my first mini greenhouse

i bought this on line a few weeks ago and put it up yesterday. i plan to use it to start my seeds and then later in april i can put it out on my deck.
the first picture is with the vinyl cover down and the second with the "door" folded up to give access and air to the inside.

the unit is five feet three inches tall, 25 inches wide and about 19 inches deep and it has four shelves.

i have four foot work lights that i used before i bought this thing. they are too big to run horizontally so i thought i would run them vertically on both sides and in the back. i won't be using all four shelves so the lights should do he trick. i belive there is enough room for the lights to go under the vinyl cover.

it seems stury enough for the way i plan to use it.

hre is the second picture

Nice. I'm going to get one of those eventually.

I've never heard of running the lights vertically, though. I thought the lights had to be right down on the new seed sprouts . . .

Herbie the light really needs to come from the top.The plants will grow side ways and you will have to turn them every day if not more. Perhaps you can tape spme aluminum foil on the under side of the shelves to diflect some of the light down.if it is crinkled so much the better because that will bounce the light around and send it down at different angles.

Now if you do this you will have to watch out for heat to build up inside from the light ballast.Better do a little trial run to see what happens.Ernie

i was talking to sequee just yesterdy about this and we cameto the same conclusion. thanks for your input.

Might have known that that Janice would be lurking around LOL good luck

Herbie -- I had one and they are sure handy but it was accidently busted up when we were away as the construction here was proceeding and we were put up in a hotel. They last for years and years. Be careful with the cover as it really draws the heat and it could get to hot in there? Buy a thermometer so you can keep an eye on it! I replaced it with a black wrought iron stand as the construction company made good for it. The new stand is stronger and twice the cost. LOL

tplant - i have a nice wroght iron four shelf stand in the living room but my wife doesn't want it used for that. she has family pictures on it.

i also have those frive shelve metal rolling shelves. they are morethat four feet wide and 6 feet high but with the amount of seeds i start that would be kind of overkill.

right now i am having trouble finding 2 ft long shop lights. i checked with lowes and home depot with no success.

any thoughts??

I use an undercounter light, they come in all lengths.

Can't help you on that one as I start my plants indoors under gro lites and transplant them afterwards to the stand outside to harden them off. How about those new flourescent curly bulbs? Can you rig something with them? They give strong light but little heat? Perhaps using flexible lamps, you know with the hose type that can be bent in any direction? You may have to use two lamps per shelf and tape them to the stand but it should work?

Try meijer. You can get one of these for $12. http://www.esplighting.com/7020gl.html Includes the bulb and cord.

indy - thats exactly what i need. thanks

I bought one 2 years ago! Makes it easy to roll it outside in the spring and inside in the fall! Worth the money IMHO! Congrats!

Lighting from the top is the best way to go, but I'm thinking... you might be able to rig something other than the greenhouse for your seed starting trays, using the lights just above the trays (horizontally), and then once you've up-potted the larger seedlings you could try putting the lights vertically on the sides and back of your greenhouse. It'll help that the light doesn't come from just one side. You'll still need to turn the plants a couple times a week, but that's not such a big deal... I switch my 6-packs of plants around in their trays because they start leaning to one side or the other, even with overhead lighting.

I agree that putting the lights outside the plastic rather than inside is probably best for temperature control, although you could choose to keep the front zipped open.

Another consideration, though, is that the vertical lights will be shining in your eyes any time you're working with the plants -- that might be a consideration.

I use my shorter "greenhouse" in front of a window for larger seedlings or cuttings (they like the higher humidity), and then I use it for hardening off plants in spring.

Herbie,
I have three of the Mini Greenhouses and absolutely love them. In the winter I use them for storage of seed growing materials and in the summer they hold my own young seedlings and purchased plants that are waiting to be planted. I also have one of the 6 ft. metal shelves you mention with the 4 ft' lights. I only use two - three of the shelves to start seeds and keep the rest for storage.
You will have to be careful of the plastic cover since it can heat up the greenhouse a lot. I do not recommend keeping the greenhouse in direct sunlight all day. Two of my Mini Greenhouses get afternoon sun and one gets morning sun. I cover them in Remay cloth which helps a lot. I open the plastic cloth and close the Remay cloth with clothes pins. You can also use shade cloth. In fact there is a mini greenhouse just like yours available from Farmtek that comes with both the clear plastic cover and a shade cloth cover. I love it and it is well worth buying just for the shade cover!
http://www.farmtek.com/farm/supplies/prod1;ft1_greenhouses_accessories-ft1_patio_growhouses;eaa0cc71.html
You can use the first one with just the plastic cover to hold your hardier plants that can tolerate more sun. You will really enjoy your new purchase as it has many uses!!

critter - when i was thinking about the vertical lighting i figured that i would put up three 4 ft lights. one on each side and one in the back.

if i want to use the 4 ft. lights horizontally that would be no problem but then i would not be able to use the cover as it will not fit around the lights.

gardadore - i can place the unit in several locations that won't be in direct sunlight.

tommy - mine didn't come with rollers. i may try to find some if they can be fitted to the frame.

