Can we tour your greenhouse?

ou need an exhaust fan set up to pull air through the GH constantly. In your dry climate you could easily set up a pretty effective swamp cooler as well, by rigging a perforated pipe or a drip hose to keep a few towels constantly wet at the back end and have the fan pull air through them toward the front

Very good points, eggs + goth. I hadn't thought about how much air the fan would be moving thru the house. I will have to reconsider. Mostly I was thrilled about going solar and saving energy costs. There isn't much on the market in the way of solar powered fans. Thanks for your input.
Jim

I'm sure not having a problem with humidity here, it has rained nearly every day lately, and will for several days more. The rivers are coming up again. I've got to get my rain barrels set up. I goofed and made the strawberry beds permanent in the greenhouse, they need to be outside to get all this lovely rain. Almost everything else is planted, the shelves are getting empty.

Solar fans are either tiny or whole house, cheap or several hundred dollars, nothing in between that I've been able to find.

we built our greenhouse last year and have been using it for a little over a year. it's working out just as well as we had hoped.

Beautiful...

Very impressive. I would have a little cot and probably just live there in the greenhouse.

Christi

How lovely! I couldn't get the video tour to work very well (would go a few seconds then stop) but your gh is certainly very different.

I was noticing posts from someone in Ramona California. I live in the high desert of Kingman, AZ. I was planning on using my greenhouse, all glass as a potting shed in summer. It will have ventilation, but is on the south side of the house. So now I am seeing I might need a shade cover too or small swamp cooler.
Linda

probably both. even with ventilation, my greenhouse gets over 100 and it is in the shade in the summer.

This is my little Green (Purple) house LOL. During the day it looks clear. I hope this will help with the direct sun that it will get once the leaves fall off the trees. Zone 8 Benbrook Texas

I am just getting started.

Lori

This message was edited Oct 12, 2009 1:42 PM

This is the first year to try it out. I am concerned with warming it during the winter. Any suggestions it is an 8X8

It looks beautiful.

How cold do you really get in the winter?

Hap

It gets below freezing at times. Nov avg 44 Dec avg 38 Jan avg 36 Feb avg 36-34

You may be able to get by with a couple of spot lights. They give a lot of heat.

Hap

I have Christmas lights hanging up? I wonder how much heat they will give off. I walked over to a lit tree at Lowes yesterday and held the bulb in my fingers they were warm not hot but with several it may be enough?

Lori

If you were protecting a special plant, I hear people wrap the twinkles around them. But you are talking about raising the temp in an area. Start out with one and check the temp at night. Those lights go into a regular light socket, so it's not anything out of the ordinary. Just make sure you have an 'out-door' extension and light socket.

Hap

Hi Lori I have a 10'X12' GH with the polycarbon siding. I housed hoyas and plumeria in there last year and just used one of those little electric heaters with a thermostat. I set it to lo 60 degrees and everything did well here in zone 8B. This year I converted that GH to just hoyas and succulents. We are enclosing the awning to our guest house which is 13'X45' and we are using the ready-made Clearview panels. I have flagstone flooring which will hold the heat some and I have a window unit with heat strip in the guest house. This unit should also add to the heat some and if necessary I can always add another little hearter.

By theory this should work. I sure pray it does!!!!

Jeri11,

My plans are to try to stick to a small amount of plants in the greenhouse I hope to buy most that will winter outdoors by them self. I am new to this don’t want to see my $$ dried and dead. We will see how well thing turn out in spring. Hope it won’t be an upset.

LOL!!! Lori!!! Good luck with that!! This is a very addictive hobby and I at least always love the things that won't winter over here.

That's it. Take it slow and learn in the process. Just remember, here at Dave's Garden, we will be right here with you every step of the way. That's what DG is all about. Please remember.

