Sharara..Which directions do your windows face? Are they obstructed by neighboring buildings, trees, curtains or blinds? Don't judge your thumb or light by a Mini Rose. They are very very difficult, if not impossible thriving indoors. Most who buy them either, 1. toss after flowering or 2. plant in their garden, if hardy. So, you're looking for a plant that has color? Other than green? Are you searching for tropicals or will succulents do? Or does it not matter? There are several ways to increase humidity..First and best choice is to buy a humidifer. They're helpful to plants, people and pets. There are several types of humidifers on the market..Consoles and smaller, 2-3 gallon filter-less types. Walgreens and Walmart sell humidifers, and now that winter is over most are on sale. Costs begin at 14.99 up to 200.00 depending on the type. Or if you're into name brands. I'm not into brand names, my concern is whether or not it does the job. Misting and showering plants increase humidity. For those with a large number of plants, grouping together. Humidity trays work fine, especially with plants growing in containers under 10" diameters. You don't have to buy anything special other than a bag of stones/pebbles for these trays. I bought a bag of pebbles at Home Depot..40 or 50 lbs for 2.50. Since you won't be needing that much, HD sells smaller bags of stones, including decorative, different colors. Heck some dollar stores sell them. 1 bag is enough for one tray. I save all types of containers, from frozen dinners to cake pans. As long as they're strong and don't crack, they work. I even have family members and friends save usable trays..lol I prefer brighter colors like silver, but any color works. Of course boiling water will humidify a house, but I doubt you'll want to boil water 8 hours per day. lol. What type of heat do you have? If you have space heaters or radiators, placing a pan of water on top works somewhat, but depending on the plant if it required a lot of humidity, a pan on the heater won't be enough. If you answer some of these questions we can narrow down plants that would work..Toni

I don't think my greenhouse counts as a "low budget" one as I used new materials, mostly. It is 24' by 14' and is built from pressure treated pine. The knee wall is 1/2 inch pressure treated ply and the north wall is solid and so is half of the north roof.the walls are 6ft high on a base of cement blocks. The frame, including the plywood cost $700. I still have three 4ft by 8ft sheets of ply left over. They are my "benches" They would have been the covering for the other half of the north wall but I couldn't get them up there!. It used to be covered in cheapo construction poly but last fall I bought proper poly. What you see is it covered in a double layer of Tuflight IV. Notice the front, south side and the patched up poly. That is because I have not really decided how to cover the front yet. Those patches are scrap poly covering torn vinyl panels. Total cost for a 24' by 14' using pressure treated and a double layer of 4 year greenhouse poly? Around $1000 Time taken to get this far? 4 years. Other bthings to note, do you like the stucco effect on the front? Notice how the stucco sort of is pealed back on the left side? The "stucco" is old carpet........ P.S http://www.stormlakeonline.com/user3316/Picture_0009.jpg tells you I should spend more time cleaning up the yard and painting the house than I do messing around with a greenhouse! :( Here is a link that might be useful:

I love the Gh ! Your hubby did a great job! The windows are fantastic! What a score! I'm envious! My Dh is also a Carpenter and has built me 2 Gh's over the years using recycled windows, mine are the old aluminum framed type. I've never had a fan in either of the gh's when it gets too hot inside i just open all of the windows during the day for ventilation and it works like a charm. I know you will get many years of enjoyment out of it. Now get to planting....

Well, my initial plan would probably involve heating to about 48-50 at night, maybe kicking it up to 60 during the day as a backup for days the sun doesn't warm it enough on its own. It seems there's a balancing act between having enough ventilation to keep humidity and CO2 in check, but not so ventilated you're paying to heat your entire yard. Couple more questions: 1. Regarding ventilation fans/shutters - do yours kick on in winter during cold but sunny days? How do you properly ventilate without too much cold air hitting them? My thought was could I use a hybrid system of natural venting plus a fan that kicks on at a higher temp? I know that for the shutters you can get a shutter motor to open the shutters a few degrees before the fan. However, can you do the same with the shutters on the fan itself? My thought was something like this: You have the fan high up on one side of the GH and the shutters/vents low down on the other side. At 68 degrees or so, the shutters on the low side AND the shutters that cover the fan itself up high can open up, just to let air naturally flow in a bit without too much of a cold air shock. Mostly at this point to keep CO2 and moisture levels in check. Then, if it still continues to heat up despite the small amount of ventilation that occurs, the fan can kick on if it hits 80 or so. 2. Does such a fan exist that has a seperate shutter motor and control from the fan itself?