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New portable greenhosue

Binganero

Binganero

Hey everyone!

After a long hiatus of trying to plan a wedding, finish my masters degree and working all at the same time, I am back and preparing for another year of pepper growing.

I only had one problem. Last year I raised my seedlings in a closet in our guest room (which doubles as a study for my fiance'). She didn't like the smell when I put nitrogen products on my seedlings, so I told her I would relocate. With not many other options, I had to build one!

Here is the result of about 7 hours of work and about $80 in supplies (would have been less but I made a few mistakes along the way).

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I will be hanging my 8-bulb sunblaze T5 system from the top cross beam, so I will have a 2' x 4' grow area with 432W of 6500K light . I will also add an automatic ventilation system, so that will be fun to design and make. In the end, I will be able to have the light and about 28" of grow height below it.

Next weekend I will wrap it in plastic. Any suggestions? I was just going to use the 4mil plastic that home depot has, was hoping to get some input from people that have done this before. Any other good inexpensive alternatives?

Thanks!

Bing
 
great project...I assume this is going to stay inside?
 
Thanks AJ.

It will be in the garage with heat mats to keep the seedlings cuddly until it gets a little warmer, then I plan on pulling the light out and putting it on our patio. We have been getting an unusual amount of snow this year, so the portability and flexibility will make adjusting to the weather easy.
 
excellent Bn...

a word of caution...the cross members for the GH on the bottom of the legs don't look like they will take much "tortional" load...meaning if the wind is broadside to the gh, it may tip over without any support...I recommend either sitting something really heavy on the legs or "fastening" them down to something when you move it outside...looks like the center of gravity will be about 3-6 inches above the shelf...

if you have already thought of this, thats cool....
 
AJ,

Thanks for the input. I did see this as a problem. The GH was designed to fit inside our garage with storage space underneath with a slim 26" profile to fit in front of our cars. The place I will be putting it outside will be against a south-facing wall, so the only problems that wind will present will be from the side. I was still planning on adding some weight or fasten it to the wall regardless... to much time to see it topple over.

Have you had any experience with greenhouses? Will a few heat mats and a light inside be sufficiently warm with ~40 to 50 degree garage temps outside with just plastic coating? I am not trying to make the most efficient thing here, just keep the inside warm for the little guys. It would not be hard to cut some cheap 1/2" foam board and line the inside, but if plastic will do the trick, there is no point in wasting.

Thanks again!

Bing
 
Bing,

I have a 192 sq. ft. GH that averages seven foot tall and 1600 watts of electric heat can raise the inside temps about 30 degrees. Once the seeds germinate you would not really need to keep it any warmer than about 55 unless you want the guys to grow real fast, which should be a walk in the park if you have plastic on the sides. Plus, of a night, you can always cover the thing with a blanket.

Mike
 
Bing-
Big fan of your style, man!
As for what to wrap it with- since you've already spent good money on quality wood, have you considered using corrugated polycarbonate siding to cover it? I'd guess you could cover it with a single sheet. Maybe a couple hinged doors covered with it on the side?

Good project, I might have to add that to The List!
 
Hinky,

For insulation and light transmission and cost, you cannot beat the product that just turned 50 years old - bubble wrap! Of course, twin-wall, 8-mill polycarb is decent too!

Mike
 
I smell something... it smells like something that comes from a can. Could it be, surely not, that product called Spam.

Insulated bubble wrap, on both sides, for indoor growing??? Oh, and I can its uses in a greenhouse, especially if one wants 100 percent shade cloth.

Of course, I could be way off on this!

Mike
 
Its finished! (sans solar ventilation system)

Added some doors (was harder than I had hoped) and sealed them off with some homemade PT trim and foam.
I covered it with 4 mil clear plastic from the local hardware store, and put some trim around the plastic edges to make it stronger and look better.

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The roofing plastic is sealed over and behind the top piece of trim, and the lower piece is slightly arched to allow for drainage without seeping in the doors. I think this may need some work over time, but we will see. A little leak never hurt anyone!

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Like I said before... its a greenhouse, but also a seed-starting and raising house, so I made it to fit my 8-bulb T5 setup. This is it with the light installed, but not all the way up.

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So the finished product in its indoor home:

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Some heat mats (2 x 17 Watts)...

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and the light...

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I made some small holes in the floor to allow a clean escape of power cords, and I hope they will double as intakes for fresh air when I ventilate.

The inside rose from about 40 degrees F to mid 70's in about 10 minutes with the light and mats on. This is why I am going to need ventilation. I think it may get alot hotter than I would like inside without it.

And finally, the foam that is temporarily filling in the area where I will install the ventilation:

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I will do another update when I get the air flowing as I would like.

Any other ideas/thoughts? This was a fun project and I would like to fine tune it as time goes on!


Bing
 
Bing,

That is sharp! It looks like it can also be a cold frame. I'm jealous, but in a good way. But where's the double reflective, bubble-wrapped insulation one apparently needs in a greenhouse or indoor grow chamber?

Mike
 
wordwiz said:
I smell something... it smells like something that comes from a can. Could it be, surely not, that product called Spam.

Insulated bubble wrap, on both sides, for indoor growing??? Oh, and I can its uses in a greenhouse, especially if one wants 100 percent shade cloth.

Of course, I could be way off on this!

Mike
Click to expand...
you know I ate some onetime didn't care for it!!!LOL
 
wordwiz said:
I smell something... it smells like something that comes from a can. Could it be, surely not, that product called Spam.

Insulated bubble wrap, on both sides, for indoor growing??? Oh, and I can its uses in a greenhouse, especially if one wants 100 percent shade cloth.

Of course, I could be way off on this!

Mike
Click to expand...
Yeah Mike you're way off, but on the positive side you added to your post count. I had Spam fried rice in Hawaii and it was actually pretty good

The OP said he wanted to put it in the garage to start seeds and keep them warm. I'm not a pro, but I assume that Virginia is pretty damned cold. Reflectix works great. I live in the Atlanta area and I've started growing right after Christmas in my uninsulated garden shed. For several years I've used a Metro wire rack covered with the "spam" product for starting seeds and growing until the season comes around. With 4' T8 shop lights it keeps everything nice and cozy. When out temps drop into the teens I just add a little electric heater to help out. When the temps are from 25-40 the rack stays around 50-58 only using the flouroscents
 
Hi T-John and Welcome to THP.

Do you have any photos of your set-up? Sounds pretty interesting.

Binganero, this baby is comin' along! It looks pretty damn good to me. Have you figured out how you're gonna ventilate? You mentioned solar? Great pics, by the way.
 
Thanks!

As an electrical engineer, I am always thinking about this. I changed my mind about solar. I am going to use an old cell phone charger to power it. I am all about harvesting extra light energy, but I figure when all the plants are growing up, I will need all the space under the light that I can get. Cell phone chargers are not power hogs, and I will not be stressing its power capabilities.

I am going to start with the charger powering two old computer fans. One will be 40mm ~ 5 cfm (cubic feet per minute) toned down to run slower and I will mount it in the uppper window now filled with foam. The second fan is a 80mm fan that I will put under the roof crossbeam facing laterally (towards the downslope of the roof) to circulate the air already inside of the house.

I am also planning, as a secondary addition to the vent system, a thermistor/thermocouple control unit with a Schmitt trigger on it to turn the fans on and off as the temp reaches a good target.

I realize you can buy these, but where is the fun in that??? This project keeps getting better and better!

Thanks for the comments!

Bing
 
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