Greenhouses and Accessories

Have you longed for a greenhouse in your yard or attached to your house where you can grow all year long? If so, it’s a great way to produce both food and cash crops year round. A hydroponic greenhouse is especially adaptable where a garden is too rocky to work the soil. Even in harsh northern climates, commercial hydroponic growing operations churn out many of the bright green and red vegetables you see year round at your local grocer. Read my blog on hydroponic tomatoes.

Get Out Already

Actually, adding hydroponic capability is just one step up from what most traditional gardeners use their greenhouse for already. It really isn’t too much of a stretch to mix in different components of hydroponics. Most greenhouses already have similarities to those that grow only using hydroponics or aquaponics. They are sheltered from the outside climate and generally maintain interior conditions within a range healthy for plants. They have most always have a clear view of the sky; available electricity for lights, fans, and heaters as well as a steady water supply. By using available sunshine to augment grow lights, power costs can be mitigated. Planting in pots of special growing mixtures under lights is exactly what greenhouse science is all about. Growing plants from seed to harvest indoors is a newer phenomenon. Most farmers move plant starts outdoors while hydro farmers stay indoors.

Similar but Different

There are ways the two greenhouse designs could differ, even while looking similar from the outside. With hydroponics, everything a plant needs can be artificially supplied just as it is in an indoor growing operation. You could just as easily locate your hydroponic greenhouse in the shade, use a garage, a shed or any structure, even one without windows, even underground. While it may stretch the definition of a greenhouse as we have always envisioned it, so does hydroponic growing when compared to terra gardening. You’ll find plenty of hydroponic greenhouse ideas on the web.

Hot Stuff

No doubt, a gardener using his greenhouse as a hydroponic greenhouse can reap extra benefits not generally available to most terra farmers. Many gardeners only use their plastic or glass covered greenhouse in spring, to start plants for their flower and vegetable plots. Internal temperatures often get too high under greenhouse coverings to grow plants. This may compound the heat problem as HID hydroponic lighting throw off quite a bit of heat that must be moved away from growing plants. When the value of the crop is high, farmers will be more willing to spend money to solve problems.

Getting Started with a Plan

Some people are more capable of designing and constructing a greenhouse alone while others depend on pre-designed kits. If you have the money and/or the skill to build whatever structure you need, go for it. However, there are still many ways to create a greenhouse without breaking the bank. They sell those tent-like portable garage kits at Costco and many big box stores. You don’t have to look in too many backyards as you drive down the street to see many down to a simple skeleton. All you need to convert them to greenhouses is either some 6 mil UV plastic or plastic sheeting and some lengths of wood, an old storm door, and an old window.  Or you could start from scratch and use PVC pipe, PVC fittings and glue, some rebar, plastic sheeting, and a plan. This way you aren’t constrained to a 10x20 greenhouse. You could conceivably build it in most any size. Make sure to anchor down your creation or it may fly away on you, possibly destroying your crop on the way. There are plenty of low-cost alternatives. On the higher end, here is an example of a commercial greenhouse:

Riga V 9.67 Ft. W x 17.5 Ft. D Commercial Greenhouse Heavy duty Dutch barn door that with a key lock//First class insulation R or K-value 3.0//UV coated twin wall polycarbonate over main body and twin wall polycarbonate in front and back walls for extra strength//Although a foundation is not required it …

Start at the Bottom

No good structure worth its salt will last for any length of time without a solid base. Now, in a greenhouse, you could but wouldn’t necessarily build a wooden floor for it with so much water involved, so most home growers simply use crushed gravel or pea stone. It allows water to drain while giving a satisfactory surface to walk on. Commercial setups may use concrete as a floor because it can be washed and may also be part of a hydronic floor heating system. Heated water or glycol is run through Pex type tubing that transfers heat to the slab. As for other foundation types, piers or blocks may serve as a base with long wooden runners on top along the length as attachment points for poles and plastic.

Anchors Away

Are you thinking about creating a hydroponic greenhouse? If so, make sure you have a plan on how to keep it from blowing away. Many a lightweight greenhouse made of PVC and plastic sheeting have met their demise from a single gust of wind. Rebar, or reinforcing bar, is often used in concrete to help prevent cracking and movement in cement, but they are also used for anchors. Be sure to pound them in at least a couple of feet deep and securely attach your structure in the corners and at least in the center of the long way of your greenhouse. Before finalizing things, check for square by measuring diagonally corner to corner both ways, as both measurements must be equal or your foundation won’t be square.  A good structure starts with a square foundation.

Check Please

I can’t stress enough the importance of having written plans and following them as a skipped step may cause you to have to destruct just to construct. Have a partner help and have them read and understand the plan. Sometimes a second set of eyes can see something important that was missed. Have you considered your possible future needs? Have you visited a working greenhouse to see what you may be forgetting? How will you get power to the site? Extension cords may work temporarily, but if you plan on running pumps or grow lights, you’ll need a ground fault circuit inside. Make sure you work safely and follow local codes. There’s no use in dying before you get to harvest your crops. Water from a garden hose may suffice in summer, but what will you do if the hose freezes up? Perhaps a water line dug below the frost line is in order. Also, check local building codes just in case your structure doesn’t fall under the “temporary structure” rule.

Now Get Going

These are just basic ideas, and you should spend more time researching than building your hydroponic greenhouse if you expect to use your greenhouse for years to come, spend a bit more or spend the time to make it tight and secure.