What's new
TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Growing area revitalization

JB_OrchidGuy

Cardiac Nurse
Here is a picture of my first Outdoor bench where many of my higher light plants live during favorable conditions.
147722336RL599005363.jpg

Here is a picture of the bench emptied.
147722352RL608434288.jpg


Now for the unveiling of the new Almost completed Bench that already has plants on it!
147722347RL780576205.jpg


I will be adding a 4 x 8 awning onto this bench for more hanging plant room.  The frame will be supported on one side by the bench and on the other side by 2 4x4 posts sunk into the ground a foot deep.  I can't get it up myself so I need to wait for some help from some folks.  After that is finished then we will rejuvenate the old bench and make it usable again.  At the moment its coming apart.  The two braces on front were added just to keep it standing until the new bench could be made.  I feel much better now that my plants are off the old bench.  
smile_l_32.gif


Now for some recent pics of the dilapidated green house.  This is one reason for the rebuild.

147722414RL401951138.jpg

147722423RL886943683.jpg

147722449RL524548358.jpg

147722490RL327708550.jpg

147722510RL591782199.jpg
 
147722533RL621567113.jpg

147722569RL216923885.jpg

147722575RL260942622.jpg


Hopefully Saturday or sunday I will be finished with Phase one and I will have more pictures to post to this thread. Have a great one everyone.
 
Nice work!
 
Wait till you see the GH.
smile_n_32.gif
smile_m_32.gif
I have big plans for it LOL I hope they all come out right.
 
Bigger pics... 640 by 480 would rock. Pleeeeeeease
smile.gif


Also is that a fabric covering the GH? I see some pretty big holes so does it keep humidity good?
 
There are pretty big holes in the plastic. The stuff just desintigrates after being exposed to the sun for about 6 month. ITs just cheap drop cloth plastic painters use.  It is a good thing GA has pretty high humidity so the humidity runs whatever ambient humidity is. When I water it of course goes up in the area.  The faberic is 50% shade cloth.  The orchids cook without it.

About the picture size. LOL  Well I was resizing them to something around the size requested, but I was doing it one at a time.  Well I have a program that will resize a batch of pictures.  Well I had the size set I thought and when I did the resize I had it overwrite the old pictures so I wouldn't have double pictures all over.  When I went to go look at them they were rather small.  If I would try to up the size it would loose alot of resolution.  So the next pictures will be larger.
smile_n_32.gif
  I should be posting some more pictures sunday.  I have plans to finish the outside work sat evening till dark.  Then I will take pictures sunday morning.  Then the following week I will start tearing down the old GH making room for the new one to be built in its place.  I have to hurry Autum starts next weekend!!
smile_k_ani_32.gif
smile_k_ani_32.gif
Hopefully temps will hold up till I get it done.  I will be covering it with the cheap plastic again this year, but it will be nothing to recover it because its going to have a rigid frame now.  I have been contimplating on going with corigated thin wall or the wavey stuff you can buy at lowes.  But I will use the cheap stuff to get me through the winter.  I wasn;t able to get as much wood as I had planned on for the low low so I am going to have to buy more.  The cheap stuff will be fine for one more winter.  Thanks for looking.

There will be more to come.
 
Do you have a GH heater for winter? With all the holes how do you keep it warm?
 
The plastic gets replaced before winter.  This year the entire GH is getting replaced.  Thats the prices of using the cheap plastic.  It lasts long enough to get through winter, but I start getting holes about mid summer.  I use two milk house heaters connected to a thermastat during the winter and there is no holes in the GH at that time.  This is just the end of summer and the GH just looks ratty. Thats why I posted pictures of it now and I will post pictures of the new GH when its finished in a few weeks.  I will take off the shade cloth after winter gets here since its not needed during the winter months and it will go back on come spring.  After the rubuild I will use the cheap plastic ONE more time before putting on a more perminanent covering.  If you spend the extra cahs and buy a UV stable GH plastic it should last a minimum of 4 years unless it gets a hole from something.  You also put it on in two layers with an air gap inbetween.  The air gap insilates it like twin wall poly carbinate.  So during the winter with fresh plastic up and the heaters I am able to keep it around 60 at night.  It dips down into the 50s on really cold nights but thats fine.  During the day it gets heated by the sun and many times the fans comes on to pull out some of the heat.  It work rather well.
 
As promised, although later than promised.  Here are pictures of phase one of the greenhouse rebuilding project.  This space will house my plants while I am rebuilding my greenhouse.  I hope the dialup people don't hate me.  I made the pictures a little larger as requested.

