters etc) to make it work.
Depending on the size of the greenhouse,there are a lot of ways to make things either work or cut down on some of the expense of getting things worked out that will work for whatever your conditions call for.
Also buying stuff and recycling stuff is a lot different in cost.One takes $ and the other takes a lot of original thinking and trial and error.
I've seen pretty big greenhouses that were heated with wood stoves that a water line was wrapped around the stove to pump hot water underground(floor area) and through the walls and roof beams with a thermostat tht kept the greenhouse producing veggies year round.
Wood stove was an airtight model (fisher)that used about 2 cords of wood a winter and needed stoking 2 times a day during the winter.
The greenhouse was mostly made from salvaged materials.
My parents house has been off the grid since the early 80's.
Dealing with climate etc. has a LOT to do with what you can or cannot use.
Snow on my parents cells cuts down on juice if they don't keep the panels clear in the winter.
Their panels do now ,follow the sun so the only thing they really have to keep snow free is the solar water heaters in general.
Their house was built to be totally solar.
Dad was a Mechanical Engineer and worked with mostly Heat Transfere(Mercury heat shield up to the shuttle craft,then geo thermal wells before he retired).
When the house plans were OK'd they asked him if his house was going to be on the moon or something...
Solar doesn't mean just electricity.
Could mean just sunlight and needing less heating or whatever.
Placing your greenhouse in a southern exposure with the proper materials goes a long way to saving $ on heating etc. if you have to resort to other means(heaters etc) to make it work.
Depending on the size of the greenhouse,there are a lot of ways to make things either work or cut down on some of the expense of getting things worked out that will work for whatever your conditions call for.
Also buying stuff and recycling stuff is a lot different in cost.One takes $ and the other takes a lot of original thinking and trial and error.
I've seen pretty big greenhouses that were heated with wood stoves that a water line was wrapped around the stove to pump hot water underground(floor area) and through the walls and roof beams with a thermostat tht kept the greenhouse producing veggies year round.
Wood stove was an airtight model (fisher)that used about 2 cords of wood a winter and needed stoking 2 times a day during the winter.
The greenhouse was mostly made from salvaged materials.
For me it did not make sense to buy 100-150ft of PVC pipe to protect the power cord from the lawn mower in the spring and snow around the connectors in the winter run 3 extension cords and run 1500watt or even 1200 watt space heaters plus I would still need to run lights....HPS was the way to go but in the spring and summer what can I do with that power? charge drills and other items saving on the electricity bill.
Extending greenhouse growing season using water barrels for heat retention
When I purchased Lexan (with a guy that worked there) I was able to get large "scraps" of nice cut plastic that I was able to use but you could make a hoop house style greenhouse with cheaper plastic. Part 1 - rebuilding the greenhouse
How to Heat a Greenhouse / Canada
How to build My 50 Dollar Greenhouse http://doorgarden.co...use-green-house
Greenhouse (with HPS) vs Fluorescent Grow Room Experiment http://thehotpepper....oom-experiment/
Greenhouse (with HPS) vs Fluorescent Grow Room Experiment http://thehotpepper....oom-experiment/
I like this but the problem is if you open the door for 3 seconds on a day around 0C all the heats gone.Here is mine with the heater, stays 80 degrees, could also make it hotter.
I'm told you can find this heater at Home Depot closer to winter weather for $20-$30. I picked mine up for $50 shipped. I have about $200 in the entire greenhouse but a lot of it was stuff I wanted to do to make it aesthetiacally pleasing.
Probably not as I won't open it at night and during the day you're looking at solar energy, then again it takes about 10 seconds to make it 80 degrees on the low setting. I can't see 3 seconds of 0 degrees doing much of anything.
Well in a larger space without a space heater it would take longer to get that heat back...but still I would not take the chance...
Well either they grow of they die, if they die they would have died outside before that happened and I'd be waiting until the next season anyway. I had an unheated greenhouse a few years ago that grew tomato plants year round without an issue.
Well where I live the overnight temps can reach -29C (rare but can happen) and daytime high can be -10 during the winter. In the winter it rarely dipped below 0 in my old cold frame Tomatoes would likely survive but super hot peppers probably would not....Anyway I have a heat source and a storage area being built onto the greenhouse so I can enter without letting cold air in or warm air out. In Canada we have a shorter growing season so if we had to restart we would probably be growing indoors all year. Either way Sunshine will pay for some electricity for light and heat and either build or buy some things for his setup the difference is the greenhouse will get some light/heat from the sun so you would not need to heat or light your grow area for a few hours and when spring comes you can stop using the lights sooner. If Sunshine has a large yard or permission to use his parents yard he could more than double the number of plants he plans to grow and maybe sell some. Sunshine needs to decide how much time/money he can spend and is it worth it for just him (Electricity supplies watering bulbs) he could build a cold frame from old windows and add two or three CFL bulbs for under $75 can. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhzJZye_nKI
A properly built greenhouse helps keep pests and weeds out and prevent cross pollination (Simple and organic). When winter comes you don't need to bother with cleaning your plants to over winter them and your plants could last up to 7 years!. With drip irrigation you can save water by watering at the root zone not the surface where it evaporates (attach a rain barrel) and as you have seen I plan to power my greenhouse with solar and wind.