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Steve
Steve
6 years ago

If you want cheap tempered glass, find a glazer and become friends. Tempered glass cannot be cut and is mismeasured a lot. It just gets thrown away. If it is insulated and the wrong color, just cut it apart and use the clear. You will have to build to the size you get. Might have to give the glazer a few bucks, but it is free to him so $100 or less is just free money to him.

David
David
6 years ago
Reply to  Steve

Junk doors are another source of tempered glass. Building codes require safety glass in all doors. Combination screen/storm doors are best because the glass panel is ig and no tools are needed to take it apart.

Michael Dickson
Michael Dickson
6 years ago

Please Don’t use plate glass.

As someone who ran through a plate glass door as a kid and still has the scars and limp (severed tendons) it’s not worth the risk.

Cheap tempered glass all the way.

David
David
6 years ago

I built my ice fishing shack to do double duty as a potting shed for starting plants. One wall and the lower half of the roof on the same side are sheathed with double wall corrugated polycarbonate. I use foam board insulation between the studs and rafters to hold the heat at night. Four 55 gallon plastic barrels of water serve as a thermal battery and there’s a wood stove for additional heat.  When I drag it off the ice in March I place it in my yard with the clear side facing south and set up the potting benches. In my climate the tie to start tomato and pepper seeds is mid April and they go in the ground in late May or early June. It is only 6’X12′ but it’s enough to start tomatoes. peppers, brocolli and cabbage for my own garden with some surplus to sell to offset the cost of building it.

Eddie Carter
Eddie Carter
6 years ago

Hi Jack.

I tried to send this to you last week before you did this show.
I just wanted to show you what I have done with my greenhouse in Central KY.
Today was the coldest day so far in the greenhouse (outside 21* – greenhouse 38*).
I covered everything with plastic inside last night (greenhouse inside of my greenhouse) and had 75* water when I went to bed. This morning water temp was 71* using a 1000 watt bucket heater.

https://www.facebook.com/eddie.carter.3344/videos/10156828284466564/?t=2

Eddie Carter
Eddie Carter
6 years ago

What is VVS?

The black beds are 4′ x 4′ x 12″ filled with GrowIt (expanded clay).
You may know the aquaponics system builder, Endlessfood System.
After purchasing it, yes I realized I could build the system much less expensive.
For the grow beds you could buy Duralastic Reservoirs…
1. https://hydrobuilder.com/hydroponics/hydroponic-reservoirs/active-aqua-premium-white-reservoir-bottom.html
or
2. https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/countyline-galvanized-bunk-feeder-10-ft-l
I think the feeder would make for a great flow through wicking bed.

I have not done it yet but adding single layer of bales of straw/hay around the outside perimeter will help “extend” the frost line a little as well. then that straw/hay is great for summer garden.

I leave my lemons/limes trees in greenhouse during the summer and move into my house for winter. I have been eating lemons constantly the last 2 months.

My solar wrap that I have wrapping the inside envelop and on the outside walls…
https://www.solawrapfilms.com/

You mentioned that having the greenhouse allows to grow pest free but that is not completely true.
I am fighting aphids using jalapeno, garlic, soap spray. It is a constant battle.

Kate
Kate
6 years ago

A similar greenhouse design with a “climate battery” was pretty thoroughly covered in a book that came out a few years ago called “The Forest Garden Greenhouse” by Jerome Osentowski from Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute.  (www.crmpi.org)  Great design.  I’m going to try it on a greenhouse that will be attached to the S side of my house.

Mark Alexander
Mark Alexander
6 years ago

We used some of those feed bunkers as float beds. Stacked them 3 high. They were ok but seem to take a lot of space for what gets grown. We are currently working on a few vertical options to see what we can do to grow more in the same space

August Hurtel
6 years ago

I remember something about greenhouses attached to the house and the risk of humidity/condensation causing problems like water damage, mold growth, etc…

Is there an easy way around that?  Is this really much of a problem in the first place, or can it be easily managed?

Robert_Indiana
Robert_Indiana
6 years ago

Great food for thought show…

Would the 45watt kingbo be sufficient for indoor starts?

We have a “texas prepper greenhouse” that’s 4-5 years old that we still use.  Not a one-trick-pony.  It’s been a green house, out door storage, and most often a passive solar chicken coop/run.  This will be the third winter on it’s current heavy mil clear poly sheeting.  Not suggesting it works for everyone but it has been valuable on our homestead.

Paul Wheaton uses second hand shower door glass for his solar dehydrator.  Sturdy, safer than plate glass, and no UV inhibitors.

I like the idea of the propane heater at times when the sun isn’t enough.  Like-wise the closet sized, trayed, addition to a shed/barn etc.

 

 

Alastair
Alastair
6 years ago

IIRC, you mentioned a book on greenhouses in the podcast – if so, do you have the title/author?

Thanks,
Alastair

Ray
Ray
6 years ago

I found this video of a geothermal greenhouse in Nebraska and though it was pretty interesting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD_3_gsgsnk

Carol McFarland
Carol McFarland
6 years ago

Hey Jack-  great show! I really enjoyed listening to it while working – in my greenhouse! I can’t totally brag about the thing yet as we built it last March at our “weekend” homestead that we’re still developing.

It’s an insulated north wall, stick built with an big south facing 8mm double walled poly-carb roof, with a few re-store windows thrown in the sides for good measure, in northern Idaho. I built Jugel-inspired beds in it, there’s a bunch of stuff in there but the strawberries are kicking butt so far.

Our floor plan is 12×16 and one of the best parts of this greenhouse is that it isn’t a one-trick pony. I could talk a lot about all of the things it’s done for us aside from production since we built it, but my favorite has been having a semi-outdoor space for my 2.5 year old. We have a swing hanging from the rafters and she’s spent so.much.time in it, she’s also got a sandbox, easel, pool, and tiny slide as well as tree cookies for bed edging to walk on.

We’ve got a tiny house/cabin and our greenhouse is perfect on a day like yester when it was not very comfortable to be outside because of cold, but our greenhouse was perfect! It also helps me keep an eye on her with our steep hillside and potential for rattlesnakes- so many other things we use it for, but it’s been a great addition to our homesteading adventures! Thanks for another great podcast Jack!