Putting chicken wire , hardware cloth or something similar down round the perimeter before erecting the GH might be useful.Keeps all those digging rodents out. I put it down just under the soil and extending about a foot out from the perimeter.

I have gravel for a floor right now but it seems to collect bits of spilled dirt and then lets weeds grow. My last flooring was roofing and I just swept that. You could of course put rock down over roll roofing or even left over shingles. The walkway was patio blocks which I would hose down when the humidity was low.

We used landscaping ties to level the ground for the GH we just erected....cheap, effective and long lasting.

Hope your Rion arrives when expected and enjoy planning till then.I'd love to read about your "Rion Experience" as I seriously considered buying one and only fate made it so that I ended up with something else.

Happy Holidays,
PQ

PQ-

Thanks for your advice. The thing about the chicken wire was a really good idea considering we had rabbits last year. Fortunately they mainly only ate some brocolli, cauliflower and some ornamental cabage but I'm afraid their family will grow over the winter and begin to eat all my plants - flowers included. Anyhow I might get one of those big tarp things you can put on your garden to keep weeds out or some other kind of tarp and then put wood chips over that. I think that might work well but I'm concerned it will be more inviting to bugs and mildew. Have you had any experience with wood chips/mulch type flooring? I suppose a few inches of pebbles might work and then I could hose them down if they got too dirty. Pebbles might be a problem if I decide to plant things directly into the ground though. Do you have anything planted directly into the ground in your greenhouse? What greenhouse did you get instead of a Rion? Also, anyone else, feel free to post any suggestions!
Happy holidays!

-DB

Great picture! Whoa! What healthy plants.

Hmmm........that plant over to the right, beside the small banana tree looks a bit suspicious!

Oh, I forgot. I am going to use asphalt shingles as flooring for my "new" greenhouse.

Cactus_joe, took me awhile to get it.
It is a Jatropha multifida.
Can you post pictures of your new greenhouse.

Here is a link that might be useful: Jatropha multifida

I have a small RION (8x8) and have been very pleased with it. I've been amazed how well it holds in heat; I'm using a small oscillating ceramic heater. Last night our low was 30 and the greenhouse was 66; maybe I should just sleep in the greenhouse. The floor is plastic covered with gravel, so far, no weeds. During the summer the gravel really helps with humidity.

I also have an 8.5 x 8.5 Rion. I used landscape fabric covered with pea gravel. Before I put down the fabric I put down some granular insecticide to treat the footprint of the greenhouse...diazinon, Triazicide or similar. We have lots of fire ants, etc. down here! This is my second winter using it and so far, so good.
You probably also purchased a rear louvre window, or two, in addition to the roof vents. It might be a good idea to not install the rear window(s) until spring. They are not completely air tight when closed, and in Zone 5-6 I doubt you have to worry about too much heat until then! They are easy to install afterwards. The automatic roof vents do a very good job when the sun warms things up.
When I assembled mine last year, I laid out the cut open shipping boxes in the garage. After grouping similar parts into piles, I wrote the part number on the cardboard with majic marker...this made it much easier to locate individual parts when going through the assembly process.
It is always a good idea to read the manual through completely BEFORE starting the assembly! ;-) The manual is pretty good, but there were two or three discrepancies which I figured out beforehand.
The outside of each polycarbonate panel has a peel off label to identify the outside surface. I had a couple of panels from which this label could not be removed! Luckily I realized this before assembly was complete...this was not a functional problem, only unsightly. Rion promptly sent replacement panels, but this did delay final assembly for a few days.
Good luck!
John

Hi,

Thanks everyone for your advice! Cactusfreak - the inside of your greenhouse looks really good! It is like a small version of the tropical ones you can tour through. What are its dimensions?

John- Thanks a lot for the tips. I was actually wondering whether the louvre windows closed completely or not when I ordered it. I have a feeling heat is going to be an issue. It has been dipping in to the single digits a few times lately here. On the other hand it is supposed to be almost 50 degrees by the end of the week. I ordered the recommended version of the GH46 so I think I'm going to call and ask if the regular polycarbonate panels come in addition to the extra louvre windows included. Do the roof windows close tight on yours? Also, how do you use your greenhouse? Do you have potted plants on shelves or do you plant things directly into the ground? Part of me wants to do the shelves and part of me wants to just plant lots of cool tropical plants in the ground, I might do half and half. I also might do my vegetable garden in there in the summer considering I will be covering my old vegie garden with the greenhouse. The GH would probably be good at keeping the rabbits (and my dog who loves tomatoes off the vine!!) away from the vegies.
Thanks!

