Thinking about a Rion?

Tomatoes: market wonder, sweet million cherry, better boy, hanging basket, roma (can't remember the variety off the top of my head), fireworks, and a mix of some heirlooms that I got from a trade. Seems like there are a few others, but again, without going out I don't remember, over 100 plants as of right now. I was having fun with a nice selection I received from a donor to my tomato buckets for the food pantry customers. I'll be giving a whole lot of plants away, too, to anyone who wants some. I also have 5 or 6 different kinds of peppers for the same project. Totally fun stuff. I've got a few hundred flowering plants for the church gardens, so they won't have to spend money this year, the Pastor was sure happy.

I am having a ball growing all this stuff and being out in the warm house when the weather here is stinky.

DH replaced the windows and the Rion people sent me a new door hinge. I searched and searched for the missing hinge before I ordered a new one. Wouldn't you know it, on Thursday I was walking around the GH and there was the missing hinge laying on the ground in plain sight. DAH! The GH was full of leaves because of the missing windows all winter. What a mess cleaning it up. Put new rubber on the doors and the two vulnerable windows. I'm so glad to be able to use it again. Filled it up last week with new daylilies. I already posted this picture on the daylily forum, but here it is again, all clean and filled up with plants.

cathy4, Hi. How's it going with your GH? We put up an 8x16 Rion last year. It was tricky getting it together but I love it. Did find that some of the design needs reworking. The wind broke the hinge on one of the roof vents. Also sometimes they dont close when they should so I have to watch them. Doors are ill fitted , leave lots of gaps and sometimes blow open. I put an eye hook on the outside frame and tie them open on hot days. Short of these gliches, isn't it a heavenly place to hang out?Good luck with yours. Nanadee

Nanadee, I just came in from moving the last of my vegetable out of the GH, I'm all dirty and wet from watering and couldn't be happier. Contact Rion about that roof vent, mine broke and they sent a new one no questions asked. We put some heavy reinforcing tape on the new one at the joint. Since I put an automatic opener on it, everything is okay there. It took awhile to adjust the auto opener, our temps change quickly in the spring and they didn't always close as fast as needed, but now that the weather is a bit steadier, it is great. I put 2 flip latches on the doors (top and middle), so much easier than the handle cause I'm not strong in the hands.

My first strawberries are turning red, a full month before the normal season, and the tomatoes have flowers. I grew all of my vegs/flowers this year from seed, a good $200 savings, and had lots extra for the church garden. It will pay for itself in no time if I can do cool veggies all winter, and hold over tenders that I used to buy every spring. The leggy impatiens were pinched and the tops are rooting, double the plants! Experiments are underway on rooting dappled willows, my favorite shrub, and a big tray of sedum. I have some tomato seeds that are supposed to be okay in cool weather, will try them this winter, too. Everyone in the neighborhood got free tomato plants, I did go a bit overboard there, only about 100+ plants when I have room for 8. Some when to the food pantry and to people at church, too.

One neighbor is having real problems with lusting for one, but she has a lake house, and is never home. I let her come over whenever she wants and gave her lots of plants.

A GH was something I've always wanted and never dreamed I would have, so I'm very happy. The 8x8 size is fine for me. At first I thought I'd want bigger, but with some shelving it is plenty of space. I have room for a lawn chair and a foot stool, so I just sit in there on chilly days and enjoy the warmth with a tall glass of iced tea. Life is good.

Eggz.. We don't seem to have the instructions to put up the shade cloth. It came with 12 black round snap ons, which we attatched along the length. Then theres silver twine to tie down ro metal plant hangers but there are 12 black plastic needle type thins like a hook. Do you know proper assembly by any chance? Thanks.

The pins are just to take up any slack. Just weave them through a couple places in the cloth itself. Because of the bends in them, they hold pretty well. You'll want to make sure you leave enough slack in it so the roof vents open. =) The metal tabs slide in the slot along the bottom of the frame. Then pull the slack out of the cords to keep it tight.

HTH
Eggs

Hello everyone,

This was such a good thread for me. Thank you so much for the pictures.

I purchased a Roin GH last summer. It is still in the box:( I did go last week to the cement yard and inquire about how much it would cost to do a 4" slab. So now knowing what I have to spend and a good friend that is willing to help DH get the cement level in a couple of weeks mine will be going up.

I do have a question anyone that used the slab how did you secure the plastic to it? And did anyone put in a drain hole in the center? It was an idea I thought might be good?

For all of you that have yours up could you please some more pictures in this thread? They are so helpful as to where to place mine. We live in the woods and I have sort of had to wait to see where I would get full sun all day long. I had someone come last summer with a bull dozer and level the gournd and get rid of some of the trees. It will be exposed to the south west winds with nothing to stop the winds.

Here is a picture of where it may go what do you think? Would it blow off the pannels or the vent's?

