Started on a little 8'x10' greenhouse at the back of my shop.
Looky what I've got!
Need more materials...just wrapped it in plastic for now.
Plants going inside. First, the Brugs (Rhapsody and Esmereldas)...the main reason for the greenhouse. LOL
Some pots.
Hanging baskets.
Still needs a lot of work...shelves inside and polycarbonate outside. But, I hope to beat the upcoming low temps.
Congratulations! excellent idea.
Looks good. Did you use pressure treated wood at the base on the second picture? It will keep the termites away.
Are you going to use a heater at all when it gets realllllly cold?
Right now, I'm wishing I had one!
Thanks Josephine!
Jujube. All lumber in the project is treated. The landscape timber in front and sides is temporary...just to hold the plastic down untill I can finish the walls with polycarbonate panels. Will have to experiment with the heat. I plan to start out with an electric heater but, I also have a heater that connects to the top of a propane bottle...uses lots of propane :(. This is all new to me...will have to learn as I go. Lots of ideas here on DG.
Linda. Check out the thread in the greenhouse forum. They are making greenhouses out of swing sets!!
I am just thankful to be in zone 8b where the winters are not really that bad.
Thanks again for the replies!
Dennis
You know...it just occured to me that on this very date in 1989 it got down to 0° here.
Buuuurrrrr
Yes, it can get that cold once in a while, thank Goodness it is not often.
I remember that year! I had just moved out here earlier that year. That true artic front hit and most of the neighborhood had busted pipes and plumbers were working really insane hours, parts and supplies hard to come by even if people were lucky enough to get the plumber out. We managed to avoid that plumbing damage...but man, it was cold! I hadn't planted anything yet, but I remember the mountain laurels....the die-back was real bad for those that survived! It was 5° here! Hey, don't mention that kind of cold unless you're holding a cross up and saying a prayer that it doesn't happen again.
That is an excellent start! Do you heat your shop? If so, you should be able to open the shop windows to aid in warming the greenhouse. Or in the reverse, send some of the daytime warm air into the shop...
Now, you "need" more plants to fill it up! LOL
Linda. We had busted pipes but, it was a rent house and the owners paid for the repairs. I did loose my old Ford LTD...cristalized rear main seal. :( Prayers going out. Looks like old man winter is upon us.
Pod. Good idea but, I don't have an opening on that side of the shop. The GH is on the south side and protected by a wall on the east side. So far the temps inside have stayed 10° warmer than outside. Will be putting in a heater today though. Yes I do really feel the "need" to fill it up. :) I will be experimenting with propagations from some of the plants inside like the airplane plant, bat face cupula, coleus, geraniums...new at this but, I'll be gentle :) Got a big ol ginger in a pot that I almost forgot about...will get it in this morning.
Good job, and just in time.
Nice job. I could use one of those. Is the roof metal? Where does one find that material?
All of that material can be found at a big box Lowes/Home Depot.
I use a propane - fueled burner (the kind commonly used for "deep frying" turkeys)...setting the fire just low enough that the flames only show yellow at the very tips.....and I use a cheap $20 fan to keep the air circulating....this good enough to keep the temp 7-8 degrees above the outside temp.......and my green house is 20ft x 40ft x 10ft tall....if the temp gets to about 28 or lower....I add a small elec space heater at the other end to help out and it works well in combination. I bet an electric heater will do fine for you except on the coldest of nights (say mid 20's or lower)...I'd also use a small fan to circulate the air. I think you'll do fine...unless you have a re-occurence of 1989's bitter cold....God forbid! You GH looks good!
I just finished transporting my most tender stuff into mine...and will finish in the morning before the storm gets here. Good luck everyone! Lee
Here is my little greenhouse. I was lucky and happened to be dropping off stuff at the dump when a babtist church showed up and were throwing away all of their antique bubbled glass windows. YIKES!!!!!
I moved on those windows so fast it would make your head spin. I got the lot for about 50 bucks. I built the room on top of the old porch. There is a terrible design flaw that actually is a benefit in the winter. The bathroom fan vent releases air into the back porch. Since it is closed up now it can make for stinky situations at the worst times. HA! However, that same fan can be turned on when it gets cold and will keep the room at 55 degrees when it is below 30 outside.
Here is an outside pic.
That is really neat Jujube, it looks like you are a very handy person.
Very cool, everybody. I'm gathering ideas.
fancyflea. The roof is clear PVC. Was sold to me by a local lumber yard as polycarbonate but, I don't think it is. Most of the other material I got from Woodsons. Will be getting the polycarbonate for the sides from Home Depot in Bryan/College Station.
Lee. How long does your "turkey frier" last on a tank of propane? I've got one of those infrared heaters that mounts directly to the top of the (5 gal.) tank...will not last through 2 nights before refueling. Way too much heat for my little GH anyway.
Jujube. Nice job!
Thanks for all the replies folks. Yesterday the temp got up to 80° in the GH before I opened the flap on the door. Put in an electric fan/heater. Keeps it around 50° with outside temps around 30ish so far. Will see how it goes this weekend if the temps dip down into the 20s. Buuuurrrr!
I wish I had a place to put one, it would save lots of money for all the things I replace each spring.
