Hi, All -
I know I have been quiet since the fall - been real busy with work and my indoor seed starting and maintaining my 20+ brug cuttings. Speaking of brug cuttings - a lot of mine are now getting big enough they are DEMANDING I pot them up into at least a 1 or 2 gallon pot. I am totally out of room under my grow lights in the basement and all my windowsills. I am considering buying this portable greenhouse (I can buy it for $140 with my NHGC membership):
http://www.flowerhouses.com/greenhouses/bloomhouse.shtml
I would like to put all my brugs out it in by March 15. Now we are not past the danger point for frost (or even snowstorms) until at least April 30, --do you think they would be alright out there? Am I risking losing them all? Anybody else doing this in my zone?
Help me decide.
Diane Krny
Tell me friends..am I nuts to buy this?
Are you going to have heat in it? I just took my seedlings to my greenhouse yesterday and today. It is framed and covered with fiberglass panels and then insulated with greenhouse bubble insulation. When the night temps are in the mid twenties, one 1500 watt electric heater will keep it warm enough, but anything lower and I have to run two of them. Mine is 8x10 and probably 7 or 8 ft. high down through the center. We live on top of a hill and I'd be afraid that something like you are looking at would take off in our winds. Your have much more protection, so it might work with a heater.
Diane I think you would have to stake it down and run a heater in it.
Without heat the temperature inside would'nt be much different than outside temps.
The amount of snow you all are getting in CT this year I'd definitely run a pole in the middle for support too.
Diane, I have no advice about your greenhouse, I would think Shirley and Terry would know much better than I. But I can tell you that brugs can be pot bound for ages and still be OK when you pot them up finally. I know this sounds like torture, but I let some seedlings stay in 4 inch pots for over a year. And though they did become tall, gangly and without many leaves, as soon as I potted them up, they took off and looked great.
I am in the same boat, I have no room left inside either, but none outside either! HELP!! LOL
hi Krynsgirl,
I have what they call spinghouses, they ar every durable I winter one through the winter in Ohio with eighteen " of snow purchase the second one and I will tell youy I have had no problems tehy are cheap but I love them and they work well. I have a heater in each one and they hold consistant on the tenperature and my plants grow beautiful in them, they are 6 X 6 X 6 1/2 tall hard plastic with vents to open and they have been great only $ !49.99 EACH
Thanks for all your comments..
This flowerhouse does come with regular stakes and highwind stakes and I would be putting it up in an area that is sheltered on two sides with a 5' stone wall and our barn on the other. It would receive good morning to early afternoon sun. I'm not too worried about the amount of sun, as the idea is just to hold them over until May - and even outdoor shade is brighter than indoor florescent. (I think).
I'll mull this over a little more today, check out small electric heaters - but I am leaning towards getting it. Does anybody make a solar heater that would absorb heat during the day and slowly release it at night?
My indoor grow center is busting at the seams. In addition to the brug cuttings I have 12 datura seedlings and two 72 cell seed starter trays going with slow growing annuals like pansies, etc.
Maybe next winter I will try to hold over my brugs via the water method...
Diane
I also have a problem with my babies getting pot bound and the biggest part of that problem is keeping them watered. Bigger pots do help. Good luck Diane. I'm sure you would get a lot of good out of the little greenhouse for other plants too.
Diane,
I purchased a portable greenhouse last year. I did not think about it prior to buying it, and didn't find out until I went through the instructions it said to not use heaters in it. I did not put it up until mid April. Our last frost date is late May so I did get some use out of it. I am not sure I will use it again.
Jeanette
Diane, I have a small home built GH only 5X8, I heated it with 4-5 candles on the coldest nights, it kept it around 40. Be sure to put your candles on the floor in a tin so nothing gets away & burns down the whole thing. I use an old pie tin with sand in it. I found glass votives break. I buy pillar candles at the $1 store, they last the longest & I think are the safest. I did this for 3 years.
Now I have an elect. oil-filled heater in there, on it's lowest setting. It keeps it around 60, on the coldest night, it's on a timer so it turns itself on & off. This one also has a thermostat so if it's a warmer night it also adjusts for that too.
I have out grown my tiny GH & am in the process of building a 15'X30', not sure how this one will be heated yet as it is at the bottom of our property, far from the elect. Maybe an oil stove. Good luck! Bj
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/407165/
Diane -- I also have a portable greenhouse. Check out the above thread. The mfg. specifically stated not to use a heater in it, but it has been heated for the past two winters with an electric, oil filled heater. No problems. It generally stays about 15-20 degrees warmer than the ambient outdoor temps in cold weather. You will become a slave to it when the days warm up though. You'll have to open it up during the day, and close it at night. I can never leave town when its filled with plants, as they'd cook once the sun comes out.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do :)
Gretchen
Krynsgirl,
I also have the Springhouse, I liked it so well that I bought a second one and butted them together so it lookes like one. I have a heater in both of them and doing great. This winter we have 18" snow and they colapsed and when the snow melted we just popped them right back up. Boy are they durable and the price is right LOL.
