A Gardeners Forum Forums Members History Forum Life 2006 $199.99 Greenhouse from Rural King.....

Ahhhhhhh, Jimmy, you'd be suprised how small it is...after you get your plants in it....
*that's the size of mine, when I put those 5 mini~greenhouse's in... with my seedlings in them and use them as shelves...
ther'es not much more manuvering room...

I am wishing I have about 10 of them, oh h#ll, who am I kidding, I wish I had a commercial sized one.... I'd fill it in a weekend!

Weezie..do you have to use any other source of lighting or do you let nature do it's thing?

Just when the sun comes up and the sun goes down..

Here's the picture.. it's very bright inside..
I am tryin'g to find and organize some pictures,
but it's a long process..

The only proplem I run into is...

Switching and/or rotating seeds..
*I get confused after awhile, and I do need to get a better organizational skills and system.*

When I put in seeds, I put them in the 3rd shelve, then as I put more in, I put the others on the top..then as I put the fourth set in, they go in the bottom...*or some that need real darkness to sprout.* but then, if the one's on the third shelf sprout, I put them to the top,
or the front..

And it depends on how you position your greenhouse, and how the sun comes up...

Mine goes from front to the back...
not side to side...
(ohhhhhhh, I wish I had a pen and paper right now)

Have you started seeds in your house before by using fluorescents? Do you have any of the same problems in the greenhouse as we all do using lights, ie..leggy?
And these mini greenhouses you mentioned, how does air circulate through those?
Sorry about all the quesions...I really know nothing about greenhouses..am very curious.

I have such a small house and minimal window space, and two rampuctous boys, that NO, I don't start seeds.. Plus by my windows are heat vents below and they'd be dried in an hour, and my husband would have a coronary if I put them there over the heaters...*hmmmmmmmm, I'll be right back, gotta go do that... just kidding**

We have talked about doing it in my basement or my moms'.. but that would require $$ to buy wood, and chains and lighting fixtures and bulbs...

*****Bigboy, does alot of indoor stuff, I should see if he still has his picture of the system he has for indoor starting..******

The onlyyyyy time I have a problem with leggingness is, ***Go back and look at my picture after I write this**** is, the sun comes up from the way I'm standing behind my back, and goes to the back of it by the end of the day...
and I use 6pk containers inside styrofoam or plastic trays *which doesn't let the sun in or thru* so when its' over head, it's shadey in there..

The other problem is that when I start my seeds, it's still cold outside and I don't have a system to get the seeds outside when they've sprouted..
*and I start sooooooooooo many seeds, between veggies and flowers.* and I need room for the new seeds I've put in...

The bottoms are open, and they have the slats at the bottom that aren't tight, so breezes do get thru...
In the early stages, I have to keep the warm air in, so I keep it zippered...once the temps start to rise, and depending on the day, I will unzip the zippers.. on the cooler days, and I still want to keep the heat in, I only unzipper them..
if it's killer hot, I unzipper and flip those front panels on top..
*** you should feel the heat and steam come out of those puppies when I do open them up, I wear glasses, and they get alllllllll fogged up.
Then, once the days are really hot, then I open a top vent and door...

Christina, do you work during the day???

The only problem I've had, is, in the begining, it's alot of learning... that's what I posted in Mike's post.. Some Assembly Required You've got to watch the weather, and weather reports..

And one system, like you starting them in the house, you're right there with them, you know they aren't frying, your concerns are legginess, usually.. in the greenhouse you don't want them to be too cold or to fryyyyyyyy to death..

NEVER BE SORRY FOR ASKING QUESTIONS, YOU CAN'T LEARN IF YOU DON'T ASK!!!!

I work off and on through the day (homecare). I have various clients, all different hours. I'm down to working only 15 hours a week...doctors orders..long story.

I haven't had a problem with legginess as I am sure to always keep the plants within a couple inches from the light but sometimes the stalks aren't as sturdy as I'd like them to be. Last year I came to the conclusion that it was just too warm! I've learned many vegetables (especially) tomatoes grow better around 70F in the house. I also plug two fans in as soon as I see them sprout...toughen up those babies at a young age.
Have you ever had a problem with too much moisture making the soil mouldy when those greenhouses are zipped?
And if money or space wasn't the issue, would you rather have an indoor system?

Yes, but mostly because of poor garden practices... POOR meaning two things.. poor, as in I have kept 6pks, found 6pks, borrowed 6pks, etc.. and I don't wash them out in bleach like I should.. and can't afford new one's everytime..
and I re~use dirt and that's a bigg no~no....

But, my plants seem to be pretty tough,
or I AM TOOOO FULL OF FAITH FOR THEM TO HAVE DETRAMENTAL PROBLEMS..
I take my finger and scrape it off...

Yes, cause I have a problem with starting veggies and flowers..
I need the veggies... so I start those first,
but I LOVE flowers, and because of the cold, and no heater, I have to start those after the veggies, and by the time they come to be able to flower, more than half the summmers' gone with some of them...

Well, in that case I think I'll stick with the indoors for now.
I have 4 4ft fluorescents and 3 2ft fluorescents. For now, that's enough. I don't have chains and shelves and all that stuff..maybe some day. For now, I just balance the lights between tables or shelves or whatever I can "fab up". I raise the plants to the lights using books, bricks, beer cases, anything and then lower them as needed. I usually don't have to move the lights around. We have a 3 bedroom home and only use one bedroom so space isn't an issue for me. The room I use is even painted green.
I think a greenhouse would be more practical for me if I lived in a warmer climate where I wouldn't have to worry about cold temperatures. I start my flowers before my vegetables and they're always blooming before the neighbours..not that it's a contest but I can't help but to be proud.

i would love to have a green house but we shall see, maybe if i am good this year santa will bring it fo me, and i guess it depends on how much i bug my husband for the huge flower box in the back of the yard too (lol)..
penny

I'm thinking of putting something together myself - there's enough scrap wood around here, and I can always get big plastic sheets from the hardware.

Maybe those sheets you put down when you're painting - that'd probably do it.

Another good idea would be one of those inflatable tents - maybe buy it used and cut the bottom out.

Or a big patio umbrella - put it in the ground and drape plastic over it for the sides.

Congrats on that greenhouse - hope it works out well for you.

Weezie, you said that you want a commercial greenhouse. You and Jimmy should check out this Hobby greenhouse from The Grower\'s Solution in Cookeville (pronounced Cook-ville), TN. It's a light commercial grade hobby greenhouse that is 10'X12' and is 7'6" tall. And, it's only $399.95. The only thing you have to supply is some 2"X4" boards for the bottom and a cheap, basic storm door. If a person lives within 500 miles of Cookeville, TN (and I do) the shipping is FREE. Over 500 miles (includes Jimmy) is only $75. Over 1000 miles (unfortunately Weezie, that's you) is $110. Not too bad of a price for a light commercial greenhouse with 120 square feet of floor space and over 600 square feet of heated space!

While you are there, you might want to check out his other things too. He is geared more toward commercial growers, but will gladly sell to the little guys and home gardeners too.

Jimmy said: Jimmy, I owe you an apology. I DID have about 50 links in my favorites that were to places with greenhouses. I had them there because I was once considering starting a small greenhouse to raise bedding and vegetable plants for sale. I forgot that after I decided that such a venture would be more than I could handle properly, I deleted all of the links except the one to The Grower's Solution.

If they don't have anything that you are interested in, do a google search for greenhouses or hobby greenhouses. There are usually several on Ebay also.

Sorry I couldn't help any more. I kept the links for a long time and just got disgusted looking at them one day and deleted them. I wish I hadn't, but I did.

Robert

Weezie, can't you place bales of straw or hay along the base of your greenhouse to prevent the drafty situation? Another thing you could do is to add some fan board (a type of insulation from Home Depot or other such stores) around the bottom. Or if you don't mind the way the stuff looks, you could use the styrofoam that comes in a spray can. It goes on soft, adhears to whatever it touches, and dries to a hardness like styrofoam. You should be able to get it at Home Depot as well. Both solutions are rather inexpensive.

To help with circulation of the air inside the greenhouse, you could get one of those cheeeeep $10 box fans at Wally World and use it. It would even help some in hardening off your plants to the wind. On the hot days, you can open the vents, open the door, sit the box fan at the door, turn it on high and it should go a long way toward cooling the greenhouse and removing some of the excess moisture.

Weezie said:[b]

Quote

POOR meaning two things.. poor, as in I have kept 6pks, found 6pks, borrowed 6pks, etc.. and I don't wash them out in bleach like I should.. and can't afford new one's everytime..
and I re~use dirt and that's a bigg no~no....

Shame, shame, shame, shame, shame, shame,[b]SHAME on you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not for doing it..... for admiting to it!! For financial reasons, I've done it too, but don't tell anyone!!

Robert

This is the Commercial Greenhouse I need...

YESSSSSSSSSS, absolutallyyyyyyy....
If you have a husband willing to fork out the $$$ to get enough bales to put all the way around the darn thing...

**I want straw bales for a couple of projects too,
#1 growing tomatoes IN... #2 for putting in a square and composting in it...
#3 for putting around my pumpkins/squashes...
but he won't fork out the bucks...

~~~~>you know, back to the poor thing again..<~~~

Well due to dry weather here in Oklahoma the price of Hay has gone up. You would normally get about 3 cutting a year, but last year was probably only 2.
And with no rain in sight, the hay this year will be even worse.

Up here, I thought it was something like a $1.00 a bale, if you were just buying some,
not like a farmer load or something..
but if you only bought a handfull

and I wanted about 50 for all that I wanted to do,
and this was the look I got,

Weezie..... that's not a greenhouse..... that's a garden center!! And, if you can't get hubby to fork out the cost of a few bales of straw, I'm afraid that a greenhouse of that magnitude is even beyond the reach of a dream!!

Right? Good thing too..... otherwise I'd be in jail for all those bounced checks I wrote to cover my dreams!!

I don't know why I fuss so much about plants - there's enough stuff out on the lot that grows wild - if I left alone it would probably do just as well . . . but you know me - I can't leave it alone - ha ha!