Great job Donna!.....
New Green House
Hello all and thanks for the welcome and my name is Carolyn
Hi Carolyn! For a second I thought we were in an AA meeting. LOL
Welcome to Dave's brug forum!
Donna, How is everything going in the greenhouse?
Is it filled up yet?
Is everything working right?
How about a photo of the plants inside.
Kris
Yes Donna,
I would love to see it as well.
Thanks all for the welcomes.
DonnaB, Hi.
I suppose that if the setup you profess is working well for you, don't change it. Here in MD we HAVE to use clear, starting in about January, to get our plants going in time for market. Seeing as how you are in a relatively "warm" place, I can see how you might want to use the white plastic year round to keep your temps more even. BUT, the plants DO need that light spectrum that they cannot get through the white plastic. As for ME, I'd prefer to NOT move them in and out, in and out, and in and out. Too much unnecessary work. But, like I said, to each his own. ;o)
I saved all three pictures in my GardeningPlans file, BTW, so tell your hubby he's "on record." Hahahahahaaa!
Kell, Thanks.
I know NOTHING about Brugs but Carol may wind up doing them. You know the drill...... Whatever sells! :)
My main objective is a quick turnover on landscape plants, i.e.: shrubs and trees. Lotsa money there and less trouble and less losses. Carol is into the flowers and I will help if she needs it. I USED to say I wouldn't fool with planting anything inedible but I wish I'd known 40 years ago what I do now. Life would be so much different.
Plants are nourished by certain spectrums of light and some are different than others, that is why some will just NOT grow in the shade and some will die in the sun. If you are using white or milky plastic, you are defeating this purpose. Like pansies: they need dark for their seed to germinate but after they do, they need boucoups light to keep them healthy and from "hunting" for their sustenance (light spectrum), thereby becoming spindly (legging out). If you're going to have a greenhouse, it's my thought that that's what it should be, otherwise you will have a coldframe or a hotbox, depending on the temps, not much more than that. The GH film will stay almost perfectly clear for at least 4 years (if that is the rating) and should be changed every 4 years, as such. In the Winter, you need white plastic. It keeps the GH from acting as a "heater" in the Winter. If your plants abnormally break dormancy, then go dormant again, nine chances out of ten they will not have the stored energy to break dormancy when you want them to. (BTW, don't forget to get yourself some good "mouse-food" in the form of good, weather-resistant rat-poison cakes)
Did I miss anything? :o)
Y'all take care.
Bob
BTW, Kell, here is the [Lighthouse] I built in my other workshop before we moved. It has full lighting (fixed, not rotating), is real wood, not plywood and is over 7' high with the American Flag on top. It was a custom job and it cost $575.
This message was edited Dec 29, 2004 2:39 PM
And this is my favorite type of furniture to build..... outdoor furniture. (Adirondack)
Here is how the hoops are attached to the door and how the door is held together with steel plates and hurricane straps. Can't find my pics of GH full of plants. Will retake today or tomorrow. Today 80% chance of rain.
WOW Electric Bob, you sure have talent! Love your pictures. I would say you could give my DH some lessons but I have to be nice since he built me a seedling light rack yesterday! And I am just thrilled with it.
Funny you should that picture today Donna, I just mentioned to my husband he should make a door on my hoophoouse instead of the flap that is not working well at all. Too hard to keep it open to get air circulating in the day. I will have to show him how with yours.
Donna, I meant to ask you: What size PVC did y'all use for the bows? I know the length is 20', but is it 1", 1ź" or 1˝" in diameter?
They say the interaction between the PVC and the GH film causes damage to the film. Has anyone here noticed that for a fact?
Bob
You are right about the film damage. I think painting or taping contact area helps.
The size of your PVC should be 1 1/2" schedule 40 for smaller structures but bump up to schedule 80 for larger and stronger structure.
§
edited to add link..........interesting info here
http://192.211.16.13/curricular/ecoag2001/ecoagclasproj/PVCvsWood.htm
This message was edited Dec 29, 2004 2:35 PM
I believe white film is good for colder areas in the winter as it helps alleviate extreme temp fluctuations. Especially of you have plants in dormancy mode.
