Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

What size greenhouse is best for your needs?

The facts are that far to many people either choose one that is much to large or one just to small for their needs.

The best choice is between 144 & 288 sq. ft.. Units 10'x14' through 12'x24' range. They are large enough to meet most hobby gardner and small start up nursery needs and small enough to be cost effective and much easier to maintain on a long term basis. Even if your furture needs dictate more and larger greenhouses, you will have honed your greenhouse skills while managing the smaller one. Remember that regardless of how many or the size of greenhouses added later you will always be able to utilize the smaller one. If for nothing else it will make a great seedling starter house or used to house your prized specimen plants.


hoopman

i made a 8 foot by 8 foot green house cuz that was the easyest one to make with the least cutting. in my case anyway. wish it was alot bigger, prolly wont even use it for ap, have to make a bigger one.

thanks for that HM, mine almost fits into your ranges - sometimes we let our ambitions and ability get the best of us

You're right about to many people trying out with one that is too small or two large. Quite often the cost factor is what causes too many folks to get one that they find out is just too small, while at the other extreme are those who get ones too large for them to realistically work with (this is proven when they get to the heating season of the year).

Kevin

Hi Kevin,
A large but low profile greenhouse is another way to go

Enclose as much ground as possible inside the greenhouse, which adds mass.
Keep the ratio of floor area versus surface area as low as possible and you shouldn`t need to worry about the heating season too much.

Exactly Hex. The Victorians found that out along time ago, along with the benefits of thermal mass, and earth contact. I have seen many older greenhouses that basically are little more than a half basement with a steel and glass roof and sidewalls.

Kevin

Monbulk Rural Enterprises in Vic have a great range at the best prices I can find.They are shipping one to Newcastle for me.4.9m x 8.5m -fully optioned -about $1500
Try http://www.monbulkrural.com.au/

k man keep us all informed on this GH, I think there is a person in Qld that would be interested...not me, I did it the hard way, but would have been checking very closely if I had found Monbulk late last year

Hello All.............

Sorry for being absent so long. I see the forum has really grown. I've not had much luck in finding cheaper shipping method to Australia for our greenhouse hoop benders. Therefore I have began redesigning them to reduce overall shipping weight thus reducing shipping cost. My target total delivered cost for our DY Series Benders is $88.00 to Australia which is our retail price State Side. I will keep you posted on this.

Hoopman

My first green house was a 3m x 3m garden shed ($250) which I took the roof off and re-coved with corrigated fiberglass sheeting ($30) .
Put in one of those Kmart $20 mister kits, worked a treat.
My current one is 3m x 10m hooped which I made from left over materials except for the covering which I got from Monbulk rural for $66.

Cheers
Ron

That is a great way to save money. Much like you, 20 years ago I did a wood shed with clear panels. worked fine. To many plants now. Had to build four 20x96 hoop houses and 6 12x96 houses. Sometimes I wish I was back in the little converted wood greenhouse.

Hoopman

Welcome back Loy.... that is indeed good news... and I'd certainly be interested at that price...

I'll PM you regarding.... good to see you back... how have things been going?

It's good to have time now to enjoy reading about the success of others and even sometimes their failures. Success seldom comes without at least some failures. For what it's worth I'll be happy to discuss or advise anyone, building their greenhouse project.

Our business has increased 300 % this last 12 months. It was a big adjustment for this country boy. I miss the good ole days when life was a bit slower.

Hoopman

Hi Loy - I bought 3 benders from you a while back - but haven't used them yet . Bloody steel prices have gone stupid over here and also - I can't seem to find the equivalent size to what you use over there (the 1 3/8inch). When I have a bit more time - I'll do some solid research to find a good price on some tube and get cracking. Still haven't built a bench for them . First project will probably be using the 100 to build me a great big compost roller (that will roll along the ground - housing and hopefully composting my grass clippings and other stuff from around the yard).

Am certainly keen to give the benders a work out - just time deficient right now .

Does anybody in Aus know the standard sizes of gal pipe available here and Loy - what is the thickness of the pipe you normally use?

The composter is great ideal, I never considered it, however it is simple and will work. Think I will build one here.

Depending on the bender and hoop width, we use 17 or 18 gage for 10 & 12 ft wide hoops and 16 or 17 gage for 16 & 20 ft wides by 1 3/8' OD chainlink fence toprail. As most tubing comes from China these days we are running into more tubing that is made from softer metal, which does affect the rebound and finished radius, in which case we step up in gage one or two times. Keep in mind that the benders will bend several different diameter's of tubing 1/2", 3/4", 1", 1 1/4" emt (electrical metal tubing) It will also bend most metal (galv.) water pipe in those sizes however the user will need to fab a new lever bar for those sizes plus the finished radius may end up being more or less than the intended width the bender is designed for. State side many users are doing just that. They adjust the total footage of tubing used, increasing or decreasing its total length to produce a usable hoop from one of those tubing sizes. The benders will also bend 1 1/2 emt, by replacing the holding strap with a slightly larger one.

Hoopman