Best small greenhouse?

PrettyPaisley · #1 05/22/13, 05:50 PM

I want to get a small greenhouse for all year around tomatoes and cucumbers for a family of 4. I'd also like to use it to start my seeds next year. There are tons of them online-which have y'all found to be the best for the money? I really don't want to spend more than $600-$800 on the high end.

Fire-Man · #2 05/22/13, 07:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PrettyPaisley

I want to get a small greenhouse for all year around tomatoes and cucumbers for a family of 4. I'd also like to use it to start my seeds next year. There are tons of them online-which have y'all found to be the best for the money? I really don't want to spend more than $600-$800 on the high end.

How are you planning on heating it? One in the price range you stated will be small so you will be limited to how many plants you can grow. You ever thought about building one using PVC pipe?

BlueRose · #3 05/23/13, 07:09 PM

PVC pipe greenhouse? Do you have pics?

Fire-Man · #4 05/23/13, 08:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlueRose

PVC pipe greenhouse? Do you have pics?

I built this 11x42ft for $150, BUT I already had the door and window and bought the plastic for $5 at a auction. The best I can remember----you can get a plastic that will last several years for around $150 to do one this big. So if you find a salvaged storm door and window for around $50. You could build it for less than $400 complete-- 11ft x 42 ft. You can add tables etc if you want.

http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w...gThings007.jpg

http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w...gThings008.jpg

oz in SC V2.0 · #5 05/23/13, 08:23 PM

We bought the frame of a big greenhouse(20x96) for cheap and used just four of the hoops to make a mini-greenhouse for our first attempt.It came out okay,should last long enough for us to decide what to do in the future.

It worked out to be 20' wide and only 12' long or so.
I would think you could grow a lot in it.
Or Mrs oz came up with the idea of one of those carports without the metal roofing,very sturdy for sure.

BlueRose · #6 05/23/13, 09:07 PM

Thank you. What size PVC did you use? 2" or bigger? I could not tell from the pics did you lay 4x4 down then drill hole for the PVC ribs?

Thanks

Awnry Abe · #7 05/23/13, 09:48 PM

PPaisley,

I am making this one:

http://ana-white.com/2012/05/plans/barn-greenhouse

I don't know what the material cost will be, though.

Fire-Man · #8 05/23/13, 10:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlueRose

Thank you. What size PVC did you use? 2" or bigger? I could not tell from the pics did you lay 4x4 down then drill hole for the PVC ribs?

Thanks

I used 20ft 1" schd 40 and its 2x4's on the side with holes drilled. If you will notice there is NO T's or 4 ways to glue. The only thing that was glued was the 3----1/2" perlins because it was 42ft long.

This is a picture of the side.

http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w...rvester006.jpg

Harry Chickpea · #9 05/23/13, 11:54 PM

Tomatoes need a particular heat range to set fruit, IIRC, as well as enough light. You will end up paying huge amounts for heating even a small greenhouse. You are better off abandoning that year-round idea and getting green shelves to start plants early in the spring.

stanb999 · #10 05/24/13, 06:39 AM

I'd say the cheapest would be a hoop green house with double plastic. They are widely available as kits and can be put together cheaply. Google hoop house. Here is a link to my recent build, it's not double plastic but that isn't a big add on.

Small hoop house build.

Heat will likely cost you more than the few buckets of tomatoes are worth. Unless you can work out a plan to heat it cheaply. I'm thinking something like a solar water heater, storage tank, and radiators to dole it out. It would work well and could be done for just a few thousand. I know "A few thousand?

" To do it right costs money and it also has to be big enough to make a good yield for all the effort involved. Good luck.

BigHenTinyBrain · #11 05/24/13, 06:51 AM

You can heat (so I've been told) with compost, but maybe not enough to grow year round tomatoes. Plus that uses space in a small greenhouse.
We're in Maine, we have a simple 15x20 plastic hoophouse. You can get a kit for around the top of your budget or make your own for a lot less. Ours holds about 10 tomatoes, 6 peppers and 3 eggplants, plus a couple of random cukes in the summer. It extends our season considerably for the hot weather plants, gives me a good space to strt seeds (although we have more success with them inside, I do the dirty part in the greenhouse) and in the colder months we get spinach, lettuce and other cool weather greens.
We use single layer woven plastic for ours, it holds up better in high winds than the regular sheet plastic does.