Oh my goodness, what happened to the plants inside, when they collapsed?
Gretchen, I read the thread you pointed me to and yours looks great. I decided to go ahead and get the one I was looking at. When I read you were heating yours with gallon jugs of water, I got excited for a minute, but then I looked at your zone - around here, they would be gallon sized popsicles in the winter. I will probably get a small heater for the coldest nights - but at the moment I am only planning on using the greenhouse from mid March till early May, so hopefully, I will only have to heat it up 15-20 degrees above the ambient night temps.
Diane
P.S. oh, yeah..what happened to the plants when it collapsed??
What do you guys think about this?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3186&item=4357954099&rd=1&ssPageName=WD1V
Think it would be enough to heat the greenhouse 15-20 degrees at night?
Diane
Thinkdirt,
That is funny. What is the answer to Kaufman's question? Also, what happened to the heater when they collapsed? I have been meaning to ask you what is a spring house?
BJ, that really is amazing that 4 or 5 candles heated it! I never would have thought of that. What did you use for the cover on the greenhouse? By that I mean visquine? Plexiglass type material? Gosh BJ, 15 x 30 is a big up-grade! That is wonderful.
I am not sure why they tell you not to use a heater, are you Gretchen? Also, as Gretchen states about how hot it gets during the day in the sun, a fan is a real help. I have an ocillating sic fan and that worked real well.
Jeanette
Gee BJ, I never would have thought about candles. That was pretty good for them to generate that much heat. What was the greenhouse made of? By that I mean Visquine, plexiglass type material? And 15x30 is a big upgrade. Wonderful!
I don't know why they say not to use heaters, do you Gretchen? And you are right it really gets hot when the sun heats it up. A fan is a must. I have an ocillating fan that worked reall well.
Thinkdirt, that is funny. What is a sringhouse? What is the answer to Gretchen's question? Also what happened to the heater?
Jeanette
Diane -- that would probably work well.
The water jugs didn't last long LOL!
Here is an image (from the Greenhouse Forum thread) right before I moved the bruglings in last December. You can see the kind of heater I use:
My heater is like Gretchens and it keeps my GH nice and warm - I just wish I had Gretchen's tables, those are really nice!!!
Well first , I didn't have any plants in it when the big snow came so no damage to my brugs, I for some reason brought my Brugs, Jasmines and citrus trees into my spare bedroom for the winter. The heaters if knocked over have automatic shutoff.
A Springhouse is made by www.flowerhouses. com, I purchased my first one at Franks Nursery last year, then they went out of business and I purchased a second one. They are 6 X6 X 6 1/2 pop-up GH they are constructed of a very heavy vinyl-plastic type material, they have a zip-up screen door on each end and even a zip up hard plastic door. They come complete with ty-downs to secure them in high winds. Long story short I have never seen anything as durable as these for the low Price $149.00. Really can't afford a great GH at this time, Hubby spends all the money on his hobbies LOL.
Okay, so the Springhouse is just another model from the company I am getting this "Bloomhouse" model from. I think the Bloomhouse looks a bit like an igloo. LOL Glad to hear it has worked so well for you. I'm getting excited about it. You are close to my zone so it's helpful to hear a few of you are using these up here in the Northern regions.
I ordered my Bloomhouse at 2:00 this afternoon and they sent me my UPS tracking number by 5:30 - pretty good customer service.
Diane
So, a springhouse and a bloomhouse is the same thing??
well, not exactly SherryLike - they are two different models of self-erecting portable greenhouses, manufactured and sold by the same company.
This is a Springhouse:
http://www.flowerhouses.com/greenhouses/springhouse.shtml
and
This is a Bloomhouse:
http://www.flowerhouses.com/greenhouses/bloomhouse.shtml
They also have several other models.
Diane Krny
Well, I think they are neat and would likely do well here. If I add on to mine, I'm going to check those out - well, I'll just see how yours works for you and if it does, it would surely work here in zone 8a...thanks, Diane!!!
Diane, I think you will be very happy on your purchase and yes the customer
service is wonderful. Good luck with your growing my two are already full Oh No I could use another one. LOL
Hey Diane,
I wanted a "cheap" greenhouse so I begged my husband to build me the hoop house from plans at http://www.littlegreenhouse.com/accessory/pvc2.shtml I figured that since my husband gets PVC through our family business, that it would be very economical..
