do ya wana build a greenhouse?

[doc_gonzo]

hi nightshade,

it sounds like wood framing would be you'r best bet. is the polycarb you'r looking at at lowes the rippled stuff? if so it probably won't retain enough heat in you'r zone. the polycarb that i'm referring to is called thinwall polycarb. it's 2 layers of polycarb seperated by ribs, it comes in 4mm, 6mm, 8mm, and 10mm, and it's usually sold in 4' x 8' sheets like plywood. there is even a system of h channels and u channels used in attaching it to a framed structure. the colder the climate the thicker the polycarb.

wood heat in a gh is way cheaper than lp gas, but it is a hastle. when i was balancing the heat in the gh in the pics that dawn posted above my normal winter schedule was start a fire an hour before sunset, check and reload the fire at 10 pm, go to sleep until 3 am and go reload the fire with wood, go back to bed until 6 or 7 am and start the whole cycle over again. not a whole lot of fun. a more efficient stove would have been much easier, the stove in the pics was a primitive homemade type deal.

back to the framing of the gh....unless you use pt lumber to build it you will have to treat the lumber yourself with copper napthene. otherwise it will rot in a few yrs. one of the reasons that i finally threw up my hands and quit fooling with the gh in the above pics was because the owner was always wanting to half step and put bandaids on gaping wounds instead of fixing things right the first time.

i hope this helped rather than discouraged....

cheers,

doc

 

[nightshade]

Not discourageing at all Doc that is why I was so glade I found this thread. Planning ahead like we are gives me enough time to figure out how to do it right.

lol I know what you mean about people doing things half a**ed. My hubby's side of the family all seems to be that way, I am still trying to break him of it. I was raised with the handy mans moto that you do it right the first time and it costs less in the long run. Hubby does geo systems mainly but also does heat pumps. Do you think that a small heat pump would be better then a wood stove? Thanks for the tips.

I was trying to figure out if solor pannel lighting would work to make up the difference for the lack of winter sunlight. They have pannels at our local tractor supply for 60 bucks right now. You know rig up a pannel /battery set up to work the grow lights? Maybe set it to a timmer. Any thoughts?

Edited to add: Any thoughts on wooden half walls around 3-4 ft high off the ground? Good or bad idea? Would they cause too much shade?

 

[doc_gonzo]

hey nightshade,

i've always been fascinated with geo thermal but haven't had time to do much research into it. one of the things that i always wanted to try in that gutter connected monster was wrapping the wood stove in flex copper tubing, and pumping hot water from the stove under the benches in pvc pipes. very zonal closed loop heating where the greatest btu's are under the roots of the plants.

dawn and i will be moving out to her family's farm in ark in a few years. we plan on building a house with a greenhouse connected. to heat both we are going to use 1 or 2 of those outdoor wood furnaces with pex tubing in the floors of both houses. sorta the same concept as above.

we are also looking into solar and wind generators, not sure yet if ark is a "net metering" state though. grow lights; depending on the type are infamous energy hogs. i'm afraid that a couple of $60 pannels and a small bank of batteries would not keep up. not to mention that you'd need an inverter to convert the dc current in the batteries into ac current to run the lights. although inverters are getting more efficient, you still loose some juice in the conversion process.

a heat pump would probably work ok if you oversized the unit for the sqare footage of the gh. but i would hate to see you're electric bill in the dead of winter. think long and hard about utility bills verses food production savings. i honestly don't think it would come close to balancing.

if you'll notice in the pics on page 1 we used a 3' knee-wall all the way down both sides of the gh. the loss in light was very negligable. we also lined the inside of the knee-wall and both ends of the gh with gh plastic scraps to kill drafts and give a little dead air space insulation. on a windy day i could see how practical this was.

cheers,

doc

 

[nightshade]

doc,

our thing is not really about the cost of food as it is about the safty of boughten food now days. We try to buy from the local farmers, our neighbors as much as we can. But this time of year for most things that is not really an option. But they did just open another farmers market that makes 5 with in 20 miles of us.

 

[doc_gonzo]

i understand nightshade,
that's why we all nibble at the edges of killing the corperate beaste with-out taking a good bite.

cheers,

doc

i hope that didn't sound condescending it wasn't meant to......

doc

 

[karanleaf]

I'm usually not up this late but woke and couldn't go back to sleep soo, decided to better introduce myself :bouquet We live in NE Missouri My husband & I decided this year we would build a greenhouse for resale plants. Our big grand Opening is scheduled for next spring on Earth Day April 2009. :tools We then went on and thought we could be growing year round to offer tomatoes and other like produce in the off seasons as well. We have already talked with the local grocery stores and cafes, they are willing to try our tomatoes. So now we are off on our new adventure. :watering I am hoping that if we grow as well as he has come along building I will be able to retire from the Sheriff's office in 3 years and do this full time

 

[karanleaf]

Here are some photos of our (my husbands) work.

The area we plan to build, 2 yrs ago we had leveled the area and run a water line for a garage. Changed our minds, huh?

Here Vic & our 9 yr old Grandson Noah setting the hoops.

All the hoops are set ready for the pearlins sp?

Vic has framed in and installed the front door. The side perlins sp? are up also

The north end or back wall framed in closed in door in and vent fan in. Vic worked really hard on this that week...

Our 25 ton of washed gravel for the floor of our greenhouse. Thats a lot of rock....Also shows outside view of the new louvered vents that open with the fan.

There in the back upper left you can see Vic's wind genarator he is testing out this will be part of our power for the greenhouse... Cool huh?

Vic has started installing the radant floor heat. Pex line under the gravel.

Inside view of southend or front door and the louvers again. Look at all that rock!!!

Side view this is from the west side.

Here Vic is determined to get the rest of the pex line and gravel in before the day is complete. He's such a slave driver .
He's mine girls ya can't have him!!

Pex line is pinned down ready for gravel..

This is how all the gravel has been coming in a wheelbarrow at a time.

This is how it looked 2 days ago. By the way Vic put shade cloth over the top 4 weeks before this to keep from sunburning the plants I had not sold yet. We had also been having some nasty storms... Thank you dear!

Added todays photos of Vic making a molehill out of the mountain of gravel

that's corn growing in our gravel by the way, must have been left over in the truck hopper that brought the gravel.

 

[Patch of Heaven Farm]

Hi Doc,
I am new to TEG and I just seen your offer to help with a green house. :watering
I hope to have one ready for starting spring veggies for my garden and maybe have a few herbs as well. I have a horse stall (it's framed ) no sides or roof as we have decided to get more horses and build a barn. Anyway the stall is in a convient place next to chickens and rabbits so I thought it would make a great green house. It is 14 x 12 and 10' high though the roof could be lowered or raised. I probally will add on later so I would like to plan ahead to make sure it will all work together in the final stage. I also plan to get worms and would like to keep the worm bed in the gh or close too it. I live in south Mississippi in zone 8.
My goal is to start my seeds in spring and to grow enough veggies through winter to feed my family of 4. I want to do this as cheaply as possible but also want it to last. Any advice and tips would be greatly appreciated. :mow

Thank you,
Jessica

If you still have time.