Thanks for the information all

Amos

Here's a photo showing the location of mine. I have an 8x8' model which we put up several years ago. A bit of shade and shelter isn't at all a bad thing for a greenhouse; otherwise it gets awfully hot in there in the summer. But at that point I'm just using mine for storage of tools, so it doesn't matter. Ours has withstood some very strong winds; I think they're pretty sturdy.

We used Pennsylvania blue stone for the floor of our greenhouse because we didn't want water to pool there, and my husband and son built two-tiered shelves on a wood frame with 1/2 " hardware cloth stretched over it, to provide a work area and storage space on both sides of the greenhouse, and we have a wooden potting table at the far end. We also have an electrical outlet which can run a small fan, but the structure doesn't seem tight enough to hold a lot of heat against a cold night.

I mostly use mine for seed-starting, although I do the first leg of it in the house and put them out in the greenhouse only when they have some true leaves and can stand more variation in temperatures. The plants stay in the greenhouse and are often repotted at least once until they're big enough to go into the garden and the weather is mild enough not to kill them.

Since ours is on cement my DH bought wolmanized lumber and bolted the wood to the cement. It was quite a job since the old cement had a lot of gravel in it. He kept breaking bits. A friend loaned us his heavy duty drill and that made the job go faster. It took forever and a lot of cussing. Our cement pad has a slight slope to it, so he drilled holes in the wood on the low end. The water settles in the low spot and drains out the holes. Sometimes I have to push a stick into the holes because plant debris gets stuck in there. No big deal, a little push with the stick and the water starts flowing again. The picture is the back side of the GH. Hope this helps.

Diana

Yup I did the eggszacht same thing as pastime. Right down to the drain holes in the wood. =)

Ours is on a concrete slab that had an old shed on it. It has just enough slope to drain. Hubby drilled into the concrete, and used some kind of heavy bolt to hold it down. The ones that were recommended with the directions didn't work for us. In a few places he had to cut the panels just a bit at the bottom for the top of the bolts. It will all be caulked before winter sets in. The only place we've had any problems with cold air coming in has been the window, it just isn't that tight when closed.

Greenhouse Gal your set up is way cool. Love the fact that you have yours placed in the Garden and the water garden looks lovely.


Pastime, The picture was awsome thanks for the picture it will come in handy to show hubby and not just try to explaine it to him.

Cathy what type of caulk did your hubby use?

I had a yard sale and made enough money for the cement to be poured. I am getting so excited. I truly tired of looking at it the boxes in the garage. Now our electricain friend will come and put in some electric outlets to run fans and heaters. I feel like a kid at Christmas.

Thanks again for everything

Amos

The caulk is a clear silicone. Congrats on the yard sale, I know just what you mean about feeling like a kid.

I made a R3 styrofoam panel today to cover the drafty window when it gets cold, should be able to just pop it in and out depending on the weather. It is white, and I used white duct tape around the edges to keep the styro from shredding. I'm going to cover the lower north side panels, too, that was a cooler spot last winter. Still love my GH, and I'm not dreading winter like I used to.

New gh frame. Material, labor and all was 1368.00.

Finished product. In defense of plastic please do not let it get too hot inside when it is really hot in the summer. Plastic will not stand the heat like wood or plastic. I think I am going to like my new one a lot better. Happy New Year to all of you.

I have a rion that I built last winter. I can say that I have been thrilled with it. I am having a propane venter heater installed in the next week. I have solved all the air leak problems except for the doors.

Have any of you found any tricks that work in re-latching or re-sealing the doors to get a tight fit all around.

BTW expanding foam insulation works wonders in filling all the gaps in the roof. My rion is straight and plumb and thant makes a HUGE difference in these things. I never had any problems that seem to haunt some rion owners.

Genius! I wish you had written in about the foam insulation before now, but it will be put to use in a few places where we had to make some adjustments to hold the GH to the concrete slab.

Our nighttime temps were getting down to zero and below. DH put a sheet of plastic over to the top and tied it down, it has helped keep the heater from running full time. Once it is back above 20º we will take it off.

Well when I looked at the air gap and the self stick foam that rion supplies it gave me a good laugh. The expanding foam insulation works terrific. My only issues are with the door seals. Just not tight enough if you are to spend money to heat it.

I plan on putting up bubble wrap after the heater is up and running just to give myself something to compare to.

Expanding foam insulation is an excellent idea! I wonder whether it comes in green... I would like the thing to be attractive as well as functional. Yes, I was amazed at the large gaps when we erected ours; even though we placed large black-painted drums full of water in the greenhouse in an effort to hold in the heat, I have never noticed any difference between the outdoor and indoor temperature first thing in the morning after a cold night - unless we run a little heater, of course.

boxcar, I added a simple bar latch near the top and bottom of the doors, it seems to make the seal tighter and even.

Hi all,

We got the GH up in August. I am so happy.....
We didn't get the electric hooked up yet, that will be early spring or when we can dig in the ground to run it to the house.

It is still holding up good in the snow no problems with the structure

Can't wait to landscape the area and give it some charm

I will put my seedling in it and give it a whirl late spring

Amos