Greenhouse: need help with GH setup, 0 by stressbaby

stressbaby wrote:
Kristy, welcome to the GH forum.

It is always said that the first thing you should do when thinking about a GH is decide what you will grow. This often determines what you need. For example, if you are just raising spring bedding plants, you may need a GH will less winter insulation and the water quality may not be such a big deal. I know a commercial grower in Iowa who does without heaters, every spring. For me, growing containerized tropical fruits, and for digital_dave, who collects bromeliads, winter heat and water quality matter a great deal.

If house plants are part of the picture, water quality matters. There are a few ways to handle hard water. One is with a potassium-based water softener. Another is reverse osmosis, that is what dave and I use. Rainwater collection is more economical, I would add this to my grant if I were you. Tigerlily uses a rainwater collection system which stores the water in a tank and recharges a bladder tank when it draws down. Nautical will be using a similar storage/recharge system, but in his case it is supplied with RO water. Thanks and acknowledgement to both of them for the help with the diagram, below. The parts for this system will run roughly $200-400, more if you use RO water for the supply.

Heat mats won't be adequate for heat in the winter. Here is a greenhouse heat calculator: http://www.littlegreenhouse.com/heat-calc.shtml If we assume the lowest temp you will have is 15F, and that you will want to maintain at least 55F in the two greenhouses attached end-to-end, you will need just under 19000btu of heat. You will want to play with the numbers a little bit using the calculator.

I wonder whether it would be better for you to go with a larger double-layer poly hoop style greenhouse. Two 10x12 HFGH sounds awfully small for a "nursery" operation. That is half the size of my hobby greenhouse. It is possible to connect two HFGH end-to-end. You should probably decide this issue early on, because obviously if they are not connected you may want to have two exhaust fans, two sets of intakes (intake shutters), rather than just one.

I would advise you to go to ebay or amazon and get two books: The Greenhouse Gardener's Companion http://www.amazon.com/Greenhouse-Gardeners-Companion-Growing... by Shane Smith http://www.greenhousegarden.com/ is an excellent overview of greenhouse gardening and is really the beginner's bible. So You want to Start a Nursery by Tony Avent is a book I haven't read, but is highly recommended http://www.amazon.com/So-You-Want-Start-Nursery/dp/088192584... He owns Plant Delights nursery and writes with a great sense of humor.

Post back with your questions and we'll do our best to help.