Before I installed a gas line for heat I used 2 (1500Watt) heaters to keep 'this' GH over 40 F.
I do have bubble wrap on the inside of all the glass.
I only use the emergency foil "blankets" for reflection off the lights.
This 16' addition was built this fall onto the 6x8' GH at the right.
Learner here, but I was wondering about the white plastic? I've only been use to the regular plastic clear stuff. Most if not all of the GH up here in Northern Ohio have white then underneath is the clear.
Does the white aid in holding heat in?
Our garden club is about to be able to use some old run down GH and they too have the white plastic. We will need to replace the current plastic but if the white does do something please tell me.
This hoop house is 16w x 30-40L so I'm thinking it is going to cost a pretty penny to replace it.
Any suggestions?
Thanks
Janet
There is a big Nursery here, they have 6, 16' tall and 15, 8' tall hoop houses and they use the white plastic.
I have no expertise' with it, but if the pros use it , it must be the most efficient.
Huh.... do they use the white stuff year 'round? Seems like it would reflect light instead of absorbing it, right?
I see it year round, in the summer they open both ends of the hoop house.
Pagancat, that what I was thinking about it. Guess I'm going to have to stop at a nursery and ask about.... Oh wait, I just meet a guy at my last gardening conference who own a nursery, I'll have to drop him an e-mail and ask about it.
I'll post his answer when I hear back from him.
Janet
meadow...
Is the plastic really white or is it more opaque? I just got a high tunnel with a woven fabric that is opaque... it lets light through, but it diffuses it more so there's less burning of leaves and the woven-ness of it cuts down on the dripping of condensation (I am told). It probably looks white from a distance, but it's not really.
I've also seen photos of orchid houses that block out the sun for some reason... I don't know enough about orchids, but everything was under lights in it.
Jay
I love this forum. I experienced everything on this forum. I filled the shelves with seed starters with no place to go. Rather than cut down on seedstarting (why do I do this when I give plants away?) I moved my transplants into my sun room and when my husband told me to move them for Easter, I put up my old plastic greenhouse.
This year I overwintered more plants, and then I couldn't figure out where I was going to start my seeds. I moved my overwintered plants to my sun room (where they still are) and started my seeds in the green house. I am starting on my third seedstarting (I plant at 11 WBFD (weeks before frost date), 7 WBFD, and 4 WBFD and have started to transplant 7 WBFD plants. UGH!!!I This year my husband didn't want to put up the plastic greenhouse, so he built me a sunshed!
I am now going to move the overwintered plants to the sunshed, 11 WBFD transplants to the sunroom, 7 WBFD will live on greenhouse shelves, and 4 WBFD seedtrays go under the lights under my shelves. Do you think my husband will get mad when I want to put up the plastic greenhouse?
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN - My name is Bonnie and I am a gardening addict!!!
Hi Bonnie! You have come to the right place for this addiction. I adore your sun shed, I looked to see if you lived close, haha.
i get my container from the cat litter 5 gallons square with lid i can stand on it when the lid is on or its upside down
Bonnie:
What a cute sunshed, wish I had one here.
Janet
Love your sunshed! Is it easy to keep warm?
Lois
I love those green houses
Hi All,
Sorry for the delay in responding. I have been planting and transplanting for two days! The sunshed is beautiful and it was fairly inexpensive considering it is cedar, and it come with the floor and the benches. It also came in a kit with whole walls assembled. It only took one day to build, but it took almost a whole day to level as I put it in the edge of the woods.
There are some problems however. Nothing that can't be fixed, but it is going to cost money. The floor is 2" cedar boards and they have dried and left gaps. I am going to put some cedar plywood on the floor and then cover with bricks so that they will absorb the heat and distribute at night. The walls are overlapping cedar planks which are beautiful, but not insulating. I will put the cedar closet lining on the walls and I will put foam insulation inbetween.
Then it will be toasty. Right now, even though it is 45-55 during the day, the shed heats up to about 75 degrees; but the shed doesn't hold the heat and it is about five degrees warmer than the outside temperature at night.
My greenhouse is much more insulated. The cedar walls came insulated and the cedar shiplap is on the inside also! It has triple poly. The only winterizing I have to do is put plastic over the door. I can maintain the greenhouse temperature at 65 degrees even when it is below zero. I heat it with the wood stove in my family room with a corner door fan to pull the heat into the greenhouse.
Everyone is quite happy with this arrangement because it would get 80 degrees in the family just to keep the rest of the house warm. Now everyone is happy.
I told my husband I was cranky the other night and he told me to go to my greenhouse. That was a good one!!
