I bought a greenhouse!

lancer99 · Post by **lancer99** » Sat May 30, 2009 1:31 pm

Well, not really a greenhouse, a big plastic tent with pretensions to being a greenhouse

Here it is in all its glory:

LOL!

Although I love my sunroom, I've outgrown it (or rather, my plants have!). The plants on the left side get one or two hours of filtered sun in the morning, and the ones on the right, maybe three or four hours of sun in the afternoon. The ones on the floor? They're lucky to get any rays at all:

Plus it's a total pain having plants on shelves -- you have to move the ones in front to water the ones in the back. I bought wire shelves in hopes that a little more sunlight would penetrate into the room, but that meant that I was forever knocking smaller plants over.

So it was definitely greenhouse time! But since I'm still blissfully unemployed, it would have been financially irresponsible to spend $4000 on the greenhouse of my dreams. Instead, my budget was $500. Keep in mind that this is a temporary solution -- I will get a real greenhouse as soon as I can.

I ended up getting this "pop-up greenhouse," which came in the box pictured above. It took literally less than an hour to do the basic assembly:

...and another four hours to finish it off, including a couple of trips to home depot. I recycled some old boards for the benches, using concrete blocks as support, and put down a couple of inches of pea gravel for the floor:

I know the staging looks a little bit slapdash and out of kilter, but due to the weight of the concrete blocks, the benches are surprisingly stable.

Things I don't like about the greenhouse:

1) It's listed as being 9' x 9', but apparently those are the exterior dimensions including the skirt on the bottom. It actually came out to more like 8'4" inside, which caused me to rethink my layout plans.

2) The plastic covering is less clear than I had thought from the pictures. However, my plants will now be getting about 10 hours of somewhat filtered sunlight, which I have to believe is much better than the sunroom.

Things I DO like about the greenhouse:

1) Each side has six 26" x 12" vents, and on the side opposite the front door is a duplicate door, with screening. That should provide provide plenty of ventilation.

2) It is surprisingly sturdy, and once tied/staked down, seems fairly wind-resistant. In fact, it got a bit of a baptism by fire -- midway through moving plants in, we got some strong thunderstorms with 30 mph winds, which didn't faze the g/h at all.

So here it is with the plants moved in!

Yes, that board in the middle may require some additional support

I have a lot of rearranging to do, but just wanted to get the plants in first.

So did I stick to my budget? Well, kinda

The greenhouse itself was $319 with free shipping, and the concrete blocks and pea gravel came to $106. But in the end, I also decided to have a large bush, which was kind of in the way, removed (you can see its remnants in the first "assembled" shot). That was $150.....

So all in all, I am pretty happy with this "temporary solution!" Now if I could only get over my paranoid fear of plant thieves visiting in the night

-R

dustin0352 · Post by **dustin0352** » Sat May 30, 2009 2:13 pm

Grats on the greenhouse. I have been looking at the same one. Looks like it has plenty of room in it. It also looks better than I thought it would. How long was the set up time, and how does it feel? (meaning does it seem it will stand up to mild weather?) Judging by the clump of stumps left behind that was a big bush! Looks GOOD!!!!!!

Neko Bazu · Post by **Neko Bazu** » Sat May 30, 2009 2:18 pm

Nice one!

Based on those pictures, the greenhouse certainly seems to be a fair bit brighter than the sunroom, so hopefully it is a better option.

Definitely think that middle board could use a little more support too!

Post by **daiv** » Sat May 30, 2009 2:38 pm

That is really a good value. I think you did extremely well and I also think you're going to be very happy with the results.

Watch out for initial scorching on your plants. That is a big change in the amount of light they are getting. You might get burn on some of the more sensative ones. You will certainly get discoloration on many of them that will freak you out, but won't be permanent.

On the pros -I agree, the ventalation on that model is brilliant. You should be able to dial in the temp and air flow quite nicely.

On the cons -the opacity of the plastic is no problem. You will have plenty of sunlight getting through that. You might not have "Atacama desert" spination on your plants, but you couldn't get that in VA even if the covering was perfectly clear.

Again, that setup is a really good value and one I'd recommend to others for sure. Nice going!

lancer99 · Post by **lancer99** » Sat May 30, 2009 3:20 pm

dustin0352 wrote:...How long was the set up time, and how does it feel? (meaning does it seem it will stand up to mild weather?)

Answers are in the post!

Sorry, I did go on at length

The assembly really couldn't have been simpler. The poles are like tent poles, i.e. in several hollow segments with elastic running through them, so it's just a matter of sticking the segments together. Then they fit into canvas pockets sewn inside the g/h.

About the only difficult part was the first step of putting in the poles, which form an "X," in the side walls. Not easy to find the right pockets when you're crawling under a big pile of plastic!

daiv wrote:...Watch out for initial scorching on your plants. That is a big change in the amount of light they are getting. You might get burn on some of the more sensative ones. You will certainly get discoloration on many of them that will freak you out, but won't be permanent.
...
On the cons -the opacity of the plastic is no problem. You will have plenty of sunlight getting through that. You might not have "Atacama desert" spination on your plants, but you couldn't get that in VA even if the covering was perfectly clear.

Again, that setup is a really good value and one I'd recommend to others for sure. Nice going!

Daiv, thanks. After the sun rose a bit further and the g/h was getting full sun, I realized how bright it was inside...I could feel the hot sun on my skin. So my worries about my plants not getting enough sun have already been replaced by worries about too much sun

The g/h did actually come with a shade cloth, so I've installed that and will be very carefully monitoring things over the next couple of weeks.

-R

dustin0352 · Post by **dustin0352** » Sat May 30, 2009 3:27 pm

lol yea I found the answer after I asked lol. Was to into looking at the greenhouse

Post by **daiv** » Sat May 30, 2009 4:02 pm

lancer99 wrote:The g/h did actually come with a shade cloth, so I've installed that and will be very carefully monitoring things over the next couple of weeks.

It even came with one? That makes it an even better value. I am very impressed!

I would certainly use it at first and maybe move it off over the course of a month or so. Here is what you are likely to end up with if you don't:

Not permanent damage, but not the best thing either.

*Barracuda_52* · Post by ***Barracuda_52*** » Sat May 30, 2009 4:56 pm

That is flippin fantastic Lance, looks beautiful and set up so nicely. Congrats on the new GH..

lancer99 · Post by **lancer99** » Sat May 30, 2009 7:07 pm

Here it is with the shade cloth:

I thought it might be hard to attach, since the g/h at its tallest is 8', which is just about as high as I can reach....took all of two minutes to do

BTW, the door looks much neater if you spend the time to roll it up and attach it properly, but I'm lazy!

Sorry for all the posts...I'm a little bit excited about my new baby

-R

birdguy34 · Post by **birdguy34** » Sat May 30, 2009 7:43 pm

For the money and labor, thats quite a set-up. Never seen one like this. Do you think you'll be able to use it in your winters?
Chris

Post by **daiv** » Sun May 31, 2009 1:16 am

Don't apologize for posting man - this is good stuff.

@Chris - I doubt he'll want to go the winter with that - not for cold-sensative plants anyway. I think if you are going to have regular below freezing temps, the only practical greenhouse to heat would be one made of insulated glass. Even then, I think it would be expensive.

Post by **CoronaCactus** » Sun May 31, 2009 3:52 am

Congrats Robert! Looks great dude!
lol at the bendy board

but seriously, support that before you water. The wood will drastically weaken when wet.

So why was it you were calling it a sunroom?

jenni · Post by **jenni** » Sun May 31, 2009 4:29 am

Very cool. You filled it up fast!!! Looks like you will be needing a second one very soon......

toddo · Post by **toddo** » Sun May 31, 2009 5:35 am

Really nice! Stoked for you. I remember how giddy I was when I got my GH set up. It's fun. Enjoy it. Now you can refill your sunroom! Congrats.

lancer99 · Post by **lancer99** » Sun May 31, 2009 4:08 pm

Thanks all!

birdguy34 wrote:For the money and labor, thats quite a set-up. Never seen one like this. Do you think you'll be able to use it in your winters?

As daiv said, it would be prohibitively expensive to try to heat it over the winter...I'm sure it leaks heat like a sieve! The plan is to have a permanent g/h by then, which will still be expensive to heat....especially since most of my plants don't like temps under 50.

One little detail I forgot about when doing my budget was watering. Endless trips with a watering can wouldn't be fun, so I got a new hose and a Rubbermaid trashcan to store water in, next to the g/h. That was another $70.....

-R