Getting humidity and airflow for indoor greenhouse

[Ray]

MM - As this will be an indoor enclosure, I think you’re looking at this all wrong.

If the light coming in the windows is not excessive as-is, how is placing another layer of anything between the window and the plants (any greenhouse covering) going to increase the light level, requiring shade cloth? If anything, it’ll decrease the light and may require you to add supplemental lighting.

Similarly, once you have an enclosure for the plants, the evaporating water has a much harder time spreading out throughout the whole room and the house, so the humidity will be very easy to maintain, and you might even need to open the vents to decrease the humidity inside now and again.

As far as air movement is concerned, you want gentle, tumbling air, not a breeze, and certainly not the “hurricane” many folks misconstrue as necessary.

Rather than an indoor “greenhouse”, per se, have you considered a lighted plant stand with humidity tent? Here is a picture of a (pricey) commercially-available one to show the concept, but you can assemble one yourself for quite a bit less:

[DirtyCoconuts]

Originally Posted by Mercurianmad

Here’s the greenhouse my husbands thinking of getting, 9x4. We’ll have to either have a floor built to protect our hardwood floors or improvise a floor to handle the humidity. Per the comments, I’m thinking of having an automatic exhaust fan installed in the open window and a roof vent in the house for ventilation.

I’ll get an office fan for airflow, or should I get an oscillating fan?

There is the option of adding an automatic misting system, but maybe just the humidity trays or a humidifier would be sufficient for such a small space?

Thoughts?

Thank you for your help!

First, that greenhouse is beautiful. second, with any prefab house you will not have an easy time lining up the housekit vents with your windows but it is a lot easier than making something like that custom.

I agree with Ray though, what needs are you trying to satisfy with this green house? i would list them and it is important to include all the considerations like looks and aesthetics and if you want a personal space to be in with your plants etc..

once you know what is really important then you can craft the ideal solution.

one things to keep in mind is the more you try to control nature, the more you are creating other factors that you will have to then mitigate....fight as little as you can with your environment (if i am not clear, what i mean is, add humidity and you need more air movement or you get mold....and so on)

	Mistking Looking for a misting system? Look no further. Automated misting systems from MistKing are used by multitude of plant enthusiasts and are perfect for Orchids. Systems feature run dry pumps, ZipDrip valve, adjustable black nozzles, per second control! Automatically mist one growing shelf or a greenhouse full of Orchids. See MistKing testimonials

[Mercurianmad]

Ok! Thank you guys! We will get a custom one made with a sealed floor, well measure the vents so they line up with the window, and I’ll hold off on any extra humidity and just see what level the plants naturally raise the humidity to.

We will start with a small hanging office fan as well for airflow.

Thus greenhouse will be a lovely place to keep plants and maybe even bring plants from our garden to overwinter in if they can’t handle the cold outside, like maybe my bay tree. I’ll see if it’s compatible.

It will also give me a lovely spot to hang out and watch my orchids (maybe drink a coffee in there too) while the babies are asleep.

And my husband will enjoy looking at the structure as well.

Thank you for your help!

[Ray]

When you say “bay tree”, are you referring to a bay laurel, as in “bay leaf”?

I have one in my yard, here in southern North Carolina, but we had a whole hedge of them behind my house in NJ when I was a kid. It might be hardier than you think!

[Mercurianmad]

Yes I am lol. I hope it is hardy, we live in the mountains of Northern California and it is cold, frosty and windy in the winter here

---------- Post added at 07:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:06 PM ----------

OK guys :-) my husband has just give me conditions for the greenhouse. I have to try and grow vanilla beans. Which would mean that I would need to get a humidity level of around 80% minimum which seems to be compatible with the Phalaenopsis and the oncidium that I have as well.

New question! How are you likely would it be that I can get this greenhouse to 80% humidity? Our household humidity is around 30%. And I’m guessing I would need something strongerThen an office fan to circulate heavy 80% humidity air? And wouldn’t that raise the temperature in the greenhouse forcing me to need to cool the whole thing or would the fan do that for me? This is getting very exciting.

We’re getting it designed by the company as we speak and so far we have automatic fans and vents on either side of the greenhouse to funnel air through. Plus humidity and temperature controls, but nothing besides the plants themselves and their water trays will be adding extra humidity to the greenhouse.

---------- Post added at 07:11 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:10 PM ----------

It’s going to be 9’tall, as our ceilings are 15’

[DirtyCoconuts]

Hmmm to balance the extra humidity you really just need to be able to catch water. There will be a good bit of condensation and water runoff. I’d think about a system that catches the drips and runs that back into Tb your humidifier

To get from 30 to 80 you will need a humidifier

[Mercurianmad]

Would I need a misting system or could I just use a regular humidifier?

	Mistking Looking for a misting system? Look no further. Automated misting systems from MistKing are used by multitude of plant enthusiasts and are perfect for Orchids. Systems feature run dry pumps, ZipDrip valve, adjustable black nozzles, per second control! Automatically mist one growing shelf or a greenhouse full of Orchids. See MistKing testimonials

[Dorchid]

I use a wick humidifier hooked to an inkbird humidistat which is set and forget. I also use an oscillating tower fan to move air around. I’m in a super dry climate as well and can maintain pretty much any rh above ambient. I grow in a cool basement and don’t have sunshine heating things up. You might be able to manage the heat by drawing air into the greenhouse with a fan connected to an inkbird thermostat. They’re pretty slick.

[Mercurianmad]

Well guys. I’ve been having some issues with this greenhouse set up. Inside it’s such a wonderful temperature and light range, and I wouldn’t have to worry about it heating or cooling the greenhouse, but I can’t think of a way to have proper drainage for the floor inside. So....I might have to move it outside. And now comes the issue of trying to grow orchids in a western facing greenhouse.

I would assume I need shade cloth of at least 60%. And the ventilation system. And probably a misting system. So complicated!

	Mistking Looking for a misting system? Look no further. Automated misting systems from MistKing are used by multitude of plant enthusiasts and are perfect for Orchids. Systems feature run dry pumps, ZipDrip valve, adjustable black nozzles, per second control! Automatically mist one growing shelf or a greenhouse full of Orchids. See MistKing testimonials

[Ray]

Tell your husband to forget the vanilla. It's a great idea, but difficult to accomplish.

1) The vines have to be very mature (a.k.a. "big") to flower.

2) You have to pollinate the flowers at exactly the right time.

3) You have to harvest them at exactly the right time.

4) You must then age/ferment them properly in order to get the juices out for flavoring.