Greenhouse Questions and Answers

A cheap way to heat a greenhouse is by building and using a rocket stove. Rocket stoves take up very little room and are perfect for heating the greenhouse. The exhaust can routed through cob encased ducts and hold heat that will emit slowly throughout the night and during the daytime hours in winter. There are plans available for homemade greenhouse heaters such as the rocket stove online.

This has to be one of the cheapest ways to heat a greenhouse that there is. This is especially so if you happen to live in a rural area of the country and have your own woodlot available for use. So do be sure and learn more about the rocket stove for heating your greenhouse if you haven't already.

You can start your seeds in your portable greenhouse once you know what the last expected frost date is for your particular area. If you don't know what the last expected frost date is for your area you can check with your local cooperative extension office or should be able to easily find out that information online.

When you know what your last frost date is you can either check your package of seeds for the recommended planting date or if the information is not available you should be able to find out when to start seeds in a portable greenhouse online.

What types of greenhouse coverings are available for a hobby greenhouse?

There are actually several different types of greenhouse coverings that are available for your average backyard hobby greenhouse. The three most common greenhouse coverings, or glazing, are polyethylene film, polycarbonate multi-wall sheets and corrugated polycarbonate.

All three of these greenhouse covering have their various pros and cons depending on their proposed application. Greenhouse plastic film is by far the most commonly used for those that build a do it yourself greenhouse, for the simple fact that it is the cheapest of the three to get your greenhouse built and running as cheap as possible when you're on a tight budget. Corrugated polycarbonate will last much longer than greenhouse plastic covering and should be considered if you have the funds available for purchase.

If you're looking for durability and reducing heating costs, then you should steer towards multi-wall polycarbonate as your greenhouse covering. This type of greenhouse covering has the best insulation for the money and will last many years if kept well maintained.

How do you manage algae in a greenhouse?

Mixing fertilizers used in the hobby greenhouse with the warm, humid environment is the perfect setting for growth of algae. Algae is usually introduced into your greenhouse through water supplies and sometimes even foot traffic. So how do you manage algae growth in your greenhouse yet still maintain the optimal greenhouse environment?

The answer is pretty simple actually. You'll want to maintain your greenhouse plant nutrients correctly so that algae doesn't have a chance to form. This means making sure that you do not over-water your plants and definitely don't use any more fertilizer than is absolutely necessary. If you notice algae starting to build in your greenhouse, double-check your feeding and watering schedules and cut back on whichever is likely the most at the root of the problem.

Another source of algae in the greenhouse is your growing media. This can sometimes be the cause if you make a change in suppliers. You can at least help control this batch from growing out of control by making sure your media surface dries lightly before watering again. You can help prevent this from occurring in the future by steam sterilizing the growing media before introducing it into the greenhouse.

Mini greenhouses are certainly worth the money if you plan to use it for vegetable gardening. You can usually recoup the money invested in your mini greenhouse in the first year if you start all of your garden plants from seeds. And if this is your first year vegetable gardening and you start all of your plants from seed, just think of how much you'll save in groceries alone. So yes, mini greenhouses are worth the initial cost as long as you use it for starting your own seeds for your vegetable garden. Otherwise you may have to weigh the benefits.

There are tons of free DIY hobby greenhouse plans available to find on the internet. Most free greenhouse plans don't offer a materials list, but that is one of the fun parts about building your own hobby greenhouse...using your imagination.

Just look through the DIY greenhouse plans that you can find and determine what you are wanting from your greenhouse. If you will you be using it to just start seeds, then a mini greenhouse may be what you want. You can build your own mini greenhouse using PVC and plastic glazing to cover your mini greenhouse or you can purchase a ready to assemble greenhouse. The choice is all yours and the possibilities are endless.

You can find cheap greenhouses for sale practically all around you. Some people just get tired of running their own hobby greenhouse and put them up for sale. Greenhouse businesses will usually put their greenhouses up for auction if they decide to upgrade their greenhouses or unfortunately for them, go out of business. You can always find greenhouses on classified sites like Craigslist and online auction sites like ebay.

You can even find people looking to give away their greenhouse free if you search hard enough. New homeowners will occasionally have bought a house that has a greenhouse included and they just don't have the interest or time to run their own greenhouse. If you can't find a greenhouse to buy you can always build your own. There are tons of greenhouse plans available on the internet. And most aren't hard at all to build. That may be another option for you.

You most certainly can grow tomatoes in your greenhouse in winter, but how much do you
really want to pay for homegrown greenhouse tomatoes? To operate a greenhouse during winter you will have to heat the greenhouse and that can become expensive. Add in the electric bill for additional lighting the tomatoes will need to set fruit and you have just grown yourself some very expensive tomatoes.

I'm all for extending the growing season as long as humanly possible, but sometimes you just have to wait for mother nature to do her thing and then get set for spring to get your tomatoes going.

Your best bet on using a greenhouse to grow tomatoes is to utilize the greenhouse in early spring for starting your tomatoes. You can have fresh tomatoes a month or two earlier than your neighbors by starting your tomatoes in a greenhouse and then planting them out in the garden once warm weather returns to your location.

What's the best type of heater for a greenhouse?

It really depends on what type of greenhouse you have, how large your greenhouse is and even where your greenhouse is located. If you want to heat a small greenhouse out in rural areas you can get by with pretty much any greenhouse heater on the market or even using the heat from passive solar to heat your greenhouse. You may even want to look into using a rocket stove to heat your greenhouse. They are reportedly very efficient and if you have a never-ending supply of wood, such as a forest for your backyard, it will cost you little to nothing to heat your greenhouse. You also might have the option of using an outdoor wood boiler to heat your greenhouse. You can heat your greenhouse, home and garage or shop with an outdoor wood boiler! As long as you have your own supply of firewood, you can save a ton of money in heating costs.

If you live in the suburbs and have a greenhouse you might want to consider using passive solar or one of the greenhouse gas or electric heaters to heat your greenhouse. You'll just have to figure out if it will be cost-efficient to do so. If you will only be over-wintering a few tropical plants then it may make more sense to just take them inside for winter. It all boils down to the numbers. Which heating options will make more sense for your particular setup and situation.

You can use any type of plastic you choose on your hobby greenhouse, but you'll get exactly what you pay for. That cheap plastic you can find at any hardware store won't last very long. Try at least covering your greenhouse with a 4 year greenhouse film, which is one of the cheapest hobby greenhouse films available specifically labeled for greenhouses. If that cheap hardware store plastic still looks like a tempting purchase, picture yourself out in a cold winter storm repairing rips and tears trying to protect your precious plants and maybe that will change your mind.