150845109RL563802067.jpg

150845114RL973444199.jpg

150845133RL056443869.jpg

150845148RL937000409.jpg

150845176RL107068100.jpg

150845178RL985447375.jpg


Believe it or not I still have plants in the old greenhouse.  I am going to have to suspend the shadecloth over a patch of yard and put a bench from the greenhouse under it for the last of the plants.  I would say its about 20 to 30 more.  
smile_k_ani_32.gif
  I have some space to stash them under the new bench too I probably will utilize that space first. I just don't want my dog under there knocking things over since she has already proven to like it under there.
 
  • #10
I just got done watering everything and took a rough count of plants left in the GH. Its around 75 plants or so!!!
smile_k_ani_32.gif
The only saving grace is alot of them are small plants. A few big ones, but most are in 3 inch pots or hanging small mounts. Man I will be glad when this is done!
 
  • #11
The truncata i sent you looks great! your magical desert potato is cool too.
 
  • #12
Are you using a kit or just building the GH yourself?
 
  • #13
Justin I am building it myself.  The framing is almost complete on it.  We worked all day on it and it was dark when we got done so I will take pictures before we start work tomorrow on it.  Its looking AWESOME, and I look forward to getting it finished.

I was going to have a footprint of 20 x 16, but when we build the first 16'x4' wall I quickly realize the idea of 20 x 16 might be a little large.  So we decided on 16'x12'.  My old greenhouse was 12'x12' with rounded sides.  Duh I posted a picture!!  
smile_n_32.gif
 Any who.  The new one has boxed sided.  One side being just under 10 foot and the other side being just under 8 foot.  So I have A LOT more growing space than before.  The rounded sides restricted a pretty good bit of space.  I am going to go with the cheap 6 mil plastic as the covering one more time as a test to the method I plan on using to fasten it.  Then the following year I will cover it with greenhouse plastic if the method works well.  All the wood will be covers with plastic and inside the air gap so Its protected from water and humidity, and I don;t have to buy an air pump to create the air gap like with the Atlas greenhouses.  Plus this air gap is going to be an 8 inch air gap instead of the few inches with most greenhouse tips using 6 mil plastic.  For those that don;t know the air gap helps insulate the greenhouse.  If you look at 6mm polycarbonate in has 6mm for the air gap insulation. 8mm has 8 and so on.  I am going to have 8 inches on the roof and 3 and a half on the side wall.  The walls are going to be solid from the ground to 4 foot off the ground providing for better insulation as well.  I don't grow plants under the benches anyways unless they need the ultra low light then they will be fine with light coming in on the fronts of the benches.  This thing is going to be so stout my 270 pound body will be able to hang from the plant poles if I wanted to!!  This thing has a header going down the center of the greenhouse that is constructed of two 2x6's nailed together and then OSB nailed to each side as well.  Monster I tell you Monster!  Took 3 people to put it up!

So far I have zero dollars invested in it with the exception of buying nails to replace the ones I used when my brother in law borrowed his uncles nail gun.  Thank the heavens for nail guns!!  This has saved us SOOOOO much time its unreal!  Then I will have to buy 1/4 inch plywood for the 4 foot walls and two back walls.  I forgot to mention the wall next to the shed and fence will be solid walls allowing for even better insulation.  Last winter I disassembled the deck on the back of my house and saved the wood for just this time.  (my house is built on a slab and when you walked out the back door you had to walk up 3 steps to get onto the deck.  Then walk down 3 to get into the yard.  It defeated the purpose of having a privacy fence because I could see into both neighbors yards and they could see me.  Plus it was bad for my wiener dog to jump up three steps and down three more to go to the bathroom.  So we took it down.)  It has helped a lot and the scrap wood I have been salvaging from job site construction dumpsters.  I was able to rip the 2x10s from the deck down into 2x4's and my brother in law gave me some that were used once for a concrete form on his father job site, and they still looked very good.  I also salvaged what I could from the old greenhouse and that was most of it minus the PVC pipe and lathe strips I used for the sides.  Most of it became studs since I was able to cut out the bad sections, and some of it was bowed a little.

I plan on expanding my rainwater collection from one 55 gallon barrel to 10 in the near future.  That might cost a little for the barrels.  IIRC I was them in the classifieds for 5 bucks a barrel if my brother in law can't get them from his farmer friend.  I will link all of them in series so when the two collecting barrels fill it fills them all.  I will start to not only collect off the house, but off the greenhouse also into a barrel.  Then I plan to get a pump and filter system so I can have running rainwater in the greenhouse, along with tap water and fully wired electricity, and possibly a sink!  I doubt I will put a small hot water heater in there though so just cold water.  I have an old sink from my bathroom remodel I am not using and I was not able sell in the Iwanta after many attempts.  So why not?  I need a potting area anyways.

