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greenhouse Started on my Greenhouse

I've got a decent amount of the IR film on the inside and while it has helped a bit with the temps, there is still too much uncovered. I was somewhat concerned with the light transmission, even though it is suppose to allow somewhere around 92 percent.

There is still a lot of fall and winter to go, but I'm somewhat encouraged. My research about GH tomatoes turned up that I need at least 20 moles/day for acceptable production, 22 moles/day for good.

I'm encouraged - today was a partly sunny day and the light measurement was 37,000 lux at the plant canopy in the back (where the light is the weakest). Translated into moles/day, based on 10 hours of sunlight, I would get a little over 24 moles/day.

It's a neat formula - Lux divided by 10.76 (or skip the division if your meter measures foot candles) times .00071 for sunlight (.00051 for MH, .00047 for HPS) times the number of hours of light per day.

Mike
 
I'm having problems trying to use hydro, at least with the last batch of transplants, so I'm going to try several in containers. At the same time, I notice I don't have a lot of room from the top of the bucket or pot to the ceiling so I decided to gave me another 8". I'm digging out the dirt and burying the containers. Besides giving me so real good soil to mix with potting mix and compost for the containers, this should help alleviate drying out.

I am soaking the filled containers in water before they get buried. My thoughts are this will give the lower part of the soil mix - after it drains - moisture content similar to what one finds in a garden. I've seen temps get up to 117 degrees inside this past week and I know how quickly that can dry out dirt in a container. I figure the ground ought to stay at about 60-75 degrees depending on the season and soil depth (probably 1-4 degrees higher in the center of the GH).

I have only 46 days to get a ripe tomato and the clock keeps ticking!

Mike
 
This is encouraging. It is 47 degrees outside and in the GH it is 84 - and that is without a heater running. An extra 37 degrees and the sun still is not completely hitting it.

I hung some more Mylar in places, both to improve lighting and to hide ugly insulation and/or plastic. During the shortest part of the year (mid-December) I may struggle to get enough total light per day, but few of the toms should be flowering until the middle of January. The ones that are due in earlier December are bred more for cloudy areas.

Mike
 
Spent the last few evenings filling up the spaces with plants in 7-gallon containers, making my own mix and burying the pots in the ground. Also started burying the 5-gallon buckets of water in dirt, figuring this will help keep the water from getting too hot. Rewired (Or re-hosed) the plants in hydro so they are all getting a lot of air. If all goes well, by tomorrow evening, all the prep should be finished. Still have to wait for 11 plants to grow enough to bury the pots - they go in the front and the base is 2' tall so those 11 pots will not get sun.

Still having fun!!!

Mike
 
Yipee! I now have a light switch so I don't have to take a flashlight to see to plug in an extension cord. Still have to wire an electrical thermostat for the heater but that should be a simple task.

Did the Florida Weave thing on nine plants yesterday - they are getting about 2' tall and cannot hold themselves up, even though I have a fan blowing on them. Plus, a few of them now have flowers so the fan ought to help in pollination.

Mike
 
Today is the first real cold day this season - so far it has warmed up to 34 outside after being ten degrees cooler overnight. I used a kerosene heater set as low as I could and the coldest inside was 58. It's turned off now and the inside temp is 84 - just about perfect to set fruit.

After Linda gets back with the camera, I'll try to get some pictures.

I'm thinking I need to start my CO2 generator (home-made) soon as it's too cold to open the door and let fresh air in.

Mike
 
The middle of the gh - two rows of plants, buried to the tops of the pots.

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A couple of plants growing in water. The Mylar behind it does nothing to contribute to trying to get pictures!

125hydro.jpg


Here a couple of plants next to the front. The one on the right is an ITC 06 313 - all the plants of this variety seem to be leggy.

125windowcorner.jpg


Mike
 
The ITC is one of the few plants that have actually set fruit.

125babytom.jpg


Here's a couple of plants that I have trimmed.

125middle.jpg


And a head of lettuce in water. The camera lens was pretty fogged so it looks a bit fuzzy.

125lettuce.jpg


Mike
 
Everything looks real good Mike. It's nice to see something green and growing/fruiting while there's snow on the ground. Still a looong Winter ahead for me (argh)- thanks for sharing your pics.
 
DownRiver,

My GH will get a good test in the next 48 hours. On the horizon: rain, freezing rain, sleet, snow, winds up to 55 (yes, 55) MPH and temps in the low teens. Thankfully, the winds will come from west or west-southwest and that is the strongest side.

Keeping my fingers crossed - I'm hoping I built it right. I have a kerosene heater that I can crank up to 35,000 BTU if I need to and that would be enough to handle a half-inch of freezing rain an hour, maybe more. It is rare, very rare, to get that much total, even over an entire night. Of course, it was unheard of to get hurricane force winds for three hours but that happened in Sept., 2007.

I've got to stake the plants in the middle this evening. They cannot go north/south but they can fall to the west. I would do a weave on them but unlike a field where I plant everything and then dig everything up at the end of the season, I need to be able to replace individual plants as they reach the end of their cycle.

Mike
 
Yeah, it kinda sux to be in the NE right now. I just checked my forecast again and they've taken snow and ice out -- just supposed to be an "all rain" event.

It doesn't look like it to me....

badweather12-08-09.gif


Anyway, I think you built a good GH and hopefully it'll pull through this with flying colors.

good luck!
 
We are getting a downpour right now. Suppose to amount to 1.5" overnight, which is quite a bit for this area. I emptied my rain bucket (a big, plastic garbage can) to get the new rain water.

Been watering the plants and it is almost unbelievable how much those in the middle have grown since I added some of my compost tea. They are half again as tall, with a similar amount of foliage in the last four or so days.

My biggest regret is that I didn't have plants in the GH (or the GH built to put them in!) by September. But the goal remains the same - to sell 1,000 pounds of toms by Independence Day.

Shoot for the stars, be happy to hit the top of tall trees!

Mike
 
DownRiver,

It survived the wind and at times, it was up to 60 mph. I was inside it for a while and it was roaring - sounded like I was in the middle of a tornado.

Much more of a surprise is how well it has held temps. 30 outside, 60 inside - without any sun to speak of and only 1200 watts of heat.

Mike
 
Hey, that's great news Mike. I told ya you built a good GH:)

I'm gonna have to seriously look at building one. I've thought about it for years, just never got around to it or couldn't afford it or didn't have a place to put it, etc. Plenty of excuses.

Anyway, congrats on building a kickazz GH! You're way ahead of the game this year.
 
Thanks! I had been going through nearly a tank of kerosene overnight but last night, I used just a little over one-quarter of a tank. The GH was 52,30 degrees warmer than outside. Currently, it's 81 (25 outside) but I turned the kero off.

I don't mind it getting in the upper 70s or low 80s as long as there is a lot of sunlight but on overcast days, I try to keep the temps in the mid-50s.

I got lucky and was able to find a door and enough windows to cover the front and part of the sides so my cost was reasonable - under $600 for a 12x16' building. That includes the lumber, IR/AC film, 12 mil plastic for the roof, insulation, wiring and such.

Mike
 
Coldest day of the season - 4 this morning, 24 now but decent sun. It's 84 inside the GH with no heaters running. In theory, that would mean it could be 10 below outside and as long as the sun is shining I would not need any supplemental heat.

Mike
 
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