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Greenhouses & Garden Structures

Four Seasons Sunrooms for orchids

18 years ago

Does anyone use "Four Seasons Sunrooms" to grow their plants? Could you share your experiences? I would like to build one but not sure if it is good for plants as well.

Thanks for your help.

AP

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Comments (2)

kathym
18 years ago
If you are speaking of the Four Seasons brand and not using the term generically like some people do, I don't but a couple from my orchid society did and another member still does. The couple summered their plants outside. It still gets hot inside during the summer. They chose it because they liked it the best over the glass greenhouses they looked at. The other member bought one from a demolition sale and two blown knees later, had it up on her property. It does provide cooling challenges for her and her husband built some sort of venting system for it but it still gets hot inside. I looked into Four Seasons sunrooms and they didn't provide venting - only a fan in the roof. A couple in my sub have a home with one attached to it on a south facing wall and they say it gets hot in there. Their windows on that room are open all summer. The insulated high-e glass greenhouse I purchased still gets hot in the summer. I make sure my windows and sliding glass door on the greenhouse are open in the summer to draw air in when the ridge vent opens. If you decide to go with Four Seasons, I would find out if they still offer the fan option and how much air it moves. Another option is to purchase one that has as high a ceiling as possible since heat rises to the top. The only glass sunroom I've know to stay cool in the summer was attached to a house built on a wooded lot.
cactusfreak
18 years ago
If you intend to use it as another room in your house. Heating and cooling as you do your home then yes it will work.
It would then be used as a conservatory. A place where people live and plants are the acessories. You would water them and tend them like a house plant. In the winter you would have to watch the humidity levels as it could ruin the furniture and other items in there.
If you intend for it to be a greenhouse enviroment then the setup will be different. It would be for the plants and not people.
You could have your soil and fertilizer close by. The temperture would be higher than 68-72 degrees like in your home and the night time tempertures would be whatever the natural temps are. You could have a fogger or mister to keep the humidity up and help cool the plants. Maybe even an automatic watering system. You could not do this in a room you intend to live in.
You can work out a happy medium between the two. But you need to decide what the main purpose is.
Maintaining plants or actually growing them in a simulated enviroment close to their natural habitat.
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