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Does anyone have one of these...

Harbor Freight mini greenhouse

This is by far the cheapest I found on the market. Sort of makes me nervous. Does anyone have one of these and if so, what do you think of it?

Any other suggestions for a small greenhouse? I was also wondering if there are plans out there that utilize old patio glass sliding doors? We have a neighbor who owns a few hundred apartments (yes, a few hundred) and he told me to find a way to make a greenhouse out of old patio doors and he'd have 30 delivered and on my doorstep tomorrow.  I don't want that large of a greenhouse but I would like a little greenhouse some day.
 
Polycarbonate? Wouldn't that go bad over time?
 
Hmmm. I bought one of those, for my lowland neps.
Depending on your climate ,and what you are growing, it can get very expensive (power gas ect.)
Small, and greenhouse really don't go together. It gets VERY hot, and VERY cold quickly, as well as rapid humidity drops....
I bought one and I was really excited about it. Ended up spending another two or three grand for misters, heaters, fans, vents, thermostats, ect.ect.
my electricity bill went thru the roof, and my plants suffered.

This was my first experience with a greenhouse, but I think that the bigger greenhouse you get, and the better insulated, the better off you will be. Also don't forget to include all the components in the cost. there's no way to get around em'

Hope that helps you with your decision,
Robin
 
Climate control is a main issue when your dealing with a greenhouse. As Robin mentioned it can get very expensive in setup and equipment and ongoing energy costs.

One of them indoors with some high output lights would make a really nice 'grow room' without all the major hassles of heating/cooling/humidifying that come with sticking a structure out in the sun and weather.

Phyrex yes the polycarbonate will get yellow over time when exposed to UV. The stuff does have a UV protectant though and should last a minimum of 10yrs. Typically it will last much longer.

Tony
 
I would prefer to go with Poly film, preferable 6 mil double inflated. But, polycarbonate is nice as it doesn't stretch or get tears in it. Typically as mentioned earlier, the bigger, the better. Generally cheaper to heat as it takes longer for it to cool off due to the larger air volume. If I were heating a 10 by 10 structure instead of my current 30 x 20 greenhouse I'd probably pay double for fuel and electricity, fuel would go up because it cools off quicker in winter and electricity would go kaboom in the summer as the high temperatures and small air volume would cause the exhaust fan to run nearly constantly, not to mention your swamp cooler or misting unit.
 
Boy, you guys really know how to burst a gal's bubble!  Here I thought I had the find of the century!  Guess not.

Back to plan B... any way to make a greenhouse out of used sliding glass patio doors?  They're all thermal and I can see two panes of glass which means they are insulated.  

I would be interested in a footprint of about 12 x 20 but truly no bigger than that for a greenhouse as I had been thinking 8 x 14 would have been more than adequate to meet my needs.  A 20 x 30 would look out of place.
 
have you thought about building your own?

labor and cost effective.

just a thought.
there are greenhouse plans for sale on the net.
you buy the plans for like 15 bucks or so and then off you go to get supplies.

but it helps to get input from someone who knows how to build them.,.. and lots of friends to help.
smilie4.gif
 
You could use the patio door things but you would be winging it.. they would have to be secured to a frame and sealed between each unit. It would have to be something pretty heafty too.. those doors would way ALOT. Probably would need a full blown permanent foundation to support all that metal and glass. Not worth the effort and expense even if you got the doors for free. A hoop house with 2layer plastic is cheap and easy (although not quite as pretty to look at). Or just go with a prefab metal/polycarbonate unit like you found.

btw not trying to burst anyone's bubble but there are alot of associated expenses with greenhouse construction and operation that are not immediately apparent. Best to be aware of them during the planning stage.
Tony
 
My Father told me to flat out forget it and that it wouldn't work.  My husband laughed so hard at my suggestion to use old sliding glass doors that I thought he was going to have a grabber. I recall something he said to the effect of, "you wanna do what with what???", followed be a sincere, "No kidding".  So now that my brain child has been shot down not once but twice... and both times by men... I suppose I will ponder this sitution for about 5 more years and if worse comes to worse and one doesn't magically appear, I will contact the architect who designed our home and let him have a field day.  Naturally, I will write the check from my husband's checking account. That would be fitting since he poked sport at my fragile ego and my attempts at being frugal by "recycling".  I keep telling him I have low self esteem and every time I do he mocks me and it ends up costing him.  The way I figure it is that this time it will cost him about $8-9,000 for a greenhouse the size that I want which is not too large and not too small. Now, aren't all of you men out there glad I'm not your wife?

And I thank you Tony... for at least trying to be constructive and trying to conjure up a way to make the sliding glass doors work for me.
 
  • #10
HAHA poor fella..

Oh I think you could do it. It would deffinately need architectural and engineered plans though. Glass is phenominally heavy and the structure needs to be strong enough to support it and rigid enough to keep it from flexing.. otherwise CRACK. Well in the case of sliding glass doors PPOP as the tempered glass shatters into a million pieces. I do agree though it will cost you a big ol' pile of money to make it work. You could get a MUCH bigger ghouse using it on a standard prefab greenhouse kit
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T
 
  • #11
I sketched out a few things on paper. Now somebody who knows what they are doing needs to make it work. I know I want the bottom third to be brick and I know the cost of that as well as a concrete pad. I could probably get that taken care of before I ran out of money this year.  It's what goes on top of the concrete slab with footings and the brick hip wall that looks as if it will cost almost 10k.  Eeek, no greenhouse in the near future for me. Too many extras as you call it.  Seriously, my husband told me to go and have one built that wouldn't collapse on me. I can't condone spending that kind of money right about now.  I'd feel guilt with so many other things going on.  I had really been sort of hoping I could find a way to do it for about 3k but I don't see that as being possible. Oh well, so much for the sliding glass doors!  I gotta go to sleep early tonight.  Caught a bug of some sort and feel like doggie do do!  Bye for now, Laura
 
  • #13
I saw this solar greenhouse with triplewall polycarbonate with insulated side panels to cut heat loss. A little spendy but in the 8-9k you mentioned.

http://www.charleysgreenhouse.com/catalog....=PT1016

You might also look at: http://www.sundancesupply.com/
They sell the materials for greenhouses and have some blueprints to build them. I think Nick Hubbell on this forum built one according to their plans/materials.

Good luck!!
Kirk
Fitchburg, Mass.
 
  • #14
I found this-
http://h2othouse.com/index1.html
Not that I will ever have anything like that but it was neat!

This site appears to have the design elements I was looking for-
http://www.florianproducts.com/geneva_residential.html

In all seriousness, my greenhouse is out the door for this year and probably next year as well as the year after that as the costs have already run over what I had anticipated and all I have done is create a few drawings on paper and made a few calls to the architect.  Unfortunately, the permits, actual excavation of my new bog, and removal from property of the soil just cost me almost 3k.  I have yet to purchase an epdm liner and that is looking as if it is going to be rather costly also.

So far, the only thing I know is that I want the greenouse to have about 1/3 of the bottom in brick to match the rest of the house and if I don't do this, the homeowners association will never approve the design.  The rest is up for grabs at this point but I am going to have to go with an architect to get anything past the HO Association's appearance board.

My end design will probably be what is commonly referred to as conventional freestanding. It will probably look something like this only without the curved glass-
http://www.greenhousekit.com/grandhideaway.htm

So there's where I am at... I know what I want and have an approximate idea of the size but the greenhouse is on a back burner due to costs.
 
  • #16
Neat, I actually liked the seed starter one possibly for inside the house though to retain humidity. Thanks for posting the link
 
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