GH bizz #2

i made this test tunnel from 2 x 6s and 55 gallon plastic barrels cut in half. wanting to see if they will work as cold frame"mini greenhouse. and frost protection.

my bolivian jew has taken off this last week started from 8 small cuttings

the morning glorys are going a little slow

and what a way to end the day.

WB, just when I think you've thought of everything, you pop up with the sliced barrels. Totally cool, maybe add a hinge on one side?

hay cathy4 thats kinda what i was thinking but don't really need them any more this season for that so i'm going to turn them over and use them as a small hydroponics system and float some rafts of lettuce and bok choy in them until fall then they will go back on the raised bed

Whitebear, where did you get your barrels? We are trying to save as much water as we can, so I would like to catch the water from the greenhouse and use it to water some of the garden. We are on well water.
I like the idea of catching the rain water from the downspouts, but as they say, "It never rains in California....... " So those would not work for us in the summer.

LOL... I've got friends in Los Gatos, and it does too rain... but only all at once and once a year! Your problem is storage, just like mine in NM.

I've found nice, heavy duty, dark blue plastic drums at a local winery and they're kind enough to let me have them for the price of their deposit on them. For storage dark colors are preferable, as the lack of light keeps the algae down. I'll go get a picture of my set-up...

Jay

This picture shows my minimalist set-up and my aspirations.... in front is the winery rain barrel, elevated on cinder blocks with a regular hose bib. I found an auger bit just the right size to make the hole and it allows me to simply screw in the hose bib and the seal is tight enough I haven't needed to caulk it. I've made several of these for friends. In the summer I tie a piece of fiberglass window screening around the top to keep bugs and mosquitoes out of the water. I've had this sucker freeze darn near solid, pushing ice out the top, in the winter and that hose bib hasn't cracked in 5 years... because the water can expand out the top.

Beside it is a trash can full of more rain water that I simply bucket from one to the other. You could attach several barrels in tandem with overflow hoses and they'd automatically fill, but I haven't done that because I have ASPIRATIONS... LOL

Which is what you see in the background. An 1100 gallon storage tank that will someday, eventually, hopefully this summer get hooked up to the gutters. (The lond delay has been due to trying to figure out how to best channel the overflow and whether I wanted both gutters to go to this tank or just one.) Like Los Gatos, we can get a lot of rain during certain seasons, and zip for months, and my well water is so hard we can't use soaker hoses but a summer before they clog hopelessly. I mean really, one could break a tooth on my well water.

There's all sorts of calculations to figure out how much water you receive and how much you need to help figure out how much storage is required... but to be honest, I didn't bother. It was more a matter of the pocketbook than anything for me. =0)

Jay

"Imagesoart" i got my barrels at a local cookie factory they i have white ones blue ones and black ones check at any food factory they should have some sort of barrels and as Jayryunen said in your area check with a winery. i also have 250 gallon tank i get from them. hay "Jayryunen" i like your rain system and that big tank is awesome would like to see it when you get it hooked up.

Whitebear, I have gone back and skimmed your threads, but really need to spend more time on them. So much excellent information!

What size tanks are you planning on using for tilapi and how many fingerlings would you put in each to raise them to an eatable size? I have 5 double-walled plastic containers that look to be about 200+ gal each that I am currently using for rain cachement. My plan was to set those up down the center of my now-too-small-GH. Had a good reason at the time of the idea, but can't remember what it was. I was thinking of using large stock tanks (2 to 2 1/2' deep, 10-12 ' across) at the downspouts of the house and shed, then put my fish in those to raise to full size during the warmer weather. Not sure that's it worth the expense of me trying to keep them warm enough over the winter at this time.

hay "msrobin" my tanks are 250 gallon i was going to raise 150 tilapia in each one, i know a guy that raises them one fish to each gallon, but i don't want them that tight. watch the water ph and all with the rain water from the roof if you have shingles them say the singles will leach chemicals out in the heat of the summer you might want to put it in a hold barrel for about a week or so and then check the quality of the water. but before going to that trouble you might check your water now and see if it is ok for fish, you might not have a problem. but just wanted to make you aware of that before you lost a lot of fish
you might just get some cheap gold fish and put in there and let them test the water, you can get them for about 12 cents each here. "whitebear"

Wish I had a cookie factory.... boo-hoo =0(

Cool...right size containers for raising fish!

We live in a single wide mobile home with the floor 3' off the ground. DH is going to build a large addition on the north side. Ultimately, I would like to build a greenhouse the full length (50') and maybe 20' wide on the south side, so that I could raise some vegetables all winter. My plan is based on the "solviva" idea, but I can't find the correct link right now. They use heat generated from chickens and rabbits to help heat the gh along with the sun. Pretty cool setup!

