I want to build a greenhouse, maybe out of wood or PVC. Anyone done it on the cheap?
I want to build a greenhouse, maybe out of wood or PVC. Anyone done it on the cheap?
I want to build a greenhouse, maybe out of wood or PVC. Anyone done it on the cheap?
Planning on doing it soon.
What's your budget and how big do you want to go?
$2-400, thinking about 16x24 ft, 2x4s on blocks, clear corrugated roof panels on roof and walls, lean-to... Got water and power to the spot. Maybe gravel floor if I can find cheap rocks
OK so you're looking at 384 sqft which is big enough to provide a huge part of your produce needs for the entire year. If 200 sqft is grow zone then you're looking at 50% of your dietary needs for staple vegetables.
I if possible, I would forgo this season and save up until you have about $1500 then go full force with timbers and clear panels.
At $400 your looking at a mid rate hoop house design and that might only last a few season and probably isn't going to retain heat as well.
Checking around for pricing for materials. The corrugated poly panels at home depot would total about 500-600 for the roof and 2 walls maybe 200 in lumber and hardware, plus another 50 for flooring gravel or crushed rock. Looks like the biggest expense would be the panels unless there's a more creative option other than getting 30 old windows from the scrap heap.
>30 old windows from the scrap heap.
This would be very aesthetic tbh. But you probably want polycarbonate for the roof. The sides being various windows would rule though. Frame it out of just stud wood and scraps.
Me and my dad built a 12x20 green house for my step-mother. The most expensive part was the windows. We used pea gravel for the floor. It took quite a bit of silicone calk to seal it up air tight, but it looks good and works well.
closer to a grand, bb
Is this AI part?
yes, look at the grass, and the windows toward the back. Depth of field/focus is wonky, easy way to spot ai for the moment until they get better
Fog and camera quality maybe?
lol no. look at the pallets leaning on the walls, and the joinery of the whole thing. It's some MC Escher shit.
I'm not seeing it anon
just garden
even if ur growing food, if u respect nature they will leave some of ur crops behind for u.
Maybe he wants to try Summer crops in Winter or something? Guess that would require more than PVC pipe and glass. A heating system and humidifier of something?
I'm in an erratic climate so some rudimentary frost protection towards edges of growing seasons is beneficial, as well as ability to grow some cold weather crops in the winter. Since I've got power out to the site maybe a small heater on a t-stat would be ok.
pipes reaching all the way down into the ground
get out your shovel and let the Earth heat your plants
In my ideal world it would be a dugout greenhouse to get them sweet sweet geo therms. Same with the house I guess... the only good answer in this thread is the earthship house
Earth ships and cool as shit but aren't they kind of in a legal gray zone as far as building codes go?
Yeah they have to have special permissions and aren't legal (or functional) everywhere.
Just don’t declare it. That’s what my mom’s friend did.
This is the cheapest type I know of.
A variant is to have a board for the 'ridge line' with holes drilled through for the pvc to go through.
What is the price for one like this where you are? Tunnels like these that I can find are $150 ish but if
is $200 that’s a lot nicer if you ask me. Also do they like flap and make noise in the wind?
The pic I posted looks like a kit.
Don't know the price, but 20' skinny pvc pipe and sheet plastic is pretty cheap. Moderately fragile as well.
Is nicer and sturdier, but you could diy a larger one for less cash.
its a Palram 6x8 kit, similar to this one but we got it on clearance at the end of the summer for about $400.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Palram-Canopia-Mythos-6-x-8-Polycarbonate-Aluminum-Walk-In-Greenhouse-Silver-with-Roof-Vent/42104495?from=/search
Am looking into building one of these at the moment, that's why I was asking about sourcing pic related in another thread.
Word of caution is to stay away from cheap big box greenhouses. The one I bought last year collapsed, the cover was good quality but the structural poles were complete dogshit. Thing folded like a cheap suit in a moderate wind
did the one you bought have hard plastic sheets for the walls and roof or soft plastic?
I can’t. I have literally every single fungal and bacterial disease in my yard, plants need to be seperated from it. I don’t know why it’s like this. My plants other than lettuce (kek) hardly even produce food.
Look into nematodes, thank me later
You can do it with pallet wood and the right plastic tarp, I imagine that's as cheap as it gets.
Long willow shoots lashed together and bent to form bows.
More shoots lashed horizontally to keep bows upright. Also as a skirt to protect from critters if no rocks is available.
Cover in transparent plastic. Vents and entrance on the gables. Make openings as hanging flaps, reinforce edges with silver tape + button style locking mechanism.
Haven't tried but why not? Cheaper than anything.
Bought one of these small greenhouse kits a couple years ago to keep our potted plants for the winter, got it discounted online for a few hundred dollars then built the platform out of treated 4x4s and 2x6s from an old deck. Leftover composite decking makes a solid platform to attach the greenhouse itself and we trenched water and powerlines out to it for heaters and a drip system.
Nothing fancy in the end but has held up well for the last couple of years, stays about 20 degrees above outside temps with an oil heater running and takes snow and wind like a champ. If we ever move the whole thing can be picked up with forks in one go and loaded into a truck or trailer.
looks a bit leaky
This one uses a 90 degree coupling to connect 2 pipes at the ridgeline, allowing for it to be larger.
I made mine for less than $100. Get some pallets and use those for a base. Pvc for the hoops and wrap that b***h in plastic.
I have one with twinwall polycarbonate sheets covering it. They provide a bit of insulation and can handle quite a bit of snow during the winter, which is important for me. The cheapest, and in many places the most sensible option would be the greenhouse plastic that you can buy in big rolls. Do not use random rolls of clear plastic as they likely are not UV protected and will degrade in no time. Wood framing works fine as long as you make sure it doesn't get outrageously humid inside. The PVC pipe stuff probably works great too but i have no idea how much that costs compared to lumber. These things are usually referred to as "polytunnels". Certainly not aesthetic but are cheaper and easier to build than glass greenhouses.
Come check out /hgm/ homegrownmen on PrepHole. It's slow right now since it's February and most of us are in the northern hemisphere but as spring approaches it will become great again.
I have that moron lamp, works good
http://www.snapclamp.com/
I've built some cheap ones. One out on conduit and one out of lumber and UV resistant greenhouse plastic.
Building a glass one in a few months
They're frickin great in my cold Maine growing season