-DB

DB
I thought I was only one who had tomatoe eating dog. He will climb up cages to get to them.

Larry

You should receive the full complement of poly panels. I installed my louver window in the first spring after set-up by simply cutting out the panel with a razor knife and inserting the rear window. The louvers close pretty much flush with each other, but not as draft proof as the solid panel. The sides of the roof vents come down over the fixed frame of the window so the seal is reasonable.
I use it to over-winter my tropical bonsai trees...I use an electric heater and a good thermostat to keep it above 50F at night...it will still get up into the 90s if it is very sunny.

DgreenR, I have updated 'my page' and it has all the information about my greenhouse.
Thanks for asking and good luck with yours.

I've covered my louver with 2 layers of cloth, and as I stated before I can maintain the heat at 60-66, depending on the setting. I'm growing hoyas in mine.

Here is a link that might be useful: greenhouse

Hi All,

Thanks again for all the info! Larry- I also thought my dog was the only one who likes tomatoes, he loves them. He would eat them before they even turned ripe so I had to put a temporary fence up around them but he got around it . By then the damage had been done haha. Most people in my area didnt have good tomatoes this year due to too much rain I believe.

Does anyone know of something extra I could put over my greenhouse to help insulate it? I was told shade clothe insulates, but it also takes away the heat the from little bit of sun we get in the winter so I dont know if it would do much good. I hear bubble wrap (That'd be a lot of bubble wrap!) and those pools cover, bubble wrap looking things also work well? What's the coldest weather you all get in zone 7 usually?
Thanks!

-DB

DR, did not not see the post on the solar pool cover.?
Read: Bubble wrap vs solar pool cover and Solar pool cover update.

DB...it was 17F here the other nite, but forecast is for 70ish next weekend! It was 12-14 last winter for a nite or two...unusually cold for here. Our avg daily high in Jan is around 50-52F.
Here's the official link...

Here is a link that might be useful: Zones

John-
Thanks for the site it was useful. How well did your greenhouse hold its heat when it went down to 17F? Did the temperature stay in the teens for long? Do you have any added insulation? The temperature here has been jumping around a lot. It stayed in the 20s for awhile, then in the teens and now its been jumping around in the 40s and even 50s! It's been pretty weird weather, the bulbs and perenials must be confused.

-DB

Temp was in the teens for several hours last week...that said, it will be in the 70-75 range next two days! No additional insulation, and I leave my electric heater on the 1300 watt setting, not the 1500 setting. There is also a small fan to help circulate air.

My greenhouse has arrived! Well actually one box hasn't been delivered yet but I'm going to try to start setting it up anyhow. I think the parts that didnt come yet are the front and back walls. I am going to start with the heavy duty base I think. It is going to be over my current vegetable garden. The vegetable garden has manure over it for the winter. Should I shovel out all the manure before setting up the greenhouse? I thought it would be good for the soil if I ever plant anything directly into the ground but on the other hand I'm concerned it will be messy and smelly. Has anyone had experience with this? Should I shovel it all out or just leave it and maybe mix it into the soil and then cover it with landscape fabric or something?
Thanks.

-DB

P.S.-

It says to anchor the base with something, do I really need to? We don't have hurricane-like winds here or anything. I suppose I could anchor it once it is already built with some metal stakes. I believe there are holes for this in the corners of the base.

What's the base made of? I think it is hollow and designed to be filled with soil or concrete. I used four treated 4x6 timbers for my base which ended up pretty heavy. I anchored the greenhouse to the base, which sits about half buried in the ground.
But I guess it's better to anticipate the unexpected!

The base is made out of some kind of plastic. I believe it is similar to the plastic used on the whole greenhouse. It suggests half burrying it in the ground or anchoring it somehow. It is also a little bit flimbsy considering it is a "heavy duty" base. It is just a rectangle and it doesnt really seem like it is supposed to be filled with anything unless you mean the area inside the rectangle (where you walk if you were inside the greenhouse). Yes, I think the intention is for you to fill up the base area with soil and stones. Is that what you meant? Sorry if I misunderstood you.

Anyhow, the last box finally came today! -.... On my last day of vacation and free time.. hah! But it's okay, I'll just have to work on it little by little. I plan on reading the intrustructions thoroughly before starting and laying all the pieces out if I can like you suggested. Do you have any other suggestions in general? Next I will be starting the bottom frame part of the greenhouse and working from there. Also, anyone else with experience with this, any advice will be appreciated!
Thanks!

