Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

hello again my new AP friends,

can you please show me the greenhouse you use to house your AP systems?

even though im in north florida its still way too cold for year round growing
so im contemplating my own greenhouse. very doubtful it will be a commercial unit, probably something ill build by myself

i have seen TCL use the cattle panels and Duff likes the concrete wire for support. and thats the kind of things that i need to view for ideas. so anything on that path

so far my plan is this. site it east and west for max sun in winter and use my home to help shade it in heat of summer. hopefully some sort of rollup curtain and powered vents also coupled with 60% shade cloth for hottest times of summer

size will be around 16 feet x 36 feet approx. as im still wrestling with
incorporating FT inside the GH. if i use channel catfish or koi/goldfish, it would not have to be inside then as its a 1000 gallon and pretty big tank.

i had even toyed with the idea of using soil packed truck tires like earthship buildings do, for the solid north wall. its so shady here the north will be no use for winter at all so i might as well use it as a heatsink.
the shape im pondering to build is half quonset. possibly with knee wall for added height on south side

i might even insulate north side with rebar staked hay or straw bales covered with black poly. thats just some ideas i have.

so any guidance on greenhouses and their construction as they relate to AP will be most greatly appreciated.

very best regards, johnny

what exactly is a star picket you guys down under speak of?

A star picket is used in fencing.
I was going to put up a picture, but I am being prevented.

Drive the star pickets 50% into the ground, then use rural poly pipe or pvc to form a hoop, sliding the end of the pvc/poly over the starpicket.





http://westsidegardener.com/howto/hoophouse.html

how well sealed must a greenhouse be?
I'm (long time in the future) contemplating one also.
however where I'd want it is in my AP corridor (read old driveway)
so could just a roof from the fence to the house made of laserlight or something similar do?
using the fence and brick house as walls and concrete floor?

kuda, Some way to close up the end on cold nights would be helpful if you are trying to keep in some warmth. Also being able to close up the end on breezy cold but sunny days can help you gain warmth. How well sealed/insulated a greenhouse is will affect how warm it gets or stays but any bit of protection can help create a micro-climate. The other side of things to think about, any additional roofing, even if it is clear, will reduce your "sun" a bit though one usually hopes by creating a warmer environment, the plants can get a head start and more than make up for the slight loss of sun intensity. Humidity can be a big problem in greenhouses, especially if plants are growing very close together with little air flow around them. Having the sides or ends open can help a lot with this. Have a care for your house if you incorporate part of it into a greehouse, keep an eye on condensation and mold that might like growing in a humid environment. Be ware of having a door into the house opening into such a possibly humid environment, if that door gets left open it can mess with the humidity in the house and the air conditioning and such. Of course much of this is comming from a part of the world where mold and humidity are a big problem.

Keep in mind what the roof of a greenhouse will do to the drainage and water runoff. Don't let stuff happen that could undermine a foundation, flood a basement, or ruin the fence.

All just things to think about in your planning.

the concrete wall would sure make a nice insulator and concrete floor
thats just great to have i think. they make floor flanges to where you could just lag them down and screw pipes right into them. a masonary drill bit and some drivein type anchors and you will have nice frame, and it sure wont leave

i cant add a pic either of the site im working with. its not great site but all i have. 5 more trees to remove and its a go. it does get sun for about 5.5 to 6 hours during december. not sure if thats enough sunshine or not but ill give it a go. im thinking a smallish lp gas heater as i have quite a few small cylinders and there is power adjacent to this site as my home has outlets on its outside

i do plan to insulate mine as well as i possibly can. that way when my squaw is on the warpath i will have a nice place to retreat into

i like pvc for the GH frame. i think i will try some fusion plastic paint to add some UV protection though. pvc sure does get brittle quickly in our hot sun. there is some gray colored pipe electricians use and i wonder if has any better UV tolerance. maybe so , but ill have check on that and also its cost compared to the white plumbing type pvc pipes

im thinking 2" for main top horizontal runners and 1" for the bows if i can bend it. might have to be heated. i have a torch so thats not a big deal.

what is a big worry is high winds we get here when h-cane comes every summer. thats why im hoping to build this as strong as i can and also with easily removable sides so i can take it down if i need to do so. sort of like modular i guess is the proper term to use.

no permit woes here if it has dirt floor

Hmmm, well...
then ends I was planning on having open and shutable... it was the sides I was concerned about.