Well, the clamps are special fittings and had to be special ordered. There were not counted when received and the invoice wasn't kept.. Long story short, it took lots of time and cutting to get the PVC up. We finished putting up three walls of plastic only to realize we were short 20 fittings and we weren't sure if it was our fault or the companies so we had to reorder. I don't know exactly how much my husband paid, but they aren't real cheap.
Well, like the novices we were, we left the three walls of plastic up and the front door side was wide open and uncovered. One day we had a particularly terrible wind storm and the entire thing picked up and flipped over like a parachute and went flying down the yard. We did have it staked, but not well enought for the wind resistance. I watched the whole thing from my kitchen window and I didn't know if I should laugh or cry. I had just planted some arborvite trees real near and I was afraid they would get crushed. I could not right the greenhouse alone with the weight and the wind and I had to leave it rocking in the wind upside down and all the plastic was destroyed. My baby trees, thankfully were untouched.
We did get the fittings in, but DH lost steam on the project after all that, and the PVC is still sitting out back without the plastic, and I have no greenhouse as of yet.
The reason I am sharing this with you is that I want you to know that you certainly made the right decision going with your greenhouse. I have been studying the site myself and and going back and forth over whether I want to scrap mine (make the shelves instead?) and sell the clamps and buy one myself. I really like the fact that it is so easy to take apart and put away when you are done with it. Very clever idea. If I keep mine, I (and some neighbors) will have to look at this white creature all year through. I am a member of the NHGC, but have not used it to get discounts.. How does that work pretty please??
:)
Susan McCoy
This message was edited Mar 28, 2005 2:11 PM
I'm so sorry Susan!!! I know this is absolutely no consolation, but you surely do tell a good story!!!
Hi, Susan -
Gee..I apologize in advance for chuckling while reading your story - believe me I empathize and have had stuff like that happen to me. And it has not gone all smoothly -even with mine. As you saw on the site they show a cute little video of a woman putting up the greenhouse all by herself - well I set mine up the weekend before last and could not, no way, no how - put it up by myself. I simply did not have the arm length or strength required to reach in the middle and pull the top straight up. I tried..but tripped on the lower layers and fell headlong on top of the whole thing. My husband who was working a short distance away found the sight of me sitting in the middle of billowing plastic quite funny. He did come over to help me, but even so, I had to hold one part down while he pulled the top up. It worked then and the rest of the set up was easy. The ground where I set mine up is all gravel and too many rocks to drive in the stakes, so John tied all the stake cords to large cinder blocks and a nearby stone bench and it seemed rock solid after that. Two days after setting it up, we had 3" of heavy wet snow - now 3" isn't much so I wasn't worried all day at work about whether it would collapse the greenhouse. When i got home that night, John met me at my car and told me to calm down before I went in the backyard. Oh, God..I dropped my purse on the driveway and sprinted past him to the greenhouse which was lying kinda twisted with the entire top half caved in - the entire top collapsed but the tie-downs held well, so the the top portion kinda twisted and fell sideways. The snow that accumulated in the middle was so heavy, John could barely lift it using a hoe to ever so gently scoop it out. Once it was out, I went inside and pushed the top back up. Then I turned around and saw the collapse had snapped one of the side support bars in half and broken the piece of the hub that the bar slips into. I didn't know whether to cry or laugh. This greenhouse was only up a couple days and was already badly damaged. At least I had not yet put my plants in it, ( only because my heater hadn't arrived yet). Now a week later, it is 3/4 full of plants, my heater is running every night and during the day if the temp drops below 50. The company is sending me a replacement bar and hub (which is nice cause there is no warranty against accidents and acts of nature). I really do like it, but if I had it to do over, I think I would go with the retangular shaped one, because it is hard to take advantage of the height space with the odd sloping walls on the Bloomhouse. Here is a pic of me inside it taken this past weekend.
Diane
Susan and Diane...what sad stories... I am sorry they have happened to you both!
It does sound like the bloom house is not made for snow! It should be fine for spring and fall though.
Good luck to you both!
Margie
Wow Diane, I guess that grass is not always greener in the other greenhouse!! Who would have known you'd have a similar story! Well, I'm sorry you experienced that and especially so soon after getting it, but it does say lots for the company that they are sending you a replacement. Thankfully, we don't get that much snow here, but we do get some and I would certainly not want to have mine crush down with weight so I am grateful that you shared your story. My bigger threat is that the place in my back yard where I get the best sun is directy undernearh the limbs on my neighbors pine tree which saddles his property. These southern pines are weak and spindly and there's no telling if a limb will fall and go through it, but so long as I was not in it al the time, I would just pick up and move on... I guess folks ahve had to deal with the effects of mother nature since the beginning of time.
:)
Susan