I am building a simple greenhouse on our apartment balcony that will likely be used to house highland Nepenthes (possibly year-around). I have been wanting to build a greenhouse for a while, and with the limits of living in an apartment in the city with no land I have been growing plants in closets. Our apartment has a south facing balcony that is 21' x 7' and is only used to house a few patio chairs at the moment.
Spring is quickly approaching, making it an ideal time to begin this project.
I have completed the first phase of the project and constructed the frame of the greenhouse using pressure treated 2x2s. This greenhouse is more of a large box... 7 ft wide 5 ft long and almost 4 ft high. If you look to the back you can see that the back-side is up against a 4ft high concrete wall, the left side is against our apartment and the right side is up against a metal railing. I believe that having the greenhouse nestled like this will provide protection from weather, which is important on the 8th floor of this apartment building.
In the photo you can see the intake vent on the lower front side which is where I will place a foundation intake vent, the exhaust vent is a hinged panel that will be hooked to a autovent opener. There is also a makeshift door to the left to enter and tend to the plants.
I am wrapping the greenhouse in 6 mil poly plastic and then do another layer on the inside of bubble wrap. I do have concerns about light. The balcony receives filter light most of the day and my readings are showing about 300-400 fc of light through the 6 mil poly plastic, this is too low to grow highland Nepenthes, so I might have to run some additional lighting, I will troubleshoot as I go. In the afternoon the balcony begins to receive some direct lighting only for a few hours, this may be enough to grow some good plants.
I will update this thread as I go for those interested in doing something similar.
Obviously there is a lot to think about in the upcoming phases, heating, cooling, lighting, humidity, water, etc. I have most of these ironed out but am taking this one step at a time. Right now I am working to get the structure up and wrapped.
Let me know if you guys have questions, observation, inputs, suggestions...
Thanks for looking.
Spring is quickly approaching, making it an ideal time to begin this project.
I have completed the first phase of the project and constructed the frame of the greenhouse using pressure treated 2x2s. This greenhouse is more of a large box... 7 ft wide 5 ft long and almost 4 ft high. If you look to the back you can see that the back-side is up against a 4ft high concrete wall, the left side is against our apartment and the right side is up against a metal railing. I believe that having the greenhouse nestled like this will provide protection from weather, which is important on the 8th floor of this apartment building.
In the photo you can see the intake vent on the lower front side which is where I will place a foundation intake vent, the exhaust vent is a hinged panel that will be hooked to a autovent opener. There is also a makeshift door to the left to enter and tend to the plants.
I am wrapping the greenhouse in 6 mil poly plastic and then do another layer on the inside of bubble wrap. I do have concerns about light. The balcony receives filter light most of the day and my readings are showing about 300-400 fc of light through the 6 mil poly plastic, this is too low to grow highland Nepenthes, so I might have to run some additional lighting, I will troubleshoot as I go. In the afternoon the balcony begins to receive some direct lighting only for a few hours, this may be enough to grow some good plants.
I will update this thread as I go for those interested in doing something similar.
Obviously there is a lot to think about in the upcoming phases, heating, cooling, lighting, humidity, water, etc. I have most of these ironed out but am taking this one step at a time. Right now I am working to get the structure up and wrapped.
Let me know if you guys have questions, observation, inputs, suggestions...
Thanks for looking.