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Greenhouses & Garden Structures

New to Greenhouses

7 years ago

Hello All!
I am a professional horticulturalist, but am new to small, hobby greenhouses and I am looking for some help. I live in zone 7B (Lubbock, TX) and just purchased a 12x7x7 cheap greenhouse. I am hoping to overwinter tropicals (already have plants stored in it), start seeds (in January), propagate cuttings and maybe house orchids (at some distant time). Here is the greenhouse I bought and the only information I have on it: http://www.quictents.com/greenhouse/12x7-portable-greenhouse-arch-gm1303.html
I have it situated on a concrete pad foundation, with a large storage shed to the north as a wind block. The door faces SW and the back wall faces NE. I do not have electricity or water readily available to the site. My question is: What would you do first to improve it? Add a heater/insulation/plastic? Add a thermometer/monitoring system? Add irrigation? Add lights? Leave it alone and see how it does for the winter (and risk losing tropical plants)? Also, I am needing to be budget practical.
I appreciate your input!! Thank you!

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Comments (3)

oakhill (zone 9A, Calif.)
7 years ago
In your zone, which goes down to 5-10 deg. F in the winter, and with this structure, growing tropicals and starting seeds in January will be quite a challenge. The single layer of polyethylene will provide very little heat retention only a few hours after the outside temperatures go below freezing. Your structure is for "extending the growing season" as stated on the product web site, a few weeks in spring and fall, not winter time growing.
chrholme thanked oakhill (zone 9A, Calif.)
apg4
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
As Oakhill said, it is going to be little more than a season-extender as is. You will need electricity to winter-over hardier plants.

I bought a similar, ShelterLogic 6'x8' "greenhouse" five or six years ago, replacing it just this year with a 10'x10'x8' high unit, as some of the tenants had grown too large for their former winter lodgings. These are hardier plants I just need to keep the frost off, not the higher-value tropicals (citrus, coffee, carnivorous plants) that go into the stick-built, "permanent" greenhouse. I'm in Zone 8A, but it has been a long time since it has gotten *that* cold around here. (knock on wood...) But you will still need auxillary heat.

Heat for me is a circulating heater set to 40 F. A "milk house" heater will come on if the primary can't keep up with the heat loss. Of course, with any greenhouse, you need to consider a back-up, like when the power fails during that prolonged ice storm that brings down the power lines. Mine is a decades-old KeroSun heater, but if you have a Northern Tool outlet in your neck of the woods, they have a real nice, propane-fired space heater on sale now for about $64. If you don't have 'lectricity handy, propane might make sense.

Something else to consider with electric heat: every heater needs to be on its own curcuit. I made the rookie mistake of plugging two, 1,500 watt heaters into the same one. While the breaker could handle the average load, it couldn't handle a peak, start-up load, like when both turned on at the exact same time. The greenhouse dropped to 33F.... :-0 I've got remote-sensing, recording thermometers for both the permanent and temporary greenhouse as well as the outside ambient.

Cheers
chrholme thanked apg4
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Advance Greenhouses
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TheSouthern Burner Greenhouse Heater can be used with propane or natural gas. It requires no electricity, so power going out is not a concern. They can be placed under a bench so that they don't take up any floor room. You will definitely need a heater for tropicals and starting plants in the winter.

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