Anyone use greenhouses to farm?
 

I am curious, does anyone here use greenhouses to grow food? Like most people I live in a suburban area so land is expensive and hence I don't have lots of space to grow food. I want to build a green house and possibly some sort of vertical hydroponic growing system to increase yields.

Re: Anyone use greenhouses to farm?
 

Oh my gosh. Like hell yeah.
HA HA !! Not me , though !!!!!!!
Mr. TnAndy is da bomb when it comes to greenhouses.
His greenhouse pictures usually have me tripping
over my own drool.

I don't know what threads the pics are in, but I can't look at them
because I'm too jealous. I can't wait until I can post some
of my own greenhouse pics, anyways this is as close to a greenhouse that
I have. Pitiful, I know. (click on the Amazon link)
HA !!!




I found a thread with one of his pics..............
http://goldismoney.info/forums/showthread.php?t=409563

Re: Anyone use greenhouses to farm?
 

lol yea thats pretty nice.

I want to build something like this:

http://www.sott.net/image/image/1057...--2007-012.jpg

Re: Anyone use greenhouses to farm?
 

We have a small one for experimentation/personal use.

Been down to Grainger County, TN looking at commercial houses that raise tomatoes BIG time, ( they have over 50,000 greenhouses in that one county according to the county extension agent ) and we are considering doing that when my wife retires. I have a few more 'projects' to get done around here, then I plan to delve into that in bigger way.

My favorite sawmill company, Woodmizer, is about to roll out their own biomass burner, and the initial results I've seen look promising as a source of heat. I can burn not only my own dust/waste, but trailer loads I can get from a sawmill just down the road from me for a very cheap source of fuel.

Re: Anyone use greenhouses to farm?
 

Something to keep in mind about greenhouses

Unless climate controlled a standard greenhouse will only be about 5 degrees warmer than the outdoors at night. Many assume anything can be grown in them all the time. The greenhouse I have access to really only allows me to slightly extend the growing season or help with sprouting early in the season and of course get out of the rain and still do gardening chores. Having to water everything in the greenhouse or setup/maintain some sort of watering system can be a pain.

Now some greenhouses are different. If I remember TnAndy's is built into a hill so that changes things a bit.

Re: Anyone use greenhouses to farm?
 

That's correct, serj.....I built mine into a south facing hill for a couple of reasons.

1. I needed housing for my solar electric batteries/gear, which was the primary purpose of the "greenhouse".....a separate room on one end houses that....the greenhouse was really an after thought to this.

2. Anytime you can take advantage of earth mass and the "free" heat that comes from it, you ought to. Lowest recorded temp in the greenhouse last year with no heat was 39 degrees with outside temps in the mid teens. That would raise many cool weather crops like greens, brocolli, peas just fine, and you could do so with no supplemented heat.

This year, we are running a small propane ( a single head "Mr. Heater", about 8,000 BTUs on high, hooked to a 100lb bottle ) because we are trying tomatoes. Next year, I plan to try Siberia variety.....thanks to the tip of another member here....from what I read, they will still set fruit even if temps dip into the upper 30's. I also plan to get a solar water heating system rigged on the shingle roof section of the greenhouse, and hopefully, that will eliminate the need entirely for propane.....or reduce it to the worst nights.

http://www.digistash.com/data/026a39...1_p124828.jpeg

http://www.digistash.com/data/026a39...1_p124829.jpeg

http://www.digistash.com/data/026a39...1_p124831.jpeg

http://www.digistash.com/data/026a39...1_p124833.jpeg

http://www.digistash.com/data/026a39...1_p124834.jpeg

Re: Anyone use greenhouses to farm?
 

See I toldja.

Re: Anyone use greenhouses to farm?
 

You don't really need a greenhouse to do vertical hydroponics. I've seen strawberries grown vertically out in the open.

Re: Anyone use greenhouses to farm?
 

Andy: Everytime I see that greenhouse, I feel really lazy for some reason!

We are planning a greenhouse hopefully next summer. We are saving now to get a decent size pond dug out (75x120) for fish and water.

The extra dirt will go to level the yard, so no since in trying to get the greenhouse in now...

Our primary reason is here in texas we should be able to do tomatoes all year, and the mockingbirds made sure my last tomato yeild was less than 25% of what it could have been (even WITH netting).

Re: Anyone use greenhouses to farm?
 

Putting your greenhouse partially underground is a very good idea. The buried back wall should be insulated from the soil as well as the floor.

There is a big thread that is 4 or 5 pages with lots of stuff on aquaponics (fish + hydroponics) here: http://goldismoney.info/forums/showthread.php?t=18158

Re: Anyone use greenhouses to farm?
 

Here's a good place to start with size and heat calculations.

Re: Anyone use greenhouses to farm?
 

Have the backhoe dig your pond and greenhouse on the same day.

Also, there was something I read somewhere about using mineral rock dust in your soils and recycling the water that runs through the growing containers. That way the minerals do not leach out. Result is supposedly disease-free and mineral-rich veggies. If I were growing in a greenhouse, I would do definitely set up something like that.

Re: Anyone use greenhouses to farm?
 

Yeah, I wish I could do that. We live on 30ft deep black gumbo clay. The ground is VERY flat and once the clay gets saturated (like right now) it stays a muddy mess for weeks. The only building is UP.

Concrete footers, beds, building foundations etc... forget about it. Wood and stack stone is now my friend.

Hence the pond, it will stay full no problem, and let me slop the land a little better.

Re: Anyone use greenhouses to farm?
 

Picked our first winter tomatoes, Christmas day. Wife fixed bacon, egg, lettuce and tomato sandwiches for breakfast.

http://www.digistash.com/data/026a39...1_p125939.jpeg

Re: Anyone use greenhouses to farm?
 

Really nice to see your progress evolve over time.

Thank you for sharing with us.