My first Greenhouse

[amrap1956]

Bucket List:
#38 Build a Greenhouse

Since this is my first greenhouse I wanted to start small, make it so I could take it apart and expand it if it all works out. Put it on my deck so it has support on 3 sides. Got a late start so I was in a hurry and made some mistakes, but I'm learning....

Started as simple as I could think of:

Used 1 1/2" PVC for the frame. 8' x 6' x 6'

Covered it with 4 mil poly. Yes, I know 6mil is best AND PVC and Poly don't play well together, but it's my first and wanted to start small and cheap. Next time, I'll have to figure out how to trim the front and back so it fits properly.

Covered with 4 mil poly sheeting

Compost Barrel with water tube coiled inside

I had compost barrel on top of the water tote inside for heat, but couldn't stir it with the tool I have. Moved it outside and bought a small heater with thermostat. I hope that when the pump is off, the water in the tubing inside the barrel will warm up and when it comes back on it will give the buckets a dose of warmer water.

Rebuilt my summer Dutch Bucket setup

Dutch Buckets brought inside. Wrapped the buckets with foam I tore out of an old couch. Also painted my water bottles black and hope they warm up during the day and give off heat at night.

Brought in peppers and celery from outside

I don't expect the peppers to make it much longer. I have peas, lettuce and garlic getting ready to go in. Put in a string of "old time" Christmas Lights for light and a little heat.

Ran an insulated drier vent from the house into the greenhouse. Will get some heat when drying clothes. Pun in an inline vent fan to push the air through the now longer drier vent and a fan in the greenhouse to move air around.

For added insulation, I wrapped plastic around the sides of the deck. There is also pink insulation foam board running on lower 1/2 of 2 sides and rubber backed mats on the floor.

A few more things to do, but a storm is brewing and it's been a long hard weekend....I'm beat!

Ed

[amrap1956]

I put in a wireless Blue Tooth thermometer. The humidity is really high. So high that if you bump the frame you get rained on. Tonight I'm moving the compost barrel back inside since it was intended to supply heat to the greenhouse. It will probably add to the humidity.

I also bought a small heater with thermostat. Setting it for 50 degrees at first. I'll monitor the temps/humidity and see what happens.

I posted in another thread about trimming Pepper Plants. Since the plants I have now in the Greenhouse have grown all summer I decided to try trimming them and leaving them in the GH.

Before:

I also trimmed Bush Beans....don't know if they will do as well as pepper plants.


Was getting late so I didn't do them all.

After:

More to trim:

Also trimmed bush beans...don't know if they will bounce back

Ed

[applestar]

Most peppers should do OK. Bells are not as resilient. Mature peppers can go dormant and withstand temps down to mid 20’s but be sure to protect the roots — it’s ok for the foliage to yellow and drop.

Be sure to kelp harvesting fully matured fruits — if too many get to fully mature state, the plants might think they have fulfilled biological imperative and shut down.


However ...The bush beans are not likely to come back. They are very short lived. For this kind of experiment, you can actually get pole and runner beans to keep going, especially runner beans I understand can be dug up and overwintered, though I have not tried this — well only once and failed.

[amrap1956]

I was planning to take most of the peppers and hydro out. I don't eat peppers and I don't think the hydro will handle the winter. I have peas, kale and a couple of pole beans germinating to replace a lot of what's out there now. I got to get a handle on keeping the temp and humidity somewhat constant. Going to try a vent/fan to run a few hours a day to see if that helps.

[Gary350]

Fall being the time of the year when days are short and sky is very over cast causing a sunlight shortage how does that effect the growth of your plants inside your warm greenhouse?

[MoonShadows]

I find my plants don't grow as fast as the days get shorter. I don't really think so much it is the shorter days, but the lower angle of the sun. I mostly grow things like lettuce, spinach, onions and a few herbs during the off season. Most of these don't need long days of sun. I've noticed my lettuce and spinach almost stop growing, but stay fresh. I think the intensity of the light is much more important than the length of sun light. By intensity, I don't mean brightness. I came to this conclusion after doing some research into lighting for my indoor kitchen garden and learning more about PAR and micromoles.

[fromlawntofood]

Since you've had this up for 2 months now, have you had any drawbacks? I have a back deck that I would love to do this with. Unfortunately it's only morning light. For us, that would be a good thing, as the morning light lasts far longer. Afternoon light would be 5 hours or less. Anyways, have the mats insulated the floor well? I also love the dryer vent idea... our vent is right by our back door.

[MoonShadows]

There is no getting around a winter greenhouse without supplemental heat. Solar power is fine until you get 1 or 2 cloudy days in a row. Also, solar power is of no help unless you have a way to store the day time heat (heat sink) so it can be released at night.