-DB

P.S - on that night it was in the teens in your location - Did the greenhouse keep the plants warm or did the temperature drop a lot in there even with the heaters on? Did the temperature outside stay in the teens - 20s for long or just for a night?

It was fairly windy that night too, and the temp in the greenhouse dropped to about 47-48. I keep the setting on my electric heater on 1300 Watts (1300/1500W) to minimize the chance it will trip the circuit breaker. It was in the teens only one night, and low 20s for a few nites...the other nites it stayed above 50. This week, our low temps are above 50 with highs in mid 70s!
John

DB...you have been quiet lately...how is the assembly going?? Finished yet, or weather holding you back? Let us know how you are doing!
John

Hi All,

Sorry I haven't been posting recently, I've been pretty busy. Unfortunately I have not made much progress at all on the greenhouse. I did build the base, but that's about it. The thing I need to do now is go through the rest of the boxes it came in and make sure they sent everything. I went through the biggest one and it had almost all of the things listed except one or two different kinds of parts - which I am going to have to call about as soon as I go through the rest of the boxes. I wish so much now that I would have ordered the greenhouse before my break so that I could have built it then, it may take awhile to set up now, but atleast I have it.

I'm not sure whether to dig a little trench for my base or not. I suppose it would be slightly nicer not having to step over it every time I go into the greenhouse, but if I bury it slighly I might have problems with laying down pebbles and it might be harder to get it level if I dig a trench. I can really see why people buy greenhouses during warm seasons even if that isn't their time of prime use. It is frigid outside at the moment. Currently it is 9 degrees with a wind chill below zero. It will warm up to the 20s but it's still pretty darn cold. My plan is to arrange all the parts of the greenhouse in my garage next to a heater. After that I hope to assemble some parts of the greenhouse inside the garage if it is possible. Building this thing could be a struggle because the ground is either frozen or really mushy right now. I'm hoping maybe this weekend the snow will melt and I can devote most of my time to the greenhouse. (right now there is 2-3 inches of snow on the ground with a few more on the way.) I'm going to have to really bundle up, I'd be great if we got a sunny, winter weekend.

-DB

I will be nearly impossible to level the base while the ground is so hard...mush would be better! I suspect that, as you go about the leveling process, about half of the base will be buried anyway, just getting it level. I wouldn't worry about burying the whole thing.
Another problem...if the parts are super chilled they will be less pliable and harder to fit together...there are several stages where it is a tight fit even with optimal conditions.
I assembled nearly all of it in the garage and carried out sections for assembly...for another reason: I didn't want the sections warping in the hot late autumn Carolina sun! ;-)

Yea there is about 5 inches of snow on the ground at the moment so I will be doing all if any of the building in the garage. The only problem is once I assembly a section I'll have to put it outside where it will just kind of sit in the cold until I'm done building. I suppose it doesnt really matter considering it is a greenhouse, just seems kind of messy. I'll probably arrange all the peices in the garage and do a little bit of building and then on the first nice weather, free weekend I have I'll try to build most of it. What was the hardest part of building it for you? It seems like putting those rubber strips around the panels could be hard. What did you use to level your base? The spot I have for the GH is generally level but I'll have to fix it alittle. I was thinking of just using this left over topsoil I have or maybe some flat rocks.

It sure would be great if we had some nice weather. I'm not sure how much longer my plants can take being in the house, it is bone dry in here!

I used 4x6 timbers for the base, secured to each other with right angle braces, instead of buying the Rion base. I used a spade to partially excavate under the assembled base and used a 4 ft level to position it properly.
There were a few tight fits when assembling the roof panels, and it took a couple of tries for a buddy and I to set the assembled roof section onto the upright walls... aligning the uprights correctly, etc. I had to recall some swear words from NYC taxi driving days in college... ;-)
I had a series of photos of the assembly but lost them in a hard drive malfunction!

Hi All,

The snow is finally melting and it is suppose to reach the low 50s this weekend! I'm going to try to open up the rest of the boxes and start building! I realized that there's a good chance I'm going to plant a lot of tropical plants right into the ground of my greenhouse. I'm wondering if maybe I should improve the bad soil on the site before I put the greenhouse up and everything. It's probably going to be a messy job if the greenhouse is up, but at the same time I don't want to have to wait forever to put it up. I guess I dont have to build it right on the spot it is going to be standing, in fact I think they recomend that you don't. Hmmm, plus I dont know where I'll find the materials or landscapers at this time of year to do something like rototill and make a bed for plants.

