DIY greenhouse?

[secuono]

Some of my plants are still growing and others I seeded for a re-try. We are thinking of making a greenhouse of some sort to help keep them alive and growing. I'm still picking cukes and tomatoes! Planted some lettuce variates in hanging planters.
Clear plastic from Lowes for painters I have and some left over wood. How do you guys think I should make it??
How well will a greenhouse help?
Thanks!

 

[HunkieDorie23]

I have started using some hoop houses this year. Easy to build and very effective. I used 10' PVC pipe covered in 4mil plastic and it worked great. I used clamps to help secure the plastic to the poles. I put them in the ground I with with a larger PVC pipe cut them into 2' pieces and pounded them into the ground then secured the poles into the make shift stakes. We had several days after I planted that were well below freezing and when I was concerned I put a lit candle (it was a candle in a glass jar) into the structure. I am not sure I would have needed the candle but I was a very nervous gardener. According to all my reading this type of structure (without the candle) extend your growing season 1 zone or 3-4 weeks.

Hope this helps.

 

[digitS']

I have just about the same sort of hoop house as 'Dorie and think that her & my experiences are just about the same. Then, I have a "sunshed" with a poly film covered south wall. The north wall & roof are conventional insulated frame construction. It is about 200sqft and has a natural gas furnace.

I don't know anything about your weather, there in Virginia. I have been there during the fall and thought it was very pleasant but maybe your community has more severe winter weather, Secuono.

Sunlight is an issue in a greenhouse, along with the outdoor temperature. With some bright sunlight, the temperature inside can soar! However, plants don't necessarily thrive where the temps go from freezing to 90 in 8 hours! Greenhouses characteristically have very poor heat retention because of the need to admit light.

Long hours of winter darkness leads to long hours of heat loss. We have about 16 hours of "night" here by the winter solstice. During a normal 24 hours, even by the spring equinox, the temperature inside will only be about 5 degrees warmer than the outdoors every morning.

Yes, you can do things to hold the heat -- black containers filled with water as a "thermal mass." Space is important in a greenhouse, tho'. If many cubic feet are filled with barrels of water, that's cubic feet of growing space lost.

I am realistic to the point of hard-headedness about what my greenhouse is capable of doing in the way of holding heat. I can turn on the furnace in there & have things comfortable in a couple of minutes. Or, I can leave the furnace off and watch the wild swing in temperature.

Here is the thread in February of last year: Heat Retension at Sub-zero. There is another link on that thread about more reasonable winter temperatures but still freezing conditions in the greenhouse.

Your construction grade, 6-mil plastic film with fall apart during October. That was my experience anyway. It didn't matter when I put it up - the 1st of November or the 1st of March. The summer sun is what killed it.

Steve