Y'all bear with me… In Georgia. I just built (purchased) my first greenhouse. 8×12 poly. Just my husband and myself. I leveled it, put plastic underneath (covered with a dirt floor) and up the sides a couple inches to "seal" it. Probably put pavers inside and get a heater. It occasionally gets below 35 at night. Trying to extend the growing season as long as possible. I think I should start with a tomato and cucumber. Any advice is welcome. Do I grow them from plants? Seeds? Advice on soil? Watering? Size of containers? I know the tomato needs a cage? What about the cucumber? Anything else I should plant to help with bugs? I'm trying to learn and I figured this was the best place for experienced advice. Pic is before leveling/plastic.
by Intelligent_Ear_6809
4 Comments
Congratulations
I’m in zone 8a and my first advice is to invest in good lighting if you’re going to try to keep veggies growing in the off season. secondly, plenty of patience. I have an 8×8 cedar greenhouse with polycarbonate top and roof and I bought a little heater to keep the temp up during the cold months (Nov – Feb for me). it did a great job, but created a very low humidity situation. this caused a spider mite bloom – two in fact. the first wiped out several plants and two trays of seedlings – cucumbers and tomatoes, go figure. the second led me to my next teachable moment. my solution was to add a timed misting system. the mister worked pretty well which brought me a new learning opportunity – with the purchase of an infected plant – ALWAYS isolate new additions for a few weeks or you’ll get something like …mealybugs! I brought in a birdnest fern and in days I had mealybugs everywhere. this will be my 2nd off season – summer months bring their own set of challenges – but I still see the occassional mealy bug after fighting them for the last 10+ months. neem oil – I spray every other weekend and Zerotol (for algea mitigation) -as needed- will be your friends. all of that said – I’ve loved the journey with my greenhouse and I’m looking for a space to put a 12 foot hoop style greenhouse after the holidays. I hope you enjoy yours as much as I’ve enjoyed mine!
I have this exact same greenhouse in 5b, had to put crossmembers in the corner and straps across the ceiling supports. Also the heater isnt going to do bupkis as it leaks air everywhere. I only used it for a couple months early spring, come May it was 100 degrees in there and shit was dying due to lack of ventilation.
More supports, more ventilation.
I have the 7’X10′ version I built a level pad and caulked around every panel. I also mounted it as best as I could to the base. Over the winter I have a tarp staked down over the top and sides. My biggest fear would be that it blows away. I have some pictures on my page if you would like to look. When this one takes a shit I’m going to build one out of panels and 2x4s.
Edit: I live in zone 5A so I am using this for my starters in the spring and as far as I know without a heater or AC thats all I can really use it for :/