C
After 4 winters of experimenting with what need the greenhouse and what doesn't here are my results:
Brugs: die to the ground, came back bigger than ever, 33* this morning and they are still blooming...in the ground.
Multiple varieties of colocasia and alocasia in ground, die to the roots and come back in the spring.
14-15' bananas die out and come back bringing pups with them. Looking at new leaves right now.
In the past I have worked myself to death with a ton of tropicals, taking cuttings and digging up for the winter. Not only did the cuttings root but everything else came back giving me twice as many. The gingers die down and come back bringing three or four times as many. So far, the two gardenias have not suffered and were even blooming last week.
Now because I report all of this, we will have an unusually cold winter and kill it all. Mainly all of them are root hardy and our ground doesn't freeze. They are mulched but nothing extra. Less than half of my trees have shed their leaves yet. I do have a tool shed and 6x8 Rion greenhouse for the super tender stuff like begonia and bird of paradise, coleus cuttings, that sort of thing.
For those that don't know of DeSoto, we are 14 miles south of downtown Dallas.
Dennist, you might consider cutting a small window into the greenhouse, probably all the heat you might need.
IF I had a greenhouse to heat I would use the same thing we use in our storage/shop. It is a sealed oil radiator heater, plugged in and on low will keep things toasty. Nothing to spill, no flame to blow out and leak gas.
Thanks Christi for the info on the plants. I covered my small brugs and a lot of my Milkweed (still have caterpillars). It is suppose to drop to 20 tonight.
This message was edited Dec 4, 2009 6:08 PM
At Sheila's behest, last winter we purchased the same heater for the 12x16 tool shed/barn.
Works great.
Dennis - I get about 2 nights worth from 1 tank....expensive, sorta.....but I justify it by remembering that I have quite a few plants being protected . Last night ,...I used 2 of the little heater/fan combo....along with a box fan to circulate the warmed air....they keep the inside about 6-7 degrees warmer than outside....checked this morning and it was 35degrees inside the greenhouse....CLOSE...but OK
Decided to wait on using the propane heater.....for sustained cold/bitter cold periods......28 degrees IS bitter cold for us in Willis,...as far as I'm concerned.....I know there are people chuckling about that....but hey....we ARE in southeast Texas!
we had a couple hours of sleet....then snow showers yesterday afternoon...nothing to write home about....it melted about as quickly as it fell.
I'm going to check into the oil-filled heater and may give it a try!
Lee, glad you kept it above the freezing point, although you can have a frost at 37 in a greenhouse if the conditions are just right. What is your greenhouse constructed of? We have met a good number of local people when we joined Dave's and even more when we started the nursery. Several either have greenhouses or are constructing one. I have found that most of the time you can find a way to double the plastic with an air layer in between. The difference that this makes can be great. Another way of helping with controlling the heat loss is stacking bagged leaves around the sides of the greenhouse although it is not very attractive. Bagged leaves start breaking down in the bag and start heating up on their on and help insulate from the outside.
Hey Ken - I built the frame/structure with lumber - using treated lumber for anything touching or near the ground - 6mil greenhouse plastic film
for the cover. I use a salvaged (from New Orleans post-Katrina) French door for my entrance - all in all....it's a crude structure but effective -
the black ground cloth is a geotextile fabric that is designed for sub-road support (especially in soft soil)....about 1/4" thick and excellent for weed blocking. I obtained from a friend that use to work for a company in Houston that manufactures the cloth in 15 ft wide large rolls. (my roll was free - rejected by their quality control for not meeting their specs.....but far exceeds my specs!!) I have lined the bottom perimeter with bagged leaves before,... as you described....works great.... helping insulate. Last year I did install an inner wall to get the double - walled benefit....didn't have time to get that done in time for this sudden snap....but will get to it soon!
Very nice Lee, good job!!
Got down to 18° here. Temp in the little GH this morning.....40°!!!!!! YES!!! this is going to work. The small electric heater and 100 watt flood light did the trick. Will post more later...off to work.
Here's an example of inside....when I lined the side walls with some of the geotextile cloth (1/8" thick variety) for insulation.....which I no longer do since I changed to 6mil plastic film instead. You can see the fan and heater that I use
OOPS....didn't have the pic I thought....the heater might be hard to see in this one...sorry 'bout that!
This message was edited Dec 5, 2009 9:43 PM
How cold did it get up there Josephine?
It was 29 this morning, I have the patio full of small pots covered with a black plastic tarp, and half the garage full with the most tender and larger pots.
Oh how wonderful. All that space. Beautiful plants. Was 25 here and the tropicals are drooping.
How easy is it to take apart and store for the warmer months?
C
We got 20 degrees last night. My FreezePruf spray really helped some of the very sensitive plants out side.
20.3° sometime early a.m. But when we got up, we were already in a brownout, so furnace and fridge couldn't work...really cold. And internet not working. We had wood for the fireplace, once I got around to bringing it in I had the fire started earlier. They didn't get the electricity fixed until 3:45 p.m. When you live this far out from the city, your priority is at the bottom of the list. I covered a few things outside and put some potted plants in the shed. Otherwise, things are pretty much zapped, blooms are probably over.