Sorry so wordy, I haven't talked to anyone lately.
no problem that is why we all come here right for a little advice, to show what we are doing planting growing building all to do with gardening and also a little company and chit chat
mona
Just ran across this thread. I used to use bubble wrap until I got double pane windows and proper insulation in a section inside my hoop house I heat. You can buy uv treated bubble wrap from Charley's Greenhouse and it lasts for years. I still have some inside the hot frame but it is finally starting to shed little roundish circles of plastic from the bubbles, but it is several years old.
I am hoping to build a greenhouse by the fall so I will have it to start my plants next spring it is to much to have so many flats in the house and it is to dry so I have to water everything everyday so it to much work
Still lots of watering in the GH, I was surprised.
my house is so dry that it seems to suck it right out of the plants hahahah
Back to the original intent of the post for a sec.... I got a catalog from Uline the other day - it's a packing supply company. They sell bubble wrap (with 3 different sizes of bubbles, lol) in rolls from about $25 to a couple hundred. I would be willing to bet they're nothing different in terms of construction than is sold elsewhere....
all I know is that the same idea is used in solar blankets for pools I am not sure if the dark blue color is to intensify the heat or just a decor but it sure works to heat my pool from freezing to 80F in about 10 days and its a large pool so I can grasp the concept of using is to insulate greenhouses
Guess what??? our weather is now about 35 daytime, and 30 or so at nite. Couldn't find any bubble wrap in our little tiny town, so I put a small room heater in the GH and IT DID work!!!! Kept the GH at 60 last nite when it supposedly got down below 30. It is 40 outside right now and the GH is 68. Maybe the little ones will still grow up to be biggies. (:-)
Hooray!
wow will have to look into some of these thing when I finally get around to building a greenhouse in the fall for next growing season
Pagancat
Would you care to share your source???
Scicciarella
Where did you purchase your blue bubbles from?
leebaunch
Glad to hear your temps are moving in a somewhat higher degree. Hopefully your little be grow to might talk and productive plants.
Janet
I got it from a pool supply company it came 20 by 40 for about 300 dollars its on my but when I replace it this one will go on my greenhouse
I got a free ,three sided greenhouse on Craigs List a coupla years ago and will put it up this year. It was a custom job that the new owner didn't want . We will replace the metal frame with treated lumber because the new owner took it down and wasn't too careful about bending the metal and keeping all the screws.I got the paperwork with it and it said the b.w. would have to be replaced every few years . The b.w. was glued on solid to each smooth panel and I'm wondering what kind of glue would work in a moist gh . Of course they didn't tell this in the manual. Any ideas ? digger
well Home depot sell glue that is used with a culking gun and I use it for everything it dries clear and I just put it in and wiggle the pieces till it get hard to move them and I let it dry for two days and it never moves again its in the constuction material area I think its called super bond
LOL, meadowyck - it was in my post ; Uline. http://www.uline.com/
Unusual name, maybe why you missed it.
pagancat, yes there it was just was reading too fast to really comprehend it all... thanks so much for taking the time to post it again.
Janet
No biggie - I do the same thing all the time.
what do yall think about first one layer of plastic with a layer of bubble wrap then another outer layer of plastic?
I'm in a pretty cold zone and I don't really want to keep anything growing just in sleep mode till next spring. Potted plants large pots?
I've got hoop house framing that is 15 long and 8 foot center. I'm going to put two layers of solid cinder blocks to raise it up off the ground on the sides. I was going to do two layers with air in between (we did all the hoop houses in school like that which was good but we also had heaters. I'm not to the point (able of financial) of installing a heater for all winter use. So thought I would 1st layer plastic lay bubble wrap then second layer plastic with air included...
I would love to hear others thoughts on this.
Janet
I think you will still need a heat source.
even if it is just for peace of mind.
Sounds like a good idea, Janet.
I have to monitor my GH , every day, we had first frost the 18th and yesterday and today the GH got to 100 before I opened the vents so the fans could vent.
I've been adding an entrance to my GH. I'll grow some vines up the sides and a couple of hanging pots to each side of the door.
I wouldn't put the bubble wrap in between, only because if you change your mind and don't want it there, it'll be tougher to get rid of than if you just tape it or velcro it to the inside of the frame. I'm just thinking your sun exposure may be cut by it. My opinion!
Sun exposure...yes. 1 inch bubbles is the best since it allows more light in than the smaller bubbles....more transparent
I didn't think about using velcro on the bubble wrap. I like that idea!
LOL - now, I haven't tried it....
But it seems like it would be easy.
