Orchidaruims & Greenhouses
 

I was looking in the June AOS Orchids Magazine and saw an ad for a company called Urban Greenhouse. For those of you who are still contemplating buying an orchidarium, you should check out their website at Welcome to Urban Greenhouse, they have some neat orchidariums. I was going to look into greenhouses, although I do not have space for one, but I am curious if anyone can tell me how expensive they are to heat during the winter, and cost wise, how much it is to set up a greenhouse with all of the goodies?

Becca,

The answer is as variable as the plants.

Size, shape, covering, how well sealed, minimum inside temperature, outside temperature, wind, angle of the sun, type of heater, & cost of energy for that heater all effect the heating cost.

In Boise, I'd bet it would be pretty pricey. I'm in southeastern PA, and the 14' x 18' greenhouse my collection is in costs me about $1600 per winter to heat.

(This is something I'd like to do - ) I read an article in the AOS BUlletin once about a guy who put a couple of hundred feet of large-diameter, unglazed, clay pipe about 6 feet underground. There was a filter/screen at the entrance (disguised in a small "well head building"), and the outlet contained a fan pulling the air through the pipe into the greenhouse.

As the ground is naturally in the low- to mid-60's at that depth, the incoming air kept the plants comfortable in the winter, and served as cooling in the summer - all for the ongoing cost of running the fan.