Clanjf

Ok, I talked with sis a bit this evening and she told me there is really no way to do a group buy kind of thing. Her supplier has made things like that almost impossible as they don't have time to "mess with the little guys". The other problems involved is that the materials weigh A LOT to ship so that takes away from the economics of it as well. Again, if any one is close to Oklahoma City or gets through there I can probably arrange for some supplies to be purchased and at wholesale prices.

email is clanjf13@gmail.com if you want to order something.

Burlap will work for a while, but it rots eventually. If you are going to be serious about keeping a greenhouse for several years, go ahead and have a shade cloth made to fit your greenhouse. Yes it will cost a fairly large chunk, but there are shade clothes at McCauley Greenhouse that are 20+ yrs old.... Pretty cheap for a $300 shade cloth that is 20'x100'.

If you build your structure right, you won't need to worry that much about snow unless it gets so deep that it will rip through the plastic. the last greenhouses we built had frames that were schedule 40 steel water pipe. The plastic will rip before that comes to the ground. The simplest thing to do in the case of a snow storm is to stay up and babysit it with a push broom on the end of a painter's pole, just rake the snow off the top.

Lawhound

HH
The Harbor Freight Greenhouse is a Direct Import form CHINA the QC is nonexistence my Neighbor Bought one Last Year the Assembly Instructions are Terrible we finally got it put together but it is a sad Joke for a Greenhouse. one of his Grandkids pulled the front sliding door and track off of the assembly after it was up for two weeks the kid was 3 years old and very small. I would not waste the money after I saw/helped assemble one. my Brother built one 25 years ago out of Treated 4x4's and 2x4's covered with Corrugated Fiberglass Panels that is still in use today. I have no idea what the Materials would cost today but it would last longer than the Imports. Doug.

Clanjf

Ok, I know it has been a while but I finally remembered to get the pictures taken and then had the time to upload and mess with photobucket.

http://s1142.photobucket.com/albums/...house%20stuff/

The Quonset type houses are made of chain link toprail and are much weaker than the A frame style which are made from sch 40 galvanized water pipe. To connect the side wall to the bow on the A frame, use 1" pipe which slides perfectly into the 1 1/4" pipe that is used for the frame itself. The pipes running the length of the houses are made of chain link toprail and that is totally adequate for the job.

Some of the closer pictures show what I was talking about earlier about a double baton.

The misting system setups are some what cheap and easy to setup and most of the parts can be had at any home improvement store. I highly recommend a time clock as forgetting just one time to mist your cuttings or seedlings will result in a dead crop.

huntinghawk

Love it when you get some great advise locally from someone with years of experience.

A local lady does tomatoes, peppers, & a few other things year round. Just by being able to move a variety of her best growing plants into the greenhouse for our four months of winter. Cheap plastic is replaced yearly. New in the late fall.

She said where you put the greenhouse is critical. It needs to be where it can get maximum sunlight in the winter.
The lady's greenhouse is 10x30. Seeds are started in the greenhouse mid Feb to get a headstart. With the plastic removed every spring its regular growing space in the summer.

huntinghawk

I so much want a small greenhouse just to have fresh tomatoes year round.

Clanjf

Buy me the gas and I'll come build you one! heh

huntinghawk

I'll have one come next fall. Probably just 8x8 as that should be easy to make. Want atleast 6ft tall though.

I had forgot that years ago (mid 80s) that I helped a neighbor do a greenhouse with looped pvc pipe. 2" pieces of well pipe were driven into the ground to set the pvc into. That's a cheap & easy way of doing it.

huntinghawk

Rule of thumb, with a greenhouse & no outside heat source will keep the inside 10-15 degrees warmer. And that doesn't include any wind chill. Some dark containers with water will absorb heat during the day & radiate it at night. Keeping plants off the ground (raised beds) also helps.

So even at 30 degrees, should be 40-50 inside the greenhouse.

pine snake

i have two of those, put them end to end and grew potted peppers, tomatoes, beans. if your climate is reasonable you could head start seeds in there.
those aren't "permanent" structure type green houses, I imagine you could reinforce them if you wish. up here in the great white north they would collapse under the snow.

huntinghawk

Too late for a greenhouse to do me much good this year but hope to have one come next fall.

huntinghawk

Free framing which will be used for hopefully a 10x10 greenhouse.

Clanjf

That should work, especially if you attach some 2x4's to it so you can baton the plastic on.

huntinghawk

I already plan some lumber attached via nut & bolt. Too late for use this winter so will have about 9 months to put this together. All I'm concerned about with the greenhouse is fresh tomatoes throughout the year.

One row of fencing threw the middle with buckets of tomatoe plants staggered on each side of the fence.

huntinghawk

I could be wrong, but I think a bell pepper plant will continue producing if you can keep the cold from it. Not the same flavor, but I've used bell peppers where you would peas, green beans, etc.

huntinghawk

Actually I'm thinking six of them to help reduce twisting of the frame in the wind.

I only need a greenhouse from 1NOV-1MAR. 10x10 should be enough for one person. Especially for what I'm planning. Have to find out what all I have in putting this thing together. I think 10x20 would be more work then I want to take on.