Wolf mom · #12 05/24/13, 08:15 AM

Why not consider building a solar greenhouse?

The Solar Greenhouse Book by James C. McCullagh is a great, comprehensive, in depth book dealing with design, construction and growing different types of vegies.. There's also newer books on Amazon, You have to build facing true south. Start by saving "older" glass -

I've seen too many people buy green houses then end up using them for storage after a few years due to the overall cost when you figure in heat and replacement of the plastic .

harvestmoonfarm · #13 05/24/13, 08:32 AM

Why not build one using cattle panels to create a hoop house? The panels are around $22/each and you can use as many (or as few) as you want. It would be far less expensive than the "high-end" price you quoted.

ldc · #14 05/24/13, 12:16 PM

Big Hen, about 25 yrs ago, I saw farms in Brit. France that heated the house with piped in compost heat (like an outdoor wood furnace with the heat piped in).

ChristieAcres · #15 05/24/13, 12:39 PM

I have been using a kit greenhouse for the last three years, wouldn't recommend it though. DH has reinforced it, had to fix it a few time after storms this past Winter, and there is no point heating it. I bartered for tempered glass panels and am saving them until it is time to build my bigger greenhouse. Unless I come up with a better idea, I'd like to heat that with a Rocket Mass Stove. That barn design is a good one!

Just recently, I figured out where the greenhouse will be built. There is a good spot in our orchard for it.

Tabitha · #16 05/25/13, 08:23 AM

have you thought of using cattle panels? here is a link.
https://www.google.com/search?q=catt...hrome&ie=UTF-8

These things also make instant wood sheds covered with a tarp.

I fasten the tarp with clothespins and it works great. Really fast, too.

fffarmergirl · #17 05/25/13, 08:30 AM

Make sure to look at thermocubes - they're thermostatic plug things. For 12.57 you can get this one: http://www.amazon.com/Farm-Innovator...rds=thermocube if you plug a space heater into it, it turns it on at 35 degrees and off at 45 degrees, to keep things from freezing.

Then there's one that you can plug a fan into that turns the fan on at around 85 degrees and off at 75 or something like that.

That's what we use in our little 8X10 greenhouse and it works great.

wendle · #18 05/25/13, 05:43 PM

Watch ebay and craigslist. I just found a nice 14'X97' greenhouse for 300.00. It needs plastic. It's hoops, so I can really go with any length I want. Cattle panels work good too. Careful of the plastic you buy for drop clothes and window covering. Some of them crack and break after only one season.

PrettyPaisley · #19 05/25/13, 11:25 PM

I never really considered building one; I've always thought the kit was the way to go but I'm sure putting one up from scratch would be best .... if I knew how to build it! I have no building skills at all. I mean none. Hanging a picture is about all I can do with a hammer. It about killed me using a miter box to frame a large mirror on the wall.

Any idea how I can learn to do that Ana White one? I've drooled over that in the past but oh my goodness it is nothing I could do alone!

ChristieAcres · #20 05/25/13, 11:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PrettyPaisley

I never really considered building one; I've always thought the kit was the way to go but I'm sure putting one up from scratch would be best .... if I knew how to build it! I have no building skills at all. I mean none. Hanging a picture is about all I can do with a hammer. It about killed me using a miter box to frame a large mirror on the wall.

Any idea how I can learn to do that Ana White one? I've drooled over that in the past but oh my goodness it is nothing I could do alone!

I'd be with you as I have never built anything before. It sure would be a learning experience. DH has built me two garden cabins, but not a greenhouse (just put the kit together and had to reinforce and keep fixing it). Despite that, we will be consulting with a few friends for assistance in design & probably get some help. We know a few guys who have built very nice ones.

Have you thought about doing some bartering? If you have the materials, there may be a carpenter or a handy person willing to do the work or work along side you. I did find site recommendations very helpful for planning where to put my next greenhouse. The sun exposure in every season, also sheltered from the wind/bad weather... In our orchard, there is a great spot. There is currently an old Yellow Transparent Apple tree, which needs to go (DH and I both want it gone). We have plenty of other apple varieties we much prefer.