Greenhouse in Ohio

[Corsetière]

So my boyfriend and I are incurable plantheads and a few of our plants have grown to an alarming size - like his 15 year old ponytail palm that is brushing our ceiling. My orchid collection keeps growing in numbers and it would be nice to have a better environment for them. As a result, we are getting more and more serious about building a greenhouse but I am not even sure where to begin researching everything we will need. Though I'm pretty sure that we would like to build it custom, not use a kit.

If you would be so kind as to advise me..
1) Are there any threads on this forum you recommend? Or any books I should read?

2) If we are going to do it, we want to do it correctly and have heating for winter and the proper air circulation, etc. Are there particular brands you recommend for heaters and other equipment?

3) Does anyone have experience having a greenhouse in the Midwest United States? Anything you wish you had done differently when you built yours?

4) Those of you in cold climates, may I ask what one might expect a common winter heating bill for a well built greenhouse to be?

[cbuchman]

Do you have a local orchid society or grower you can tap for information? How about a local botanical garden with an orchid collection?

Kudos to you for doing your research first!

[Corsetière]

Yes, that is a good idea as a source for information. I am a member of our local orchid society. I should ask at the next meeting who has a greenhouse.

[orchidsarefun]

Members at our society mainly have cool greenhouses because of the costs.1 or2 even bring most indoors during winter. I hope you have access to gas as that is the most economical. Thermal also good but high initial outlay.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2

[dounoharm]

I love greenhouses! it is so wonderful to go out in the morning and peruse the beauties and growth and blossoms! I particularly loved it when outdoors there was snow on the ground, but indoors was my own little tropical oasis! oh well, I closed mine up due to the cost of heating...it was $400 a month for propane to heat a 12x24 house made of 6mm polycarbonate....just too darn much! I dread to think of what it would have been this past winter! mine was a kit from farmtek.com....in north Carolina, which is probably not as severe a winter as you will have....I recommend a thicker polycarbonate, 10mm if you can find it, or even glass....and probably a knee wall would be a good idea...do NOT try to save money by building smaller than 12x24, as the extremes of temperature are just about impossible to regulate in a small space, plus, that really is as small as a real plant person can actually deal with!...I think farmtek is about the best and cheapest place for machinery you will find...I used 5 12" circulating fans in mine...I tried two different auto watering systems and didn't like either, so I hand watered...I think you really need to plan for ceiling vents...it gets hot up in the top and needs to vent...you need at least a 8-9 foot ceiling, more if you can....putting insulation INSIDE the greenhouse was too difficult for me, I used a very large solar pool cover on the outside roof only in the winter...good luck!

[Paul]

As you do your research, in addition to picking the brains of orchid society members in your area, perhap you might find it useful to stop by:

Roberts Flower Supply
12390 Root RD, Columbia Station, OHIO 44028
ph: 440.236.5571

Windswept in Time Orchids
8066 Skyline Dr, Broadview Heights, OH 44147
(440) 838-5757

(Both do request that folks call ahead before stopping)

Might give you some additional ideas of how you wish to design yours.

[WaterWitchin]

Corsetiere... once you acquire knowledge about heating costs for a greenhouse, please come back and share?

I'm pretty sure we have a similar climate (I'm in KS) and would love.love.love to put in a greenhouse. The cost of heating always scares me off.

[stonedragonfarms]

Originally Posted by Corsetière

So my boyfriend and I are incurable plantheads and a few of our plants have grown to an alarming size - like his 15 year old ponytail palm that is brushing our ceiling. My orchid collection keeps growing in numbers and it would be nice to have a better environment for them. As a result, we are getting more and more serious about building a greenhouse but I am not even sure where to begin researching everything we will need. Though I'm pretty sure that we would like to build it custom, not use a kit.