Direct sunlight from a window (inside) doesn't seem to be a problem with mine, although it doesn't get a full blast because it's by a basement window (not a tiny one, a regular size window, but at ground level). Plants definitely need to be protected if you put it outside in a full sun location. I do the same thing with spun poly row cover and clothespins. :-)

I just use my old 4' lights. They stick out the sides, but I make use of the light by putting larger pots on the floor. I do all my seed starting indoors, so the cover isn't necessary.
Last spring when the seedlings were all put out in the garden, it sat outside in the sun for a while, and just for fun I stuck a thermometer in it. You could bake in there.
Right now it's in my kitchen loaded down with many, many green tomatoes. Very useful.

I was given a small greenhouse similar to yours last christmas, it has been great for winter veg seedlings over winter. At the moment (mid spring) its being used for hardening off tomato, pepper and basil seedlings, they spend windy days and cold night in there, days are spent in the open yard. Im very pleased with it so far! I hadnt thought of using it indoors, I guess it would be good for cuttings, raise the humidity a bit. Good luck with your new project Herbie :-)

Lena

thanks for all ou replies. once way of the other i will make this thing work. will show you pictures once it is all set up.

thanks again for your help and advice.

I got one of these, too! It's still in the package as I don't plan to use it until about Feb to start seeds for the spring garden. It's made of the same stuff my bigger one was made of, which I set up in the back yard and kept out year 'round. The plastic got VERY brittle and I took it down; don't know how I can make use of the good stuff that's left, but I'll worry about that later. The sun down here is a lot more constant and brutal than up there, but do be careful about leaving it in the sun for really extended periods. Mine was out for over a year.

i only plant to use my outdoors from maybe april till june when i put them out for good in their continers.

i was given a website to purchase the 2 ft lights but was wondering if anyone new of a store that also sells them. so far i checked with home depot and lowes and they don't seem to have them. maybe i should just take a ride to the stores and look for myself. making phone callsto them doesn't seem to work very well.

The prices vary a lot on those, but you could check pet stores (or pet dept. at WalMart maybe) for lights that are used in aquariums.

Unfortunately, the only place I could find those lights was Meijer, and I guess they're only in the midwest.

Charlie's Greenhouse has all kinds of bulbs and you would be safer to buy the proper ones for the job. Just my opinion..

tplant - i know aboutthe grow lights but having trouble getting the two foot work lights.

Definitely don't take the word of anyone you talk with at HD or Lowe's!!! Go to the store and shop around. I'm convinced from experience the employees know nothing.

That is SO TRUE Brig!

A word of caution for any new greenhouse users: make sure its VERY well weighted or tied down! We had strong winds last week, and my basil seedlings ended up all over the courtyard. The entire bottom shelf was packed full of heavy potted plants, but it wasnt enough. Bricks or big buckets of soil from now on. I have a short wide model with only two shelves, which should have been reasonably wind resistant. Not so. Most basil plants survived, but I will be alot more careful now.

I found that out the hard way, too Lena. Now I use a couple of bungie cords to hold it against a chain link fence when it's outdoors. It's a bit inconvenient opening and closing the front flap, but not too bad.

Hmm. Glad you brought that up. Come spring, I'm putting mine against the house and it will need to be secured. I'll come up with something.

just recheked my original post. sequee and me liveclose to each other and we meet every once in a whileto echange garden stuff. last season i lent her a 4 ft light which whe used alot so this year when i told her aboutthe mini greenhouse (she has one also) she told me she could get me two 2 ft. lights from the internet in exchange for the 4 footer she was borrowing from me. i told her i had extra 4 footers and she then made mea deal i could'nt refuse;. she said she would give me six 2 footersfor the two 4 footers. she said she was getting the better of the deal because of thedifference in price. i guessthe 4 footers are more than the 2 footers even though the big ones were purchased a long time ago. i will be putting my mini on my back deck next to the house. i can run bunge cords through the bottom shelf and then wrap in around my deck flooring. i could do this on all four sides of that bottom shelf. i'm sure that will hold it just fine.