Hap..Nancy

I use a small space heater that blows heat with a small fan in my 8x8, set at 60 it keeps the greenhouse about 55. I'm adding a solar water heater this year, in the process of setting it up. If it works, 100 gallons of water will be heated during the day to radiate heat in the evening. Now if the sun would just come out; it has been unusually cold and rainy here. In addition to keeping some tender plants through the winter, I grow cool weather veggies. I moved my basil plant in there today, it smells wonderful!

You guy are geat. Thanks for all the great advice.

This was my GH in the summer 08, 6x8 feet, it came with the home. I started 60 tomatoes and transplanted them to the garden, but I wanted more room.
On the left you can see the start of a 16' addition my SIL helped me build, from old wooden windows, cost for the addition, around $600.

Dec 16, 2008, this is the 16' addition complete, well I guess it will never be complete ^_^
The 5 windows at the top open for venting.

The winter of 08 it got cold and my rabbit's water bottles froze so I move them inside the GH, which helped with the heat.
Papa on the right, Mama on the left, Teens (ready for the freezer) in the center.
Rabbit Poo is Great for the garden.

Inside I installed two recycled paddle fans which are on a thermostat and vent the air out the 5 windows at the roof top. They run most of the day in the Summer. The dark panel, lower left is 'shading' to help cut the heat. It is now removed.

My SIL made this sign when we were building the 16' addition because my wife was complaining about the money spent.
I will stop for now. I do love my GH, it was one of my wishes when we moved from Florida to northern Kentucky.
I could post more but don't want to hog this thread.

Looks Great.

Hi, Happy, I was born and lived 55 years in West Palm, my wife wants to go back ??
The weather and growing things are much different here.

Rentman, your greenhouse is so pretty, I love the green color! It would be a neat building even if it wasn't a greenhouse!
I truly think of my greenhouse as a sanctuary. In the winter I love to sit out there and look at the plants. Nice potting bench too!

I lived in West Palm too! Sometimes I miss the ocean, but I don't miss the traffic and the people. I used to work with a native WPB-er, she used to tell us stories of how different the place used to be. I left in '94 and probably wouldn't recognize the place now.

A greenhouse is a sanctuary, for mine was for me when I lived in Rochester, NY. Got smart and got outta Dodge in '83. This is paradise.

Hap

I've been working on the door area of the GH today. Built the Dutch door (the upper white window (recycled), couple weeks ago and putting a small roof over the door. Will have enough room on each side to hang plants and maybe build a seat to sit on and drink my beer ^_^
I do love south FL, have lots of friends there but no family. And I was a Rentman there for 30 years, sold out at the top of the market and now am here with my children.
We still have a small townhouse in FL. and both sides of the family go down and use it for a few weeks now and then.
It helps to speak Spanish down there, for sure. ^_^

This message was edited Oct 17, 2009 4:29 PM

There is almost nothing better than being with your children.

However, I opted out on FL with my boys in Rochester, NY and my DD in Chicago.

Oh Yes Happy, it is wonderful to be close to the kids. Sunday dinner is a family tradition now.

lakesidecallas..the Green paint color was my wife's idea and a good one.
I came in, tired after working on the addition and was talking about paint.
I did not want White and ask her....She said, "Well you know how much I love the color of Money", so Green it is.....
We still have a lot of fun after 43 years.
Now it's not really 'getting better' but we do laugh a lot more.... ^_^
Love that Girl a lot.

You are truly Blessed.

Love it!!!! Yall did a great job!!!! The sign you SIL made is perfect!!!!!

saw on another thread where folks were using bubble wrap inside the greenhouse to help insulate . . ?!?!?!

That was installed on mine over 35 years ago every winter. Would spray water on the glass and then press smooth side to the glass. It worked quite well.

Hap

We installed Clearview Plastic on our existing awning over the guest house. We have a heat pump in the guest house and my niece lives in there. We're hoping with the exhaust from the heat pump that no colder than we get that will be enough.

This is after we started to put the plants in.

How cold do you get?