Thanks for letting me join. I am considering purchasing a property to use for homesteading, and it comes with a 33,000 sqft indoor riding arena. I’d want to repurpose it as a greenhouse, or possible a grow house for year round gardening.
Would such a thing be feasible? I’ve attached 2 photos- and would appreciate suggestions! Thank you!
by Physical_Ad6046
19 Comments
Wow! What an amazing opportunity. What material is the roof currently? Would you replace it with something translucent or do you plan on installing grow lights? Do you have a power source? What hesitations do you have about converting it? Do you have a water source? Are you able to regulate its temperature and humidity? Do you need help? Is this a shitpost? So many questions.
Growing in a greenhouse is a lot of work. Learning how to grow in a greenhouse is also a lot of work…
Realistically converting something like this into a greenhouse can go well into the six figures maybe even 7. Replacing the roof with polycarbonate sheets would alone cost 100k labor included. The space is large too so heating and cooling is going to be an issue. Even after you convert it to a greenhouse your costs are just going to keep on compounding. Maintaining a greenhouse of that size would require a labor force(hvac tech, ipm tech). Overall converting this into a greenhouse just dosent seem feasible
Possible yes.
Ideal no.
For Colorado your best bet is geothermal based greenhouses. You are going to expend a lot of heat to keep the riding arena at a workable temp.
It would be great for a packing/storage/staging areas for a series of walipinis/ geothermal greenhouses feeding it however.
There is a group out of Wyoming that specializes in designing and does consultations.
Let me know if you are interested and i will dig up their contact info
I mean it’s kind of insulated.
If it were me, an hvac guy. I would put in a boiler and in floor heat loop.
Add some sky lights maybe. But grow lights would be my go too. They also put off decent heat. You would want ventilation of fresh air that could be controlled by temperature and or humidity.
Adding an air handler with hot water coil for heat and humidifier would also be good. However a stand alone steam humidifier would also work.
Colorado gets a lot of snow. You could change the roof to allow sun thru but unless you plan to clear the snow off, the snow will just block all sun. How long has the structure been standing? You might do better with light gathering parabolic dishes with fiber optics to bring the light inside. Not simple or cheap. Still need to remove snow.
You could convert it to polycarbonate but the cost would high. As others said, a new structure for a greenhouse is more ideal. What did you have in mind to grow and for what purpose? Food for yourself or to be sold?
Our of pure curiosity, why are you buying this? This looks setup for a commercial equestrian operation.
As a year round GH grower… Its a few things.
1. Too large for a non production facility
2. Too expensive to convert over
3. Too expensive to equip
4. Too tall
Beautiful building… Just not for a greenhouse. You can have a proper, state of the art greenhouse, sized correctly for your needs built way cheaper than even remotely trying to make that building work.
I think you would be better off financially by renting this out since it’s a beautiful riding arena and building a proper greenhouse.
Depending on a number of variables, this is the start to a viable business on your homestead. Build some stables and a ranch hand for upkeep. Rent stable space and boarding fees. Rent arena time. Have some horse trails between your greenhouses.
as a horse girlie and stoner, this still breaks my heart because it was such a nice arena
You didn’t tell anyone you won the lottery, but there are signs.
If you’ve got 8M to purchase the property then I think you can build a better, more efficient-commercial greenhouse.
Sisters, OR?
It makes a lot more sense to buy a few tunnels to grow in and rent use of the arena for extra income. For the money you would spend turning it into a growing space, you could build several excellent professional growing tunnels, buy soil amendments, irrigation supplies, and so many other tools to help you successfully grow and store food.
Wild idea. Insane amount of disposable income. Very unrealistic expectations for how anything actually works.
Having read some of the answers…first off, I wish I was in your family! Reading that you will have 50+ people with you, how about using the arena as a large gathering space? I’m guessing this property has another location for the greenhouse that can suit your needs. What a dream! Best of luck to you and your followers…just joking!
This post(in combination with the multitude of posts about the same thing in various subs) is honestly wild. OP is either ungodly wealthy, or homeless, or a cult leader, or wants be be a cult leader, or all of the above. I want a documentary about it dammit?