Pains of Glass - The story of relocating a glasshouse.

[Polarizeme]

What a great greenhouse! What is the overall size? I probably missed that tidbit when I read the thread through

[megrim]

Originally Posted by vjo

The second one should be a piece of cake compared to the glass house. Just think, you will each have your own greenhouse, I just don't think it could get much better than that....Jean

We definitely need one each. He put a few of his low-elevation hoyas in with my hot-growing lean-to greenhouse and within a month those hoyas had woven themselves into the shelving, were shading out one half of the greenhouse and were even starting to invade my mesh pots and air-layer into secondary plants.

I forget sometimes just how slowly orchids grow compared to most other plants sometimes

We had to cut apart three shelves completely with bolt cutters to get just one of his more aggressive hoyas out. A lauterbachii for anyone familiar with hoyas.

---------- Post added at 03:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:59 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Polarizeme

What a great greenhouse! What is the overall size? I probably missed that tidbit when I read the thread through

It's 3 metres wide by 4 metres long. So 12 metres square floor space I think?, math is not my friend. I haven't measured the height, I'd guess around 2ish metres at the apex and maybe 1.5 or so at the eaves.

Overall, it's wide and long, but not very tall.

It's not as long as the new models I was looking at, but it is wider than them. And the glass at least won't degrade over time, something I do worry about with polycarb under hot, Australian desert sun.

[Polarizeme]

That is about the same size as my polycarb greenhouse. It's a great size, you still have growing room!
I've out grown mine in a year, but I'll have to figure out how to make space. There really isn't room to add another greenhouse!!
I love the way yours looks.

[RosieC]

Great work!

[dounoharm]

oh lordy! TWO greenhouses!!! if there ever was a heaven on earth, you will have it, lol...that sounds fabulous, and I wish you many years of pleasure for you both!!!

[Polarizeme]

Originally Posted by megrim

We had to cut apart three shelves completely with bolt cutters to get just one of his more aggressive hoyas out. A lauterbachii for anyone familiar with hoyas.

I have 6 species of Hoya. They are a pretty good companion plant for the orchids. My favorite is the H. serpens. But they're all fun. The H. sipitangensis is an aggressive grower too

[Tabbyblack13]

I would love to have a greenhouse if I didn't live in a rental. The only think I would worry about is all of the glass. I'm originally from Minnesota and we do get some vicious hail storms. The polycarbonate greenhouse my mom uses to start her seedlings in has survived some nasty spring storms.

[megrim]

Originally Posted by Polarizeme

I have 6 species of Hoya. They are a pretty good companion plant for the orchids. My favorite is the H. serpens. But they're all fun. The H. sipitangensis is an aggressive grower too

I took a wander around the house and glasshouse and I can spot 30 different hoyas. There's more than 30 all up, but some looked the same to me -shrug- I'm not so good with the hoyas.

---------- Post added at 04:23 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:19 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Tabbyblack13

I would love to have a greenhouse if I didn't live in a rental. The only think I would worry about is all of the glass. I'm originally from Minnesota and we do get some vicious hail storms. The polycarbonate greenhouse my mom uses to start her seedlings in has survived some nasty spring storms.

We just bought our first house last year, so I finally get to expand The only problem is heating the damned thing. Heating my house to match my orchids was easy. This glasshouse is proving to be a bit more tricky.

It seems I can't get the temps I want without frying something - (digital heating thermostat so far ) - Right now I'm running an oil fin heater and an electric element-fan-blower thingy and one of the old fuse covers inside is getting toasty hot. Bah.

[dounoharm]

I don't know your climate so its hard to relate....but generally, heating is a trick, especially in a small space! for my greenhouse in winter, I put a solar pool cover on the outside roof and corners....it wasn't large enough to actually cover the whole thing, but it helped quite a bit conserving heat....in a small house, you will have to increase/adjust your fans to circulate the heat really well....it will seem like a lot of air, but you have to keep the heat moving or you will cook some plants, lol....using several of those thermostats that mark the hi/low temps will help you find the trouble spots....keeping the humidity up will help too....and that will be easier once you get some gravels on the floor, go at least 4" deep....good luck!

[megrim]

Originally Posted by dounoharm

I don't know your climate so its hard to relate....but generally, heating is a trick, especially in a small space! for my greenhouse in winter, I put a solar pool cover on the outside roof and corners....it wasn't large enough to actually cover the whole thing, but it helped quite a bit conserving heat....in a small house, you will have to increase/adjust your fans to circulate the heat really well....it will seem like a lot of air, but you have to keep the heat moving or you will cook some plants, lol....using several of those thermostats that mark the hi/low temps will help you find the trouble spots....keeping the humidity up will help too....and that will be easier once you get some gravels on the floor, go at least 4" deep....good luck!

The glasshouse was originally layered with bubble wrap internally, so I think I'll have to put that back up in winter unless I want insane electricity bills.
The actual heating is not so much my problem at the moment - my issue is my 100 year old house with its 100 year old wiring lol. I'm simply going to have to get a dedicated circuit or two for the glasshouse. Before winter comes around at least.

My air circulation is probably a little overkill, I come from a background of marine/reef aquariums where there was no such thing as "too much circulation" - and I've kinda carried that over to orchid keeping.

Thanks for the tip on gravel depth, I've been wondering if thicker or thinner was the way to go.