§
Thanks, Scoot. I will probably go to Wally*World and get some of that 1ź" - 1˝" wide insulating foam with the sticky on one side. My GH will be the width acquired within the 20' of the PVC and probably 20' long for a start, until this mess can start paying for itself. For sure I woulda used Sch40 anyway. Don't forget... I am a retired Master General Electrician (MD, VA, DC).
You're exactly right about the white film. It also keeps the frost off the plants when they're tring to go dormant, thereby averting any real damage. In the South, it makes little difference in the color, except when the ful lightspectrum is needed to start new plants, etc. The white plastic is usually used in areas where plants do go dormant, effectively blocking the sun from "magnifying" through the clear and giving the plants a false start, whereby they wouldn't have enough strength to re-start at the proper time. We call them "coldframes" here.
Kell,
This is a picture of MY seedling light "rack" from last year... 18 trays with 288 cells each. Yowch! I won't do that again. Too many. We got carried away and it was our first time.
This message was edited Dec 31, 2003 9:09 AM
Electric_Bob, I did the same thing several years ago and it was way too many seedlings!!! This past year, I grew the seeds in batches which allowed me to plant them in batches, too. It worked much better :)
Morph,
AMEN!
Happy New Year to you, yours and everybody!
Bob
:)
Hey Kell, did you see the plans Jim Kennard posted? There are also pics, measurements and supplies listed for doors. Check in Extras. :) One of us can't take being greenhouseless and has been doing research and sketching. Tax refund should not be TOO far off. LOL
Michele what did you do with all your seedlings? Did they all make it in the house with you?
Do you mean all my brug babies? Those are all either in the garage or house. I think most of my cuttings bit the dust-we'll thank my daughters cat for that, but my rooted plants still look fine.
I was wondering if brugs were appealing to cats? We got a new kitten that is about six months old now. At first, he was VERY interested in my brug cuttings. I found one with half the leaf chewed off. Now, he just leaves them alone. Maybe he got sick and realized what caused it? Anyway, he doesn't go near them at the moment.
Donna, how is your new GH ? :-)
sorry if I should have missed a thread
My cats have to taste anything green I bring into the house. Sounds like your kitty didn't like it and hopefully will leave it alone (-;
§
It's doing wonderful Ludger. Full to the rafters. I need to go take a pic. Some thing have reached the roof already. Waiting for a few warm days to go out and pull some out so I can rearrange everything and cut some tops off.
Good news Donna:-) thank you so much for updating!!
Have fun with it and I wish you the warm days:-)to you...and the greenhouseplants
Here pic from today showing how full it is. It is 12' wide and 18' long. DH promised if it wasn't raining sunday to get my back door built so I can give everything a good watering back there, fertilie and check for bugs on my brugs. So far everythiing looks good a far as I can tell trying to look through all the plants. Also need to get to them to make cuttings for spring round up.
This message was edited Jan 16, 2004 2:47 PM
blooming brug GQ I think
pink & white salvia from Azalea. I love it
oh and the Mallow I got from Bruce Dean is incredible. I should have taken pics before I watered. The bloom is all folded over
Great pictures Donna. How in the world do you get to the back end of the GH?
That's why I've been on DH about getting in my back door I can't get back there. I shoot water through all the plants trying to reach the back and I shoot it at the ceiling over the top of the plants. He was supposed to do it over the 2 weeks he had off at christmas and ended up having to working everyday including sats and suns except Christmas day and New years eve. Yhis is the first weekend he has had off in a month and now it's supposed to rain.
Bob I used 1 1/2" pvc sch 40. I wanted to use sch 80 but there is none around here that we could find. So this summer we are going to add a wooded center beam down the length and one from the ground to up the ceiling. We get lots of Tropical and Thunders storms that really pack some winds.
This message was edited Jan 16, 2004 5:34 PM
how do you get to the middle!! lol.
LOL ..Lot'sa water pressure should reach the back, I guess.
............ Donna I think I need to go pout and have my own pity-party for a while.
...........Your GH looks soooo good, u're a lucky gal.
§hirley
Wow! That's unreal...did ya maybe outgrow it before it was built? Only kidding. Know it does for you what you need it to. Question: Do you use the cooker to heat your house? I have one of those turkey cookers somewhere that I never use. Might be a possibility on the next, larger house. Thank you for sharing the pics and info! Gretchen