PVC pipe greenhouse works!

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My homemade PVC pipe greenhouse passed it's first test last week, as it kept my plants alive during several days of overcast, windy weather. The inside of the greenhouse DID have frost on it from the top to the bottom, but I had also used a couple of cheap clear drop cloths over the growing beds and they just had dew on them!

The Alaska peas are looking the best: last week they went from 2" tall to 4" tall! The Grey sugar peas also look very well, as does the broccoli and the brussel sprouts. The beets FINALLY came up last week, as have the radishes, but the spinach seedlings look a little spindly. We usually get quite a bit of sun mid-winter so they may recover. The pansies I put in (at $.25 a 6-pack how could I resist) are having trouble with flopping over, but the smallest of the pansies are standing proud and blooming. I may have to pinch back the taller pansies to make them a little more sturdy. The mums have finished their first blooming, and I am disappointed in the slow bud developement for a second blooming. Some buds did form but they are developing very slowly. However, a broken stem that I just shoved into the ground next to the parent plant is doing well, so I may start a few more plants. The tomato plant is still alive but that is all I can say about THAT!

The weather last week ranged between 25 degrees and 35 degrees, which makes it the warmest November on record. I still have to see how the greenhouse does in sub-zero weather, probably with the help of a heat lamp and 2 layers of plastic drop cloths over the beds, held up by PVC pipe frames (due to poor measuring, the scrap PVC pipe is already available. Ah, well 'tis a poor wind that blows nobody good!). I have also heaped grass cuttings around the base of the greenhouse to protect the ground inside from the frozen ground outside. The ground does freeze every year but not too deeply, I hope this is enough insulation to keep the ground inside thawed!

-- Terri (hooperterri@prodigy.net), December 01, 2001

Answers

Terri,, where are you located,, I know someone who built one last month,, IM wondering how it will stand up to the winter weather.. so far,, nothing has froze that they put in there. But it hasnt been real cold for Mich winter yet either

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), December 01, 2001.

Terri, Where are you located and what type of glass did you use to build the greenhouse? Thanks!

-- cowgirlone (cowgirlone47@hotmail.com), December 01, 2001.

I am located in Kansas, near Kansas City, zone 5. I didn't use glass as a cover because of the expense and because of the danger of hail: I've seen too many hailstones 1" across to want glass. Instead, I sent away for a roll of plastic greenhouse cover from a company that advertized in Countryside. If a hole gets punched in it I can mend it with greenhouse tape, and not have to pick up broken glass! I am particularly pleased because this is the second structure I have built in my life. (My first structure was a 3' by 4' chicken house to house just a few hens.) Usual winter temperatures include short periods of time at -5 degrees to -15 degrees every winter. I will have to wait and see if my greenhouse can manage THAT!

-- Terri (hooperterri@prodigy.net), December 01, 2001.

A friend of mine built a PVC/plastic cover greenhouse to keep tilapia in. He made the ends plywood and metal roofing and ran a flue out the one end to heat the greenhouse with a wood stove. It was 20' x 40' and he heated it all year on just a few cords of wood. Even on the coldest sunny days it was 90 or so degrees inside. He started up the stove about 3 or so before the sun went down. It worked out well.

-- Dark (darkdakota@aol.com), December 01, 2001.

I live in Central Maine. We looked at lots of designs for greenhouses before building the one we have now. We also considered PVC and after lots of research decided that it wouldn't hold up the temp changes. We use 1/2 inch PVC on our chicken tractors but we take those apart in the winter. Last year we had turkeys in the tractor until Dec 23. A few days after we had a big snow storm and the tractor cover (being held up by PVC) collapsed. The PVC broke. My suggestion (not knowing your specific weather) would be to make sure no snow buildup occurs. We built our greenhouse for $400 +/- and it has stood up through the ice storm in New England a few years ago and the massive amounts of snow we got last year. Of course we snowblow the snow away from it. The ice how ever we just had to wait and see. We liked the design and the way it worked so well that we are just finishing up an experimental barn to house our goats and 2 sheep from the same design. Best thing about it is that the town views it as a temporary building and so doesn't tax us on it :-)

Good luck with your greenhouse.

-- Mary R. (cntryfolk@ime.net), December 01, 2001.



So, Mary, what is the design you used on your greenhouse? Do you have a source you can recommend? Thanks!

-- Laura Rae Jensen (lrjensen@nwlink.com), December 01, 2001.

Northern Greenhouse Sales, 204-327-5540 . . .

Has heavy weight greenhouse woven poly plastic covers. I used it for my greenhouse. Reasonable prices, too.

With an order, he includes a booklet that is full of ideas and plans for greenhouses and other shelters using poly, including a long tunnel greenhouse made with rebar (withstands 85-mph winds), fish pond shelters and even sails for boats.

-- bruce (rural@inebraska.com), December 01, 2001.


I think they're great also. I used the Countryside design on page 62 of the Sept/Oct 2001 issue, but added small stock wire and nylon window screen fabric over the plastic sheeting for better protection to the plastic and strong ray filtering.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), December 01, 2001.

Terri, I would like to put up a PVC greenhouse also. If you could please direct me to plans (I don't have lots of old countrysides) I would really appreicate it.

-- Joanie (ber-gust@prodigy.net), December 02, 2001.

One of the more recent Countrysides (within the last three or four years or so), had a short article written about making a hoop house using cattle panels. Drive T-posts about 10' apart, then "bend" the cattle panels so that the ends of the panels are at the bottom of the T-posts.

The article mentioned this for spring / summer plantings, allowing climbing plants to climb the cattle panels and at the same time providing a shaded growing area below for growing other vegetables. Sounded really neat.

We have a pvc hoop house on our small garden, but live in a snow free zone (south Texas) so no worries about that. We found out accidentally that using that ugly orange plastic construction fencing is a good cover for summertime use. It allows enough sunlight to filter through without letting the ground really heat up. Works in our hot climate, sure enough. Still gotta fight the #%*!%^bugs though.

The reason I brought it up here was that if PVC doesn't stand the snow load, perhaps cattle panel reinforcing would solve the problems. Hope this helps.

-- j.r. guerra (jrguerra@boultinghousesimpson.com), December 03, 2001.



Why aren't any of you making hothouses out of FREE old swingsets. Most of the older ones are too much trouble for most people to take down (or the residents are older and the heavy old swingsets date back to their children). Drive around and ask someone. They are free, heavy enough to withstand wind (or could be set in concrete). Just wrap your plastic around it.

Just a thought. Im planning to do this someday.

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), December 03, 2001.


I wasn't entirely satisfied with the plans that I bought: our Kansas winds made the long boards bounce WAY too much so it needed to be reinforced. Why don't you try the other greenhouse company listed on thes thread? Only, if you live where winds get stronger than 60 mph I would be sure to add a diagonal support if your greenhouse is longer than 12'. (Mine is 16' x 12')

-- Terri (hooperterri@prodigy.net), December 03, 2001.

Get a life you all! Greenhouses suck... Grow your stuff outside and let it die!

-- Trahey (skyesquall@aol.com), February 17, 2002.

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