Had the Harbor Freight Greenhouse Experience.... AND SURVIVED!

[theplantman]

Hi all. Wife decided my cacti had stabbed too many of the cats during winters past. Both seem to like to sit on bright windowsills..... so we had a problem.

Needless to say, we saw a coupon to grab a 6'x8' Harbor Freight greenhouse at $200. I was at the store within 10 minutes of the newspaper coming to my driveway.

As is well-known, the kit is far from everything you need. I am now in this for $430, and that does not include the oil heater that we already had laying around. $60 caulk, $40 in screws (Tek screws be praised!), $40 gravel for the foundation, $40 for the foundation timbers and angle brackets, etc..... what a money pit. Still cheap, but still a money pit. And no custom shelving--only the shelving units I've slowly come by at yard sales over the years.

Anyway, I'll try to get some better pictures at some point, but enjoy!

 

[tommyr]

Congrats! I hate you! I want one!

 

[theplantman]

I can at least assure you that the experience of building it was horrible because of the cheap, flimsy parts and the awful manual. I would also describe it as excruciatingly and needlessly stressful because I was building it while temperatures were falling below the 30s. Anyone who buys one of these kits will have to fight it tooth and nail to turn it into a functional greenhouse.

But now I'm filling it with Pings and Drosera!!

 

[UnstuckinTime]

With the heater and all, what kinds of temps and humidity are you getting? Is the heater gonna be on any sort of timer or thermostat?

The "fight" we have with projects like this is part of the fun! It makes the reward of having a functional system all the more sweet! Enjoy

 

[theplantman]

It's very well-insulated, so I can get temps up to 60-70F most nights if I wanted to. However, my general plan is only to heat to 40F and I am aiming to begin amassing a killer collection of mexican Pings, Drosera, and sooner or later Cephalotus. I've added quite a few Pings and Drosera after these photos were taken and everything's been fine. I am manually moving the heater to the middle of the house and turning it on whenever temps are below 40, and generally turning everything off in the morning before I leave for work as well as cracking the vents and door open. Everything's doing so well that now I am entering the most long-awaited phase: getting more plants!! I have plenty of extra space to start adding things, and around my birthday in springtime I'll try and build some custom benches. In coming years I may heat it to 50 or 60 and try Neps but we'll see.

In some of the photos you can see I've got a Phalaenopsis orchid in there, and that plant is really just to test and see how things like Nepenthes would do with really low night temps like 40F. The answer is terrible and the leaves have turned this sickly yellow/pink color and started to get black spots. It's my guinea pig.

 

[kevnep]

You are very lucky to find a gh that is so cheap and not plastic. Here in south africa a greenhouse that size would cost me 1000 dollars minimum, there are no cheep greenhouses or coupons here.

 

[Gs'Cps]

I have one! works just fine for my temperate carnivours, just gotta caulk the panels on, if you clip them they will guaranteed fly off