I wont be having a door from the house into the greenhouse, I HATE humidity.
Will condensation and perhaps mould on an exterior brink wall be a problem, I know bricks are porous, but didn't think it'd be an issue.

My fence is set in a concrete slab, so erosion is little of a problem, but I'd probably put a gutter in to save the water.

Come on, just one photo. Easier to work out what will fit.
I'm planing on making a hot house before winter.

Don't forget they can get too hot for plants in summer also.

I built my hoop type under some oak trees, good shade in the heat of the day in summer, the leaves fall off in autum/fall so pretty much full sun in winter.
cheers
Ron

6 hours of full sun is usually enough sun for most things.

I'm still a bit confused by the comment about the site being on the north side of the house and therefore getting winter sun but summer shade, I thought you were in the northern hemisphere? How does this work?

I have tried to do PVC hoops with varying degrees of success. The thinwall stuff bends nicely into a small arc but gluing fittings on for the top ridge and any additional supports between the arcs didn't work well for me as the glue weakens the thinwall pvc enough that it would break right at the connecction. I would have been better just intalling arcs over those two grow beds (single 10 ft piece for each arch) and just putting plastic over but I thought I needed braces between them.

We have built a larger pvc structure with 3/4" sch 40 pvc. That one was harder to get the pipe to stay in the connectors and even screws sometimes were not adequate. This structure was more for putting netting over a garden area for the chickens to run in. I'm not impressed by the pvc structures. They tend to be rather flimzy. As a temporary and quick structure to put up, they are not so bad but they are more appropriate for a short term cold frame, not so good as a year round greenhouse/shade structure.

Steel, dynabolted to the concrete is good.

hi there TCL, ill post pic in the thread i have started about medium
yes im just up the interstate from you. land of sand snakes storms and tourists that move in next door , la florida

my deal is this 1.18 acre square heavy tree cover, home on extreme south side to avoid the looming sinkhole (big depression in the fround and lot slopes that way) some im gonna say its a possible protal to the underworld. so house is tight as i could put it on south side. neighbors on south have even larger trees than me and do not will not cut anything including their grass

the only place on this whole lot that gets any sun at all is north side of home and east side in morning. here lies another problem. there are 6 trees there that i have to remove. there were 11 but 5 have been removed so far including stumps. 5 are smallish but 1 is
24" thick post oak. and they dont come out easily but im working on it.

they need removal just becuase of roots and drainfield and possible of getting the house in hurricane.

im using 1" and up for the pvc parts of this. drive 5/8" rebar 6 feets deep (its sandy) then attach the pvc. if tough to bend ill put the heat to them.

north side (shady) will be solid wall . today in my greenhouse idea search i found 2 things i will use. first is adding insulation . it is bubble wrap packing and you just spritz it plastic with water and apply bubble wrap in 6' widths and it will usually stay put . if not double stick tape will make sure it does.

second thing is a roller assembly made from pvp pipe and slip fittings to handle either shade cloth or rollup walls for summer
maybe both if that can be fabricated?

it may turn out to be amodular square shaped GH depending on how i can work pvc prebuilt sections. i really want to be able to minimize hurricane damage so quik up/quik down is what im exploring now

this will rely heavily on north wall being very structural and embedded well. hopefully it can also become a heatsink in cold season

here is a pretty good little free plan link thats almost the shape/style im pondering. samller but close http://www.buildeazy.com/greenhouse.html with some mods it could be what i think i need

i would like to have side windows open up and knee wall leading to the modular sections for the windows themselves.

still dunno if i should try to build it around this bog tank im usuing or not probably add much smaller tank for inside if i do ever get into tilapia. im pretty sure i could rear tilapia but im still unschooled on propagation of fishes like catfish.

i got a price on poly sheeting 40x100 was $206.00. 20x 100 was 89.00 per roll rated for sun exposure but not sure how much rating yet as the clerk was reading from the box but could not answer my other questions.

sorry for another novel but i have probs explaining myself

anyway my wet dream is moving along and i sincerely thank all of you for your input and patience with me.

highest regards, john