i need advice about this greenhouse

i live in a small house. my sister wants to build me a greenhouse. she is trying to do it for 2000 or under. logistically the best place to put this greenhouse is to build it off one side of my house. the best site, the southwest is not feasible. the only other possible place is the east side. there is a large catalpa tree and a smaller crape myrtle tree that will shade the greenhouse addition. i think i need to cut these trees but my sister loves trees and doesn't want to cut them. if i put a greenhouse additon on the east side will i need to have plant lights installed due to the shaded spot? anyone that has a comment about this please let me know. i have never had a greenhouse and don't have a clue what problems are going to arise due to this addition. she is planning to make it out of aluminum windows............or shower doors. i know this sounds strange but my sister ought to be on one of those t.v. designing shows because she does have a gift in this area. so i don't worry at all about how it will LOOK. i just need to know about the function of a design like this. also, i would like part of the floor to be something....concrete, wood decking but another part to be dirt so that i could actually plant some things in the dirt. is this possible?

This sure sounds interesting, and I hope you share photos when it's completed.

I am still researching my first greenhouse purchase, so I can't be much help.

Is it possible to move the smaller tree? I love trees too, but I think I'd remove the large one, and plant another tree to replace it in another part of the yard.

It is not ideal. In order of preference, you generally want to put the GH on the south, west, east, and lastly north side of the structure.

That said, it might work. If you are using the house in the winter, deciduous trees may not cast that much shade, and then in the summer they might help with shading and keeping the house cool. I think it depends on the height of the structure, how far south on that east wall you can go, and other factors unique to your layout.

i am going to try and draw a picture of my place and get a picture online so everyone can help. ain't my sister sweet?

You sister is indeed very "Sweet". Lucky You.

does anyone know if i will need plant lights? also, is a gas heater the best way to heat one of these?

hey mama! yes if you intend on starting seed for spring plantings youll have to have 14-16hrs of light in total to keep things healthy. if you intend on supporting established plants its about a third less. and any portion of direct sunlight is half as much in general.you can economize by using tubelights but remeber to purchase the two differant kinds of white light to get the full light spectrum.also you can go deep into the old greenhouse threads here at daves and get all the info you can handle on all aspects of your new adventure its worth the trip so dive in! im in my first full season with my rion 8x16 and im in hyper drive planting mode and everything prepared for a massive spring planting of annuals as well as my perennals. the pic is my best bed from this summer.

thank you i will look again at the old posts on greenhouses. i just figured no one had built one like this and i just wanted the benefit of some one's engineering genius about whether this would work or not. i do want to use the greenhouse for some tropicals i have but mostly i want something to start seeds in. and it looks like that puts a whole new light on the subject so to speak. thank you for sharing your photo and your beautiful plants. that is a really pretty bed.

My husband just built me a greenhouse. He had some guys come and frame it up with wood. Then they added the sheets of clear fiberglass paneling. Mine is not in the best location either. The south side is on the side of the house so it does not reach my plants. The only sun I get is from the north and from the west. But it is what we had to work with and I'm happy. It is a 12 x 12 and that is pretty good for me, for now. So you can build one that is not in the perfect location and still have a nice greenhouse that grows well for you. I have always had my plants under grow lights inside and I never knew that they could get so pretty just by giving them natural light. My succulents and cacti look so different now. And I had a lot of artificial light. Oh, I have large pine trees in my back yard so I don't get as much sun as I would like. But the benefits are so wonderful. I'm having so much fun. I keep my greenhouse at 68° and I am so pleased with the results. I do keep my artificial lights on just to make sure that they get enough light some time. But I'm happy. I have some tropicals which I could not have without the greenhouse. I have a lot of things that I could not keep without it. I don't have the perfect greenhouse in the perfect location but I'm happy. I think you will be too.

Jesse

Mamajack,

I read somewhere that you can wall off a small area in your GH for starting seeds and keep just that area warmer and with extra lights.
For myself I'm starting my seeds indoors and moving them out once they're ready to move into bigger pots.

MollyD

molly, that's what i do as well but i have a small house and THE FAMILY is getting pretty sick of me. jesse, what do you use to heat your greenhouse to keep it a constant temp?

I bought a natural gas blue flame heater. It works quite well but I'm having a hard time regulating the temperature. My DH put censors on all the walls plus on the ceiling to let us know what the temperature is from all perspectives. Right now we are trying to come up with a way to better regulate it. We have software that goes with the censors that tells us what the temp was last night. When I went to bed I left the heater on 4. Then during the night the temperature took a dive down to 58. So, we have to figure out how to keep this from happening since I keep my african violets in it and they should not go any lower than 68. So we are still in the testing stage to find a balance between too hot and too cold. What are the rest of you using?

Jesse

The blue flame natural gas heater is working great. Even at temperatures as low as 20 I only have to put my heater on 5 and that keeps the NW side at 66 and the SW side, where I grow my African Violets at about 70. So all is working fine. Here is what I do with all of my cuttings, and what I will do with my seeds also, to make sure they are all warm and cozy. I put a small 3-tier greenhouse inside my greenhouse and keep them in there. So far everything is working out quite well. Here is a photo of my little greenhouse inside my big greenhouse.

Jesse

now that's a thought. is your greenhouse attached to your house? i am noticing your floor............gravel? so am curious to know if this is attached to your house. i want to have part at least part of the floor as dirt so that i can plant a few things in the ground.

Yes, my greenhouse is attached to the house. The door on the right goes into a basement that was added on a few years ago. The door on the left is the door that goes outside. What we did for the floor was put down a tarp and then put the rocks on top of that. The tarp keeps most things from growing in there and the rocks just seemed like a cool thing to do.

Jesse

when it rains does it leak under the sides on your dirt floor?. are there any drawbacks that you know of in having this type floor? did you build this yourself? what is your roof made of?

The greenhouse is framed with 2 x 4s just like any house would be and then the sheets are put on over the frame. We have not had any leaks because of the way it was built. The guy that built it used silicone on every single screw that he put in so that it would not leak. Plus the sheets of plastic are pushed up underneath the eave of the roof so that also helps keep it from leaking at the top.

Jesse

but i was wondering if water came in at the bottom.....................making your dirt floor wet? and what is your roof made of?

Shower doors work well for the sunny sides (inclined for best winter sun) on our greenhouse. I don't believe it is the optimum design though because it's rectangular in shape. The early sun on winter mornings is important enough to add 4 more "doors" (actually 8 because they're doubled) in the SSE direction probably at a steeper angle because of the lower sunshine angle.