Love all the information you are sharing!

What, Jay? No Keebler trees near you? LOL! Love your threads, too! I sure hope you are being extra nice to SO for all her hard work lately!

sound great "msrobin" when you do remember to take lots of pics. and check this site out if you are wanting to grow worms for their casting and save space
http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Boxwood%20Vermicomposting.html
sorry "Jayryunen" i'll have a word with the keebler elf next time he drops by.lol
you might check with a local recycle center and see if they get anything like that or something you might use, its amazing some of the stuff they have there i had to quit going keep coming up with new ideas for the things i was finding. lol

The only thing that gets made around here is logs for adobe houses (aka vigas) and meth... ah, rural economics, that old fashioned make-do.

Glad you enjoy my pratlin's WB, and yes, I am trying very hard to express my appreciation to SO... who is away for the weekend (shush... it was planned BEFORE I popped my top =P) on a retreat. The house will be clean, the laundry done, the yard picked up and the freaking onions planted! (Grow ya little sprigs er I'll wring yer neck!) LOL

Now, who wouldn't want to come home to that?
=0) Jay

Atta, Boy, Jay! ^_^

Local recycle? I don't think they make beer cans that big...

Here's an idea for heating the greenhouse... hot beds made with tree shred. Sort of like the worm bed idea (thanks for passing that along) only for heat. The French used to make hot beds to get a jump on spring planting, and I've been inspired by an article by a woman who used composting tree shred to heat her green house, but it was a different set-up, requiring piping and a pump. I'm thinking the worm bin set-up would also make good hot beds and the heat can just radiate... very low tech and a nice rich mulch by summer...

This message was edited Apr 25, 2009 6:31 PM

lol just find an empty keg.lol that idea about the tree shreds is a good, i get all the horse manure i can haul from a local stable but it is mixed with sawdust, i was thinking of starting at one end of my greenhouse and put it in the bed let it compost till the temp is worm safe the start the next bed then try to keep one isle of beds composting and the other isle with worms in them i can change the worms back and forth and feed the extras to the fish and chickens.

check out my pride and joy, i call him my stud worm.lol

my bibb lettuce is sprouting for my aquaponics

and here is my Vanna impression. lol

You better be careful, WB, admin will be after you.... LOL That is one bodacious worm, but if they're actually bi, then would it be a stud-ette?

I tried the sawdust and manure mix (don't know if you read about that experiment) but the temp only stays up for a couple of weeks unless you stir it. The lady who did the initial experiment kept her temps up for months without stirring. If we can figure out the recipe, it'll heat a greenhouse all winter without adding yet another chore... winter's SUPPOSED to be the slack season... a time to sit inside by the fire and do lap work...

SO is checking out a rug hooking store on her trip. Not latch hook but old fashioned cut-yer-clothes-up and hook 'em through burlap rug making. That's what she does in the winter. I darn the socks, sew the buttons, patch the jeans.

The lettuce is like a little cheering section for your Vanna impression... =0) Are they doing the 'Wave'?

oh and sorry Jayryunen i meant to mention this earlier

"KUDOS TO JAYRYUNEN" for the link to the worm beds for the greenhouse. i got it from http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/969040/ thread

'got to give credit where credit is dooooo"

lol

And high five to Countryside mag, from whom I swiped it from initially...

Ja just can't keep a good worm down... LOL

indeed. lol

arggg my plastic on the greenhouse just riped we have had very high winds for a few day and it finally gave up and riped. got to go out and fix it back on in a little while "i hope"

This message was edited Apr 26, 2009 8:58 PM

hay guys got it fixed thank goodness. by the way i started a new thread about tilapia for those of you that are interested but will show some on here to scents its part of my greenhouse system anyway,
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/980672/

well cleaned out a lot of the greenhouse of bedding plants that were getting to big to sell so i planted them.

60 yellow crockneck squash
52 zucchini
74 peppers
30 big beef tomatoes
32 rutger tomatoes
14 bradywine tomatoes
25 homestead tomatoes
and i planted up about 8 strawberries on floating raft and put it in the pool where the fish are. "whitebear"

Lucky fish....

they won't be lucky in about six months but me and my tummy will. lol

Have you got anti-billow straps on your GH?

no not yet, this one was going to be a temp for this season and then be moved in the fall to become my seed starting house for the two other greenhouses so i didn't strap it down. dopey me as old as i am i should know better. lol

More temp than you knew! =0) I know how it goes....

how true

A newbie question...what are anti-billow straps?