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CrackbottomLouis

CrackbottomLouis

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So, not really an expert on greenhouses. I have a nice spot in the backyard for one. Gonna measure out footage shortly. But, I have questions.

How big of a greenhouse should I try to get and maintain? Family of 2 with a baby on the way to supplement longterm storage foods with fresh goods. If I ever need to expand production of fresh items I could use it for seedlings to extend growing season for outdoor growing but thinking more year round fresh food production in the greenhouse. I live in GA so I'm thinking with some minimal heating for the couple months of cold I can achieve year round food production. I know this is a loaded question but just some general info or perspective would be welcome.

I think my wife would much prefer a "nice" looking greenhouse without plastic sheeting. Glass or something similar. Like english countryside greenhouse type look.

Are there any companies that you would trust more than others for a good product? One that will last and continue to look nice? What kind of upkeep besides the planting inside am I in for? Are there features of a greenhouse I should consider indispensable?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts and advice!
 
Hubby built ours from repurposed materials. Its 12x12. I've mostly used it for potting plants, hardening off seedlings when I start them inside the house and storing my pots in there. Hint: any bags of products or cardboard you leave in there will be destroyed by the heat and sunlight. ask me how I know :rolleyes:. I plan to store them in some rubbermaid containers for now on

Once we move it this year I want to try to grow vegetables inside for an extended growing season.
I also want to experiment with trying the Kratky Method of hydroponics in there at least until it gets too cold. Then I want to try it inside the house this winter.

I suppose size would depend on if you plan to just build it over the ground and plant rows or if you're going to use pots and lights. I've seen English greenhouses that use both methods and they're pretty big because of the ground growing.

I'm thinking that greens would be good for trying to grow year round but I would have to try it first to find out

Oh and don't forget UP. You could use hanging planters to grow some things too. I plan to have hubby install a rod or two across ours so I can do that

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I built my wife a greenhouse when we lived in the desert. I had a company that sells carports with metal frames build the frame. Basically I purchased a carport with just a metal roof. I purchased polycarbonate panels much like posted above it was 18 x 30. I got all of our parts from greenhouse mega store. They were great to deal with. I was able to design a cooling system on thier site. I chose the 6 inch cooling pads but they shipped 4 inch. They resent the 6 inch pads and let me keep the 4 inch. All in all it is a good company and easy to deal with. I almost forgot I used the metal roofing somewhere else. We also used greenhouse paint in the hotter months to make the greenhouse an opaque and washed it off in the winter.

As far as indespensable items it would be airflow and a thermostat. We had a 2 stage. Stage 1 opened the Louvres at one end and turned on suction fans at the other. Stage 2 added water to the cooling pads when it got hotter. I don't know if the cooling would work in a humid area.
 
Cooling is likely more important than heating unless you are in the northern states.
You need good air flow regardless because those plants need to breathe.
Here the summer heat will cook the roots in potted plants so we have to put the potted plants into a larger pot with sand between the pots. Water the sand twice a day and it keeps the plant moist and cool. We have cooked three years worth of potatoes before learning what was wrong.
We start seeds indoors and then move them outdoors in a portable green house. We have to slowly lower the humidity to get them ready for the dry air. Shade cloth helps to keep most of the raised beds from over heating but even that is not always enough.
 
Probably fine, depending on your local climate. Overall, Georgia is warm and moist but there are locales where that doesn't hold.
 
SheepDog said:
Probably fine, depending on your local climate. Overall, Georgia is warm and moist but there are locales where that doesn't hold.
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Oh its warm and moist here. It was 88 yesterday. Every year it seems to get hotter for longer. At the rate we are going in 5 years we will be Florida without the beach.
 
Cooling would be the #1 issue I could see here in Tennessee. Likely worse in Ga depending on how far north you are. Another thing to consider with the heat is keeping the root system of the plants damp enough. You might want to consider some type of drip irrigation and run it with a timer. Maybe water once or twice a day for an hour or three. Totally depends on your conditions.
 
It really depends on what you want to accomplish and where you live. Do you just want to start off your seeds? This doesn't take much. Do you want to grow a garden? This takes as much space as you can throw at it.

Since I moved in here my highest temp was 95℉ and my lowest has been -30℉. We get a lot of wind. So far today the highest has been 36MPH and is forecasted to go higher. We have a short growing season but in the summer the sun is down for as little as 4 hours ant it never gets dark. I am downwind from 5 nuclear targets.

