Do I HAVE to have a fan to vent my greenhouse?

[Betho]

I'll measure it tomorrow... it'll be a lean-to greenhouse and I would guess maybe 6 feet wide and no more than 15-20 feet long, not a big fella by any means. I'll measure it for sure later today. And no I certainly don't want to be fiddling with it all day! Just looking for the cheapest route. I'm wondering if perhaps I put doors on both sides if it would allow for enough air circulation and just open that up in the morning and close it up at night on cool nights. Or have screen doors.... hmm.

We don't generally get warmer than upper 70s here, for what that's worth.

I think the area gets mostly full sun, it's just the one part of my yard that isn't mostly shaded. We live in the middle of the forest with huge huge old cedars, and the only cleared land has big ol fruit trees on it which are great, but shade out any potential gardening spots. I am literally going to be gardening mostly in buckets... one here, three there, a couple more here, all to take advantage of the scattered light.

the PURPOSE of this greenhouse is to allow me to keep rain off a particular area and to maximize heat, because I want to grow peppers and tomatoes and the lack of sun + rain makes that difficult. Also, of course, it's the one decent spot but it's in the backyard with the free range chickens so having a greenhouse would help keep them away as well.

I moved here from a warmer and more seasonal climate, and I fell in love with the house and yard but my neighbors have said they try every year, but have a very difficult time growing tomatoes. I'm just trying to stack the odds a bit

Truth be told, I wonder if even just a frame of glass with mostly open sides would do the trick. I don't need to have anything in there during the winter, the nice thing is we don't get very cold either so I can continue to grow some things during the winter. Would be good not to limit its use, though.

 

[wifezilla]

I'm with pat. Thermal mass is your friend. Without thermal mass I would have to fiddle with my cold frames. Since I am one of those silly people with a job, constant fiddling with temps is not an option.

I use 5 gallon carboys, 2 liter bottles, old laundry soap containers, etc... For a greenhouse, 55 gallon drums would work. We have a quail pen we want to make double as a greenhouse. We are looking for some drums. Turns out a local car wash has them for about $20. That is what their soap comes in. Without the drums, it would get too hot in there for the birds.

 

[Bonnie's Bloomers]

I have a greenhouse here in OK. Mine is in the sun and it does get hot in there. I have a no. 60 shade cloth over it. I think the fan also helps control diseases. My biggest problem is spider mites.

 

[catjac1975]

You should be OK by opening the doors. However, if you're not home to watch the temp it could get too hot. I am all for trial and error. A fan can be added later if needed. I do not use a fan in my tunnel green house. However, I plant in the soil not in trays. It gets very hot-over 100 I would say, but things don't dry out they just grow fast.