Greenhousing

willpower · Post by **willpower** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 10:18 am

Hello there,
An impending house move brings the dilemma of what to do with the cactus collection. They're currently housed in what I consider to be a lean to greenhouse and SWIMBO thinks is a 'conservatory' (which I've invited her to look up the original meaning of

)
Anyway, hopfully if all goes to plan a green(well mainly transparent)house will be the weapon of choice for the shortish term as they're relatively cheap and easy to install. The question is, given I also like growing chillis, tomatoes, aubergines etc can I get away with one larger greenhouse to share betweens spikeys and edibles or am I better going for seperate areas? I grew chillis in the 'conservatory' last year, no probs except a few flies to deal with.
Any thoughts/potential pitfalls/experiences etc?

kevin63129 · Post by **kevin63129** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 11:05 am

Nice to see someone else with the hobby of chile's.My 14 yr old son has the hottest and some of the most unique and strangest peppers in the world growing in my kitchen under lights.I cant wait till we get to put them outside.He has over 110 varieties so far and gets them and trades w people on the thehotpepper.com.He and I think there shouldnt be a problem housing together.The only problem we can think of would be extreme heat for the peppers,it may cause flower drop and less fruit if greenhose is getting over 95-100f.

willpower · Post by **willpower** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 11:13 am

Thanks Kevin, good to hear from someone with a foot in both camps, so to speak 110 varieties is quite a lot! Does he have a polytunnel full? I can't imagine your kitchen houses all 110!

And does he have any tips on germinating reluctant seed?

kevin63129 · Post by **kevin63129** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 11:59 am

Just a heat mat or grow w incandescent light heating soil.He has also found out not too plant too deep.Lil less then 1/4th inch.A bih jalokia(second hottest pepper in the world,he has hottest 5 or 6)took over 6 weeks to pop up.I think it just depends on the type sometimes too.We only have 20 or so varieties growing so far,but he is starting more this week in time for spring.He wants to know if ya wanna do a trade,pepper seeds for cactus.Thats my boy!LOL

willpower · Post by **willpower** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 2:43 pm

Kevin, that's an interesting idea, but I'll pass for the moment as
a) I don't have anything interesting to swap
b) I'm trying to keep things simple due to afore mentioned move
c) We're on the other side of the pond which makes shipping plant material intersting, I believe!

However,maybe next year some time.

iann · Post by **iann** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 5:01 pm

Two greenhouses would certainly be better, its just a question of whether it is practical for you.

Post by **daiv** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 5:26 pm

I'm curious how large of a greenhouse you might end up with? I think the bigger the better in terms of climate control.

iann · Post by **iann** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 5:34 pm

Its true, a bigger greenhouse doesn't heat up and cool down as fat but sticking anything that needs watering in with the cacti just leads to trouble sooner or later.

willpower · Post by **willpower** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 5:35 pm

daiv wrote:I'm curious how large of a greenhouse you might end up with? I think the bigger the better in terms of climate control.

don't tempt me! I love glass buildings and would happily cover all of the back garden ~40ft x 60ft if I could/was allowed to/could afford it.

In reallity, though I'd like larger the choice is probably between 2x 6x8 foot or one 8x 10 - 12 or there abouts. Depends a bit on just how much garden would be left once I've drawn it up

another advatage of the smaller houses is that they only have to be paid for one at a time, which is good.

Post by **daiv** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 5:38 pm

2 x 6 x 8 = 96
1 x 8 x 12 = 96

So it's a draw! Might as well do the two smaller ones per Ian's advice.

phil_SK · Post by **phil_SK** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 6:04 pm

They'd probably be fine together in Summer but not in Winter. So it all depends on whether you plant to overwinter your cacti and or chilli plants together or not.

vlani · Post by **vlani** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 5:32 am

I have found it practical not to have a perm greenhouse, but rather build something simple and expandable. Actually it was the first winter with corrugated polycarb construction, I used sheet plastic for several years, get tiered of its ugly look. With wood frame and at about 18x14 ft size it come up at under $1000, labor not included (and priceless too)

For the winter I had to put an extra plastic cower over it to save on heating, worked better than I expected with air pockets between polycarb and plastic, but for the next winter I should try to bring a duck from the house heating system

Post by **daiv** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 3:22 pm

Vlani,
Ok you got my attention now! I wanted to cover my 8 x 14 wood frame with corrugated polycarb, but realized that the cost would be $1000 just for the poly. Yours is almost 60% larger than mine. How did you get the material so cheap?

Daiv

vlani · Post by **vlani** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 1:14 am

For 18x14ft floor size:

The polycarb used per 2 ft length:
Roof – 2x8-ft sheets across + 1 for both sides (4ft tall) – 3x8ft sheets per 2ft length,
total 27 8ft sheets for 18 ft

Front and back - 12ft sheets, 3.5 each side, if cut uneven - shorter piece goes to the side, longer to center, all fitted well - 7 sheets total

Forgotten the price, from the Home Depot – was it $18 and $27? If so, that was 486+189=675. I got more, some is still unused, 4x8ft sheets and 2 roof ridges went to build seedling box – 4x8 ft size.

Roof is domed, not too steep - 4ft on side and something 6.5 -7 high point. Good enough for rain. There is an overlap of ~1ft at top.
Total poly waste was may be about 5 sq ft or less - uneven cut strips for front/back, top is curved - that is why I had waste at all.

Do not use their edge fitters - too expensive. Spray foam works better, one good can for all the GH. If you do not want it to stick to poly - spray it with WD40 first. Then you can dismantle poly and cut foam nicely if it matters

Make sure you can easily remove some roof panels in the summer.

Post by **daiv** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 6:08 pm

Thanks - I'll look into that some more!