Time to build my greenhouse

[SuperNutz]

I'm building a 60' x 30' greenhouse. Went out today and got 40 ten foot lengths and a ton of fittings(rather have extra I can return later lol). It's 1 1/2 inch PVC all of the frame and fittings for extra strength against the crazy winds that can be 20 mph all day sometimes and 40 mph gusts. The base will be 3 bottom rails all connected so it's nice and heavy and I can tuck the plastic under the 2 outside rails. Any suggestions on the mil of the clear plastic I'm picking up in the morning? Was basically just going to duct tape it to the PVC frame from the inside. Going to take it down after harvest so I don't need it to carry a snow load or anything... hopefully lol. Also planning on keeping the moths out with a few rolls of screen or fine mesh bug netting. Haven't done my search on that aspect yet. Advice please and pictures will follow this endeavor... Thanks

 

[myke]

60’x30’? That’s huge. How high?

 

[eddy600]

Not sure of your exact plans but i would put a 60ft side facing south because the sun is moving into the southern hemisphere and thats where the sun will be coming from. I would also put in a horizontal pipe at about 5 or 6ft as an anchor point for your roll up sides. It might be easier to make 2 of them half that size unless you have a lot of help

 

[SuperNutz]

60’x30’? That’s huge. How high?

8 1/2 foot at center, 7 foot 8" on the sides, just enough for the rain to not pool and 6" above my tallest gal. Any higher and it will be more susceptible to wind I'm thinking since its almost completely surrounded by 6 foot landscape fabric by 15 foot on the closest side to the fence and 20 - 40 feet on the other sides.

 

[SuperNutz]

Not sure of your exact plans but i would put a 60ft side facing south because the sun is moving into the southern hemisphere and thats where the sun will be coming from. I would also put in a horizontal pipe at about 5 or 6ft as an anchor point for your roll up sides. It might be easier to make 2 of them half that size unless you have a lot of help

Already have them from E to W in a line in 65 gallon bags. My south is a pine forest of 70 foot trees I would need to clear. But yeah, don't have the hours of light I did last month because the sun thinks we revolve around it, cocky fekker.

 

[stealthfader508]

Not sure PVC can handle a 30' width ... I built a 30X16 this year and I'm using 1 1/4 PVC... and 16' is stretching it

I'm in MA so we get snow in the winter... once the season is over I'll add 3 support posts along the center purlin to help support any snow load .. but I imagine a 30' width with PVC would be really flimsy

See pics below from a few weeks ago ... since then I've added 3 purlins and expect to have it covered this weekend

 

[SuperNutz]

Not sure PVC can handle a 30' width ... I built a 30X16 this year and I'm using 1 1/4 PVC... and 16' is stretching it

I'm in MA so we get snow in the winter... once the season is over I'll add 3 support posts along the center purlin to help support any snow load .. but I imagine a 30' width with PVC would be really flimsy

See pics below from a few weeks ago ... since then I've added 3 purlins and expect to have it covered this weekend

It's going to have a center rail with 7 straight up posts(pipes) to support the roof.... I am only asking about the plastic sheeting but no one seems to notice that part of the post lol. 3 mil or 6 mil?

 

[stealthfader508]

It's going to have a center rail with 7 straight up posts(pipes) to support the roof.... I am only asking about the plastic sheeting but no one seems to notice that part of the post lol. 3 mil or 6 mil?

If it's just being used for one season to keep things dry you could probably get away with 3 mil ... but if it's something you'll be using again or on a more permanent basis you should definitely go with 6 mil greenhouse film .. you also want to keep in mind that pvc off-gasses and over time can degrade the plastic .. with pcv you either want to paint the pvc that comes into contact with the plastic with latex paint, or use felt tape between the pvc and film.

Are you bending the pvc into hoops?

 

[mustbetribbin]

I'd definitely go with atleast 6mil if I were you