-DR

hello,
i've had black plastic for flooring for a while now.i had some extra roll roofing felt,and i put it down yesterday.but now th e greenhouse smells like tar.does the smell go away?it doesn't seem too healthy for the plants.

Hi DR,

Funny you should ask about improving the soil before you put up the GH...

I just yesterday finished the last of the permanent beds in my GH. Two of these are raised to 22", one is roughly floor level. My "floor" is 1" white rock, so I had to dig this out of the floor level bed. Then we had to haul 3 truckloads of soil, plus the peat and compost amendments, into the GH, by hand, in 5 gal buckets. Fortunately I have a pair of strong boys, 11 and 13, who didn't complain too much. But all the while I'm thinking, man, if I had done this BEFORE I erected the GH, it would have taken me 15 minutes with a loader!

Last spring when I was erecting my GH, there was a poster in NY who was simultaneously building what he called his Monster Greenhouse. He built all these beautiful raised beds with nice stone, and he did it all before he erected the GH. I've been wondering what happened to him, he doesn't post anymore and I can no longer find his website.

Robert

I would like an update on the Monster Greenhouse also. These are the last pictures he posted so I saved them for reference.
{{gwi:303951}}
{{gwi:310136}}

I finally found a forum and a thread I could post to! My husband and I got a Rion 8x8 for Christmas 2004. It took us two days in Texas to get it assembled. We dug the trench like it says, filled it with sacked rocks to make it all level, and then put down the base. After we completed the GH, we put rocks on the insides of the base to hold it down. It has two vents in the top and we are going to put a fan in this spring. We just used a small ceramic heater for the very cold nights (18-25) and most of the time, heat is the problem, not the cold.

For a floor, we used wood chips. We were fortunate to go to an Organic Gardening show between the time we put it together and when we did the floor. Malcolm Beck, the guru, said that using wood chips is ideal because as they break down, they give off carbon which the plants like. He has been doing this for years with no bugs, he claims.

We thought the Rion was very easy to assemble after we got the ground ready for the base, just like the ads say. Mounting the vent windows was a little tricky but we got smart and did the weather stripping on a very warm day which made that part a lot easier. It did take two of us 4 hours to put that on the entire house.

We have a lot to learn but we are having fun. A couple of times we had to remind each other that "this is a hobby, this is fun". My husband got his garage back that used to be more like a jungle. We used some plastic shelving that he had bought for garage storage for benches so they line either side and are two deep.

I have great pics and just as soon as I learn how to post them I will.

Kitty,

I too have just gotten a greenhouse (almost finished). Yours sounds wonderful and when you learn how to post those pictures, please let me know. I'm in the dummy mode when it comes to pictures.

Someone told me you have to pay one of these webshot places in order to use their service, but cactus freak puts some great ones on here with the posts.

Cactus, help a goofy old girl out??? How do you post your pictures?

I am still learning how to do pictures so let me know if a picture got posted to this deal. I tried to send a picture of my wood chip floor.

Thanks,
Kathy

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:310134}}

Hi All,

Sorry it's been so long... I'VE STARTED BUILDING!!!! Finally! Well actually I did the modular base and the base that goes on top of that awhile ago, but a piece broke and it took forever for the company to send me a new one. The bases were also both covered in snow a few times. I've had some time off but it's been pretty rainy, but today it was about 70 degrees and sunny! So far I built a bunch of the front wall on my Rion Greenhouse, and some of the back wall as well. I also did one of the arches for the roof (I jumped around a tiny bit) i'm hoping to do some more tomorrow if it doesnt rain. Maybe I'll build some in my garage. Even if I can't assemble it all in there I could do all the archs in there.

-DR

Hi Again,

I made a lot of progress on the greenhouse today! I built the entire roof and started on the glazing pieces. Man those things are really difficult. I tried soapy water and all too. I got about three in before calling it a night. I was working in my backyard with a shop light until almost midnight heh heh... It is really nice out though, it was 70 degrees today. Any suggestions on how to get the glazing in more easily? Also, I need to level my base soon. What should I use for that? I was thinking of just using this bag of left over topsoil that I have, but then I thought it might compress over time. I was thinking about sand, but I dont want to make the plant beds inside sandy.

-DR

DR;

Sounds like you are making progress. And good question about the floor.

Kittyfern: your picture isn't there anymore, but I was curious about the wood chip floor. I wonder if the 'no bugs' comment would apply here in Houston as well as bugs are my biggest concern.

Do you guys use the plastic to hold in the water? Down here in Houston it's humid enough I won't need to do that.

Oh what to do, what to do!! I am thinking gravel.

:)