Looking to invest in a greenhouse...

MustangStudFarm

Well-Known Member
I really didn't know where to post this because I really don't see many people with a greenhouse. I was hoping to come across someone who has exp and could help me answer some questions. Right now, I think that I am sold on twin wall polycarbonate but I am nervous about DIY and would probably have to buy a kit. I'm in Oklahoma and we have hail/tornadoes every year, so repairing broken panels is inevitable.

I looked at the Tufftex panels and I am not really sold on them, but they would be easy to replace if they got broken and it would be a DIY project. I'm mostly a car mechanic but I started doing some carpentry type work recently and I am growing confidence.
 

rob333

Well-Known Member
I really didn't know where to post this because I really don't see many people with a greenhouse. I was hoping to come across someone who has exp and could help me answer some questions. Right now, I think that I am sold on twin wall polycarbonate but I am nervous about DIY and would probably have to buy a kit. I'm in Oklahoma and we have hail/tornadoes every year, so repairing broken panels is inevitable.

I looked at the Tufftex panels and I am not really sold on them, but they would be easy to replace if they got broken and it would be a DIY project. I'm mostly a car mechanic but I started doing some carpentry type work recently and I am growing confidence.
i just built a pvc pipe white shade cloth green house about a week ago 2 days later we had 110 winds due to a tropical cyclone coming in from the south and the fucker lived had a few ripped bits in the shade cloth but it moved with the wind and the plants in it were 100% fine i built it for around 35 bucks with the cloth costing the most peace
 

Master_Tabi

Well-Known Member
i just built a pvc pipe white shade cloth green house about a week ago 2 days later we had 110 winds due to a tropical cyclone coming in from the south and the fucker lived had a few ripped bits in the shade cloth but it moved with the wind and the plants in it were 100% fine i built it for around 35 bucks with the cloth costing the most peace
shade cloth wouldnt hold in temperature though
 

sensi8739

Well-Known Member
Hey man, bit of greenhouse experience, built a kit by myself and help put a couple others together. After having done a couple, I'm pretty confident I could just but get a conduit bender and make my own. But if it's your first, I highly recommend a kit.

With twin-wall, you will need some pretty large diameter conduit (at least 2 inch diameter, probably even more.) and you'll want to make sure you sink your poles you will be using for walls below frost depth, and lock them in with cement. When you do this, make sure the top of all the conduit you are using for the walls is sunk into the ground so that their tops are all near exactly the same height as each-other (use a transit here,) or when you go to put on the roof, you'll find the peak is not straight going across, due to irregularities in side-pole height. You also really want to make sure your initial footprint is square, or everything will not go together correctly. Poly sheets don't bend, flex or stretch like poly film would, so you need to be much more accurate with your build, or you will end up with a nightmare trying to fit sheets next to each-other across a distance.

For something simpler/more forgiving of construction error, you can also take some smaller diameter conduit, still above 1 inch diameter though, and just pound them into the ground a couple feet. Take time to create a perfect footprint still, as above, but without concrete, and make sure you pound in your conduit to the same height as all the others in your wall, Put your peaks up and then run wiggle wire channel along all applicable edges so you can stretch poly film across. Run treated boards along the base of the sides to have something for the side walls to lock into, and consider roll-up sidewalls as well. With this, you don't worry so much if you fucked things up going out of plumb, because you can just stretch the plastic to fit whatever.

You also might do something super simple that allows wind to whip through, like the shade cloth guy above, but this is, (I assume,) just overhead, with no sidewalls, and the overhead is only filtering light, so will allow water to drip right onto your plants during rain events. Just depends on what you are looking for though.

At the very least, if you are looking for overall weather protection, and have little construction experience/tools, go with a stretch poly kit imo.
 

MustangStudFarm

Well-Known Member
Alright, I've been looking into state laws and my state is pretty strict on grow rooms. In Oklahoma, they need to be behind lock and key but that's alright because I am thinking about a "Closed Greenhouse" with an HVAC system. I'm familiar with Mitsubishi's Mr. Slim and I installed one on my house. I am also looking at "Riga XL9" greenhouses because they are supposed to be the best insulated and they use the thickest twinwall polycarbonate on the market and I get large hail and tornadoes almost every year. I watched the videos on putting this kit together and it really don't look too bad, the instructions say 2-3 people should be able to do it pretty easy. I read reviews that the phone helpline is actually helpful with Riga. So, I will probably get an electric sub panel installed along with a concrete slab. I'm shooting for something similar to this pic.
Riga XL9.jpg

I really wish that I built a greenhouse instead of this add-on... I couldn't find a finished pic and feel like looking too hard lol... I poured the concrete slab for this building and it was $425 to have the truck deliver it, not bad at all.
DSC00453.JPG
 

NirvanaMesa

Well-Known Member
This is the hoop house I made. Its 48ft x 16ft x 8ft. Its not for growing pot but would work ok I guess. To be honest most plants are much happier outside of a greenhouse. Even indoors under lamps is better. Greenhouses tend to have a lot of issues. I think you would be better off growing in the guest house.



 

NirvanaMesa

Well-Known Member
Without going into great detail, heres a few issues you will run into with a GH. Plants are generally more happy outside of greenhouses where they are in more direct contact with the weather. Plant tissue doesnt harden off as well in a GH. It tends to stay soft and get chlorotic. And it also is more weak from lack of wind. A fan blowing around is not the same as wind. Also there tend to be larger temperature swings inside a GH. its hotter during the day and then drops to outside temp at night. Unless you get some $$$ heating equipment, its not going to stay warm at night. So if you plan on growing in winter, and its frosty where you live you will need heat and lights to give more daylight. Then theres the issues of bug infestations. Much more of a problem in a GH due to fast growing plants with softer tissue. Mites, aphids, etc love a GH. And theres issues with automating the temperature and humidity controls. Without some sort of automation with fans and or cooling walls or mist systems you will surely cook your plants. It takes a lot of work to get the temps and humidity where they need to be. Trust me on this that a GH is a pandoras box. You WILL be dealing with those issues guaranteed.
 
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NirvanaMesa

Well-Known Member
You are welcome. Its not all negative either. GH has its positives too. Like keeping rain off your plants. And raising temps to grow stuff out of season etc. Its just one of those things that ends up taking a lot of tweeking to get right.
 
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