Here is the approximate greenhouse I am purchasing, though it will be physically attached to a shed. That's actually my angle with my wife, since our old shed needs replaced anyways, and I can purchase a shed with a greenhouse attached.
https://www.lappstructures.com/custom-structure/atrium-greenhouse/
It will be combined with a shed like this:
https://www.lappstructures.com/custom-structure/combo-greenhouse/#single-gallery-3
It is going to be 10'x14'. It will be oriented so the long sides face southern and Northern exposure, east will be somewhat blocked by the shed (about 1' taller than the greenhouse, and 12'x16') with trees behind it blocking some morning sun. West will be open exposure to afternoon sun most of the year.
My use cases are overwintering deciduous trees and shrubs that have a hard time surviving out winters, using the greenhouse as a 3 season room, and extending the planting season. Plus freeing up some of the grow spaces inside my house for normal family use.
We will have windows all the way up and down rather than the 30" skirt, and a clear polycarbonate roof (fully attached). It will have white siding.
I am growing more and more fruit trees (figs, persimmons, mulberries, apples, blueberries, bay Laurel) but am having a hell of a time getting them to overwinter well since we can have cold snaps of steady 0-5 degrees for a few weeks at a time, and I'm tired of losing all of my trees.
My goal is to keep temperatures around 28-40 degrees through the winter which will let the trees go into dormancy but keep the exposed wood and roots from dying, but not let them get warm enough to wake up until I choose to wake them in February/March. Most of the winter I will likely have the windows open to keep temps appropriately cool, and then add heat when temps dip.
Once the trees wake up and are moved out, it will become the three season room (we had wanted to get an extension on our house but prices START at around 200k just to break ground and get the foundation extended so this was a far more affordable option and it helps justify the purpose).
I am going to have a vent fan installed on the western end to help vent hot air when temps rise. The windows are normal sliding windows, they aren't louvered.
First, does this plan make sense? Am I way off base in my expectations and use cases?
Are there any good temperature monitoring systems that I can use to help ensure the environment is correct?
Everything I read suggests that temperature and humidity management will be my biggest challenge and I don't want to set myself up for failure.
So, I wanted to post this and see if I could get any advice, advance warnings, or constructive criticism about this plan and what I'm getting myself into.
Any help would be very much appreciated!
by omgpuppiesarecute
5 Comments
Sounds like a great plan
Sound great to me! What will be your heat source?
First year is a learning year, so don’t buy lot of expensive trees yet
Overwintering deciduous trees : don’t forget to water them . And in my experience once the hard winter passed I have to take them out, because daily temp goes way up in greenhouse and trees start to wake up way early,which is nice but you are stuck with them in the greenhouse until May ( and need to heat until May) because outside temp’s will kill buds, fruits leaves.
You can never have too much ventilation. Be sure to have adequate intake and don’t short-circuit the active ventilation with open roof vents. A shade cloth over the greenhouse roof and sides really helps too. I’m in MD zone 7B and I use 70% white shade cloth on my greenhouses. Using shade cloths and lots of ventilation, in the 90+ summertime I’m able to keep the inside temp only 3 degrees above ambient, but still too hot for everything I grow. By the end of May the greenhouses get emptied.
Consider propane heat, especially if your area has expensive electricity. Procom and Mr. Heater have models with rudimentary thermostats on them. I elevate my heaters up to the level of my bottom shelves, otherwise the heaters just drone on since the sensing elements are at the bottom of the heater and I’m not interested in heating at floor level. In my area, Tractor Supply has the cheapest propane for the 40# tanks I fill. Usually a dollar cheaper per gallon than anywhere else. I heat all winter long to 60 degrees and use heat mats and supplemental lighting for propagation.
Nice greenhouse. If you can afford that, congrats on your life choices!
On the fruit trees though, like the apples, perhaps it’s best to re-read the Robert Frost poems we all half remember. Specifically, this one:
“No orchard’s the worse for the wintriest storm;
But one thing about it, it mustn’t get warm…
Dread fifty above more than fifty below.”
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44265/good-bye-and-keep-cold
When a greenhouse wants to heat up on a sunny winter day, it’s hard to stop it. The figs will like that, but I’m not sure about some of the others? Do folks in your region heap wood chips around the roots of fruit trees to get them safely through winter?
All I can think about is a sunny winter day, when you’ve got so much stuff going on in your life, and you can’t get out to the greenhouse to regulate the temperature. I lost all my rooted fruit tree cuttings in a single day last winter. A cold front had just come through, and the greenhouse was sealed up tight. Wind but no clouds the next morning, and by 11 am the greenhouse was over 100 degrees. Heart-breaking. “Learn from my fail,” as the saying goes…