If you would be so kind as to advise me..
1) Are there any threads on this forum you recommend? Or any books I should read?
I know that there are threads here about this; myself (stonedragonfarms), BikerDoc, LittleFrog, and others all maintain/maintained greenhouses in Michigan; you might try searching out those threads
2) If we are going to do it, we want to do it correctly and have heating for winter and the proper air circulation, etc. Are there particular brands you recommend for heaters and other equipment?
I used the greenhouse configure services at Crop King's site to "build" my greenhouse (18x20 double layer poly); it was a very easy process. I had them work up the frame and ship it to me. I did not buy the film from them or the ventilation or heating systems; the film I found much less expensive from the Greenhouse Mega Store; this is where I purchased the majority of my vents, circulating fans & blowers. I had a local HVAC firm do my furnace; it was very competitive in pricing, and I also had the piece of mind knowing that if I had to have it serviced, they would know the equipment. I used a Reznor heater, but Modine heaters are great too; they are essentially the same unit.
3) Does anyone have experience having a greenhouse in the Midwest United States? Anything you wish you had done differently when you built yours?
I grew for about 8 years in the northwest lower peninsula of Michigan before moving out here (Oregon now); things I would have done differently:
a. I would have used triple wall rigid poly on the ends of the greenhouse; I had a R-50 rated wood-framed wall on the north end and a double layer of poly on the south end; wear was more noticeable on the vertical runs of poly than on the overhead runs, so I would go rigid in that climate. I think this probably had to do with snow levels brushing against the film rather than sliding off.
b. I would have scaled up so that I could have created an interior microclimate; I grow mostly cool/cold growing plants; I would have used an interior door to create a smaller space that I would have heated/chilled differently.
c. I would have had an electric panel which could accommodate a generator wired from the beginning.
d. I'm sure there are others if I ponder...

4) Those of you in cold climates, may I ask what one might expect a common winter heating bill for a well built greenhouse to be?
This will depend on several factors--the footprint of the structure, how much you insulate under/around the foundation, how much glazing the structure has, how much sunlight you get on average over the winter/fall months...and ultimately what temperatures you are planning to maintain. As mentioned, I grow cool/cold growers (cymbidiums, Aussie dendrobiums and their hybrids & a smattering of pleurothallids); my furnace was programmed to maintain the greenhouse at 45F overnight and 55F during the day; passive heating would negate the furnace for about 2/3 of a given month, aside from the months of December and January typically, when the furnace would be running more often than not. At 78F my vents would open and shunt off the hot air accumulated at the peak of the greenhouse; I would disable the lower venting for the winter months. When purchasing a furnace, figure out what your intended maximum BTUs are and then add about 50% to that figure; it will enable you to run the furnace in a range of outputs without taxing the unit should there be a need for additional BTUs (ie a month with -20F temps or such). I used a LP furnace on a will-call service for my LP; I would usually lock in my LP rates sometime in the summer. I based the rates on an estimate of 600 gallons of LP use over the season; typically the lock-in rates worked to my advantage. I had a 300 gallon LP pig about 15' from the greenhouse. My highest LP bill over a heating season (mid November-mid May) was $1400; inversely, in a mild winter it would run about $900

Adam

[caryliss]

I've had my greenhouse here in NE Ohio for just over a year now, and it is the best money I ever spent. It was built by arcadiaglasshouse.com , a local company that I can't praise enough. They sell custom kits as well as install them. There is a lot of information on their website, plus you can email them with questions. They are orchid people as well which really helps with specific design issues.

My greenhouse is 10' x 22'; glass with a 3 foot brick kneewall; and attached to the house (next to my computer room--I am looking out windows into the GH as I write this). For an attached GH you will need a foundation which increases the costs. A free-standing GH can be set on gravel and lumber. For me, the benefit of an attached GH is the ease of entering it even in bad weather and the fact that it is really an extension of the house. Having one wall of the GH against the house helps keep it warmer in the winter as well.

I chose glass because the GH is on the front of the house. Polycarbonate is a MUCH better insulator. I can't help much with info on heating costs because I don't have any--we have our own natural gas well which produced just enough to heat our house and the GH with a little electric space heater assistance. I do know that natural gas will likely be your cheapest option.

Try to locate your GH so that it is sheltered from the prevailing wind direction in winter which is probably from the west for you as well. Mine is unfortunately on the west side of the house so some days the heater ran constantly. One trick I discovered--the plastic shrink wrap window insulation worked really well for adding extra window insulation.

[Corsetière]

Adam, the cost of heating is not as bad as I thought it would be. I had visions of getting a $1500 bill for one month. lol!

Caryliss, thanks for the tip about arcadia glass house!