I have a friend that works at clubcar and can collect pallets for me.  This is where I will get the wood for the extra benches I will need and for the slat floor I want to put down.  It just takes time to get the old nails out so they are safe to reuse.  Granted they are not treated, but they are free.  The benches I have now are made from them and they have been great for over 2 years now with no signs of rotting or loss of structural integrity.  With the exception of poor craftsmanship on the first two.  
smile_l_32.gif
I built them myself with hammer and nails and just used 2x4s for legs with no bracing.  At first I was just mainly playing with my new table saw, but they worked great so I built 4 of them.  The second two have a bottom shelf and that leads to better stability.  The first two are working fine, but they look like they could fall and I definitely wouldn't sit more than a plants on them.  LOL  So they will be getting reinforced before they go back in.

The only wood I am anticipate needing to purchase is 1/4 plywood for the walls and 4x4's for support posts for the beefy header, JUST IN CASE it wants to sag.  Even though it should be fine where I am putting them will not affect grow space and will even give me more space to hang plants from.  Even a place to put my thermostats that is not on one of the colder exterior walls.  

I may even get some of those thermal vent openers from a discount tools place here in town for the peak if its getting too hot up there.  I will see next year and see how funds are when I go to recover it hopefully the final time with 4 year guaranteed greenhouse plastic or 6 mil polycarbonate with secondary 6 mill plastic inside to protect the wood and extra insulation.

Just wait and see the pictures I post tomorrow!  Everyone will be astonished at what you can build with recycled wood, some power tools, time, and a little patience!  I learned a lot from my brother in law today, and had fun using a nail gun.  Oh I forgot to mention THOSE things can be dangerous!  This was the first time I had ever used an air powered one and I see how how people get shot with these things from time to time.  Even with the safety triggers it has.  I almost hit a friend in the arm firing the second nail into some studs of a wall we were building.  Luckily it missed him, and I learned really quick it takes a little more control.  I was to worried about the kick back it had after firing I was trying to hold it down tight against the wood and it still jumped away from the wood.  I was still in the mind set of pushing it toward the wood that it caught the edge of the 2x4 and set the second trigger firing another nail through the air!  This gun if you hold the trigger down and tap the nozzle trigger against the wood it will fire every time like rapid fire every time you bounce it.  So definitely not for the week or children because its a pretty heavy nail gun too.

OK enough rambling.  I will post pictures tomorrow.

Edit: Wow I knew this post was long winded, but man I didn't realize this long winded till I looked at it after posting! Sorry everyone!
 
  • #14
I've got a couple titatium rod heaters if you want 'em. One could heat a 55 gallon tank no problem.
 
  • #15
Ok as promised here are some pictures.

This is what we got accomplished yesterday.  See the Massive header!!
151451430RL642947766.jpg


Close up of the 2x8 header with OSB.  That SOB was heavy!
151451470RL186286957.jpg


151451474RL218482245.jpg


Now this is what we got accomplished today.  Spent another full day at it.  Now I am burnt to a crisp!!

151451490RL277865621.jpg


151451498RL982748952.jpg


151451499RL613721812.jpg


151451517RL214679389.jpg


151451592RL592692227.jpg


Have to go get the plywood then its on!  All the framing is done, and I need to make a door too.  Then its plastic time. And I STILL have wood left over!  I will post more as I get things done.  I am so relieved to be this far.  The rest will be a walk in the park compaired to what has already been done.
 
  • #16
You built it slanted to collect rainwater right? If so then it looks good!
 
  • #17
of course!  It is also slanted towards  the rising sun too.  The wall next to the shed and fence are going to be full walls I will eventualy paint white after I put the inner plywood in.  That will reflect light back onto the plants. Thanks for the compliment I am worn theheck out from building it. Not done yet though.
 
  • #18
Why not get some mylar? I've never seen a GH like that, but I think it could work.
 
  • #19
Yeah but might also create too much heat and the reflection could be unbareable when your in the GH trying to work. I am already anticipating a wet wall next summer. I have to buy some more fans too. Air movement is key. It is still a work in progress, and we shall see how much of my dreams become reality. So far so good.
 
  • #20
Dude... I am sooo staring down my unused deck right now. There's just so much wood there doing nothing. And now I see you making something cool out of yours....

This is not good for my deck.
 
Back
Top