My fantasy greenhouse would be 24'X40' and dug 4' into the ground. This would provide some geothermal benefit. The north wall would be a regular insulated wall with a white interior. The north side of the roof would be insulated and metal. This is to protect me from the northerlies in the winter when there is no light coming from that direction.
 
CrackbottomLouis said:
So, not really an expert on greenhouses. I have a nice spot in the backyard for one. Gonna measure out footage shortly. But, I have questions.

How big of a greenhouse should I try to get and maintain? Family of 2 with a baby on the way to supplement longterm storage foods with fresh goods. If I ever need to expand production of fresh items I could use it for seedlings to extend growing season for outdoor growing but thinking more year round fresh food production in the greenhouse. I live in GA so I'm thinking with some minimal heating for the couple months of cold I can achieve year round food production. I know this is a loaded question but just some general info or perspective would be welcome.

I think my wife would much prefer a "nice" looking greenhouse without plastic sheeting. Glass or something similar. Like english countryside greenhouse type look.

Are there any companies that you would trust more than others for a good product? One that will last and continue to look nice? What kind of upkeep besides the planting inside am I in for? Are there features of a greenhouse I should consider indispensable?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts and advice!
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Glass is nice but expensive if you want it to look fancy. Sometimes we got some really good materils from demoleshing companys or
CrackbottomLouis said:
I was going to get the panels that open up top and run a fan. Is that not sufficient for cooling?
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We had those in our lean to. Worked prettty good. A fan is an absolute. Also be sure and have some dhade cloth. You'll need it and if placed right or you can draw it or roll it back.it won't affect plant growth either. we use the medium green shade cloth
 
Caribou said:
It really depends on what you want to accomplish and where you live. Do you just want to start off your seeds? This doesn't take much. Do you want to grow a garden? This takes as much space as you can throw at it.

Since I moved in here my highest temp was 95℉ and my lowest has been -30℉. We get a lot of wind. So far today the highest has been 36MPH and is forecasted to go higher. We have a short growing season but in the summer the sun is down for as little as 4 hours ant it never gets dark. I am downwind from 5 nuclear targets.

My fantasy greenhouse would be 24'X40' and dug 4' into the ground. This would provide some geothermal benefit. The north wall would be a regular insulated wall with a white interior. The north side of the roof would be insulated and metal. This is to protect me from the northerlies in the winter when there is no light coming from that direction.
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Great plan Car. Especially the sinking floor. :thumbs::I agree:
 
We had a 6’x12’ lean to on our home. I grew out of that in about 5 yrs. it really worked well. Then hubby built me one to connect with my garden. We did order one, but it didnt come with all the parts, sent it back and built one that was nicer and cheaper. This is a pic from the side view, i am on the porch with my cats so cant get a better pic, it has sliding doors on each side so I can drive the tractor thru to til.
 

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lilmissy said:
We had a 6’x12’ lean to on our home. I grew out of that in about 5 yrs. it really worked well. Then hubby built me one to connect with my garden. We did order one, but it didnt come with all the parts, sent it back and built one that was nicer and cheaper. This is a pic from the side view, i am on the porch with my cats so cant get a better pic, it has sliding doors on each side so I can drive the tractor thru to til.
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Lilmiss, that looks like a good one. We have had a few in past 22 yr.s here one looks like yours.:thumbs::clapping:
 
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lilmissy said:
Thanks Meerkat. It has served its purpose. I couldnt tell you the last time I bought plants to put in garden. hubby made 2x2 cedar boxes for inside so I dont have to use those plastic trays. Works pretty good so far.
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Your welcome and glad you have a place to grow food in case stores get lean. We need more people like us in this nation that can and will produce some of their food.
 
Meerkat said:
Your welcome and glad you have a place to grow food in case stores get lean. We need more people like us in this nation that can and will produce some of their food.
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I agree. Everyone in my family cans and gardens. And then just in conversations some people cant believe that others still can. Makes ya wonder, thats for sure.
 
lilmissy said:
I agree. Everyone in my family cans and gardens. And then just in conversations some people cant believe that others still can. Makes ya wonder, thats for sure.
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Yes it does. Hubbys family always had a garden but mine didn't. But we learned to can , dehydrate and plant over the years. Thanks to sites like this and and youtube.At first it was library then I got online .Hubby can hunt and prepare wildlife too. Not many critters were safe from their table.I'd ask him when visting his family what am I eating today?I grew up on grocery store meats.
 
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