New greenhouse up

[Alan McKnight]

Well after the Storms trashed my old green house I have a put up a new one this week end.

Side, back and inside.

Vertical garden survived the storm.

That is strawberry's bok choy  and yes even bell peppers still growing.

And the new 300 gallon tank.
Side View

From the back

new tank

Peppers

[Paul Trudeau]

Looking good Alan!  You got back up and running pretty quick, nice work.

[Bob Campbell]

Looks like a beautiful system.  Good use of space and I think you were wise to go with a Rubbermaid fish tank.

[Alan McKnight]

Yep  I like the Rubbermaid stuff. It seems to hold up.

Oh and the greenhouse is $230.00   for  a 10x20

http://www.quictents.com/greenhouse/10x20-large-portable-greenhouse...

[Mikio McCulloch]

I'm up east from you in Placerville- do you think this particular greenhouse frame can handle the wind and storms, and if not, do you think it can be reinforced to become a permanent structure?  thanks for the pics!

[Bob Campbell]

I really like this green house, but I have been experimenting with various designs, and would advise an insulated green house design in your cold country. 

The Winter sun enters low in the south sky. The hours are short so ceramic metal halide lights will be required for supplementing the length of day lighting.  A side benefit is heat.

You can heat the green house best with a Rocket Mass Stove, but insulation is the first priority, otherwise you will be feeding the fire all day and night.   Find a way to add at least R19 insulation to the North, West, and East sides.  Insulate your tanks with a minimum of R11 and you will be on your way. The roof should allow some light.  It's your judgement call as to how far you wish to insulate and how high you wish to gaze.

I built a green house as described and it is very efficient, but my 100% vertical glazing seems to be falling slightly short of providing enough light.  That is why I suggest insulating only as much of the roof as you feel acquit.  If your beds are 36" wide I would extend the glazing to 36" from the front edge so that there is some light coming down directly from above.

Compared to a DIY green house this looks like a very good deal.  I spent about $100.00 on polyethylene alone for a slightly smaller hoop house of my own design.  So this is a very good deal IMHO..

Mikio McCulloch said:

I'm up east from you in Placerville- do you think this particular greenhouse frame can handle the wind and storms, and if not, do you think it can be reinforced to become a permanent structure?  thanks for the pics!

[Mikio McCulloch]

wow! thanks for the input!  I'm still a noob, but I am gathering materials for my aquaponic set up. Thank you again!

 

[Bob Campbell]

Rob Torcellini has made some very good videos of his green house which is not cheap, but the ideas about heating with a Rocket Mass Stove are very detailed.

http://www.youtube.com/user/web4deb/videos

I also posted this my blog

Rocket Mass Stove

I will also ask Vlad Jovanovic to comment on his green house which is currently growing lettuce without the insulation I spoke about.  I'm very curious about how he is heating his green house..

As you can see there is snow on the ground. 

[Alan McKnight]

Well the bad news.  This morning s winds took the new greenhouse to a flying greenhouse where it crashed into my new shed and bent the crap out of it.  It was my fault as I didn't have it tied down properly as I thought it was low enough to the ground not to be an issue,  So a lesson learned.  Tie downs, tie downs, tie downs. 

Pictures to follow :) 

[Paul Trudeau]

Bummer.  FYI I bent four pieces of 3' rebar into 2.5' J-hooks (using a propane BBQ to heat the sections to be bent) and pounded them into the ground at an angle over the bottom perimeter frame tubing at each corner of my GH, which is close to the size of yours.  Survived wicked wind/rain storms we had here ~Dec. 1.

[Alan McKnight]

Pictures

[Paul Trudeau]

forgive my french Alan but sheeeiiit that does not look good.

[Alan McKnight]

Sigh,  well the tarp ripped in two little spots and none of the Velcro straps let go, so something had to give and it was the frame.