Watering in our new greenhouse ???

Over the summer we finally finished building our new greenhouse. We're getting ready to run underground water and electric out to it and planning on installing a misting system overhead. However, a lot of the books say you should water from the bottom and that watering from over head can cause problems with disease and fungus.

So, our question is, should we put in the misting system or not, or should we store water in barrels to temper its temperature and use that to bottom water the plants. We'd hate to do a lot of work and then have to rip it apart and change it all again.

Thanks for your help!!!

You are fine to water the plants with a hose. I would rather do that then use a misting system for several reasons. Its all about good root growth and avoiding a fungus. Good root growth comes with having oxygen in the soil so you need well draining soil that will allow the oxygen to displace the water after you water. So always try to water in the morning and by the evening your soil will have more oxygen in it. Roots grow more at night. The bit about watering from underneath comes from not wanting wet foliage (although some plants are ok with that-tropicals etc) at night when there is a greater chance for a aerial fungus to form-but if you water in the am, your foliage is dry in the evening.

Misting systems don't deliver much water. It takes a long time before the plant gets the water it needs, but you are keeping the foliage wet a long time (see above-fungus ). Its better to water well and then let the plant dry out almost to where it will wilt and then water. If that is near the evening, then its better to keep it dry overnight and water early the next am.

Watering is the hardest job in a grhouse, imo. When I water in the grhouse I evaluate the weather for the day (cloud cover, outside temps etc ) and what plants are dry and how dry (always look a few inches below the top of the soil to see if there is moisture in the soil) before I water.

Hope this helps and its what you were looking for! Good luck with yr grhouse -you will love it in the winter!

I agree with TL. Misting systems can and have been used for watering, but you have a couple of other problems. First, they tend to be automated. So they deliver the same amount of water regardless of cloud cover, outside temp, humidity, etc. OK for vacation, maybe, but not for general use. Second, if you use it for watering you may not be able to use the mist for what you really need it for, which is cooling in the summer.

So yes to install the misting system, but use it for cooling. Mine is set for 90F, and I vary the cycle from 6-15 sec every 5-15 minutes, depending on all those factors mentioned above.

Now storing water in barrels has advantages. First, storing tap water dissipates the chlorine. Second, you may have cold water which can be brought up to ambient temperature by just storing it in the GH for a day. I use stored water for all my watering (which I do with a hose).

SB

I think from reading about different plants and different views, my conclusion is it depends on what you mostly want to grow. Tropicals would love the misting system and thrive. Roses would hate it and get fungus. And there are all the other plants with their preference. Maybe you could sort of have the best of both worlds and do one section with misting and one without. Obviously there would be some overlay area, but maybe some plants would love that too. Just food for thought.
Pam

Pam-although I said that tropicals could do with the misting, you are also inviting bugs such as mites with the constant moisture. And it makes the whole grhouse more humid, which is not so great. I am speaking in general terms here-I don't have a clue as to what is being grown. But I will say that I grow pretty much everything in my grhouses and I don't use a misting system for any of it. I do have a misting system and a timer, but I only use them for germinating pansy seeds in July. Then its on all day and I turn it off at night. Once the seeds have germinated, they come out of the misting and they are handwatered.

As to using cold water in the winter-I do. I use too much water to store it in barrels in the grhouse and while I do have hot water as a option, I rarely use it-only when watering/misting seeds and cuttings to keep the soil temps up. Other than that I use well water. Its cold at first, but then the water starts coming up from deep underground and its warmer. It doesn't seem to hurt any of the plants that I grow and I have been doing it for a long time.

SB-I know that you can't clean out your grhouse in the summer as you have a bunch of plants in the ground, but if morrow is just growing containers and plans on moving everything out in the late spring/early summer, then she/he won't need a misting system for cooling. Can you tell how much I dislike them??? lol

What you need to think about also morrow, speaking of cooling systems is how big a fan you will use and how many vents you need.

This is a link to the greenhouse we have:

http://www.charleysgreenhouse.com/GCFH812-Cedar-Heritage-Wooden-Greenhouse-Kit-8--39-x-12--39-.htm

We have a bench on one side and are planning earth boxes on the other side. It will be used for veggies as well as assorted house plants/flowers. Hoping to be able to start cuttings/seedlings and eventually sell them for a little extra cash.

The books we have read talk about storing barrels of water to temper it and using the stored water for watering the plants. We thought about the misting system for some summer heat control but it would put more water on top of the plants which we are worried would create pest/fungus problems.

Very nice. I think you'll really enjoy it whatever you decide!

I like to water with temped water so used a hot water heater tank.used, for free. Pipe the water into the bottom and take the water off the top.Paint the tank with flat black and the sun will worm it up. It also gives up heat at night. Just my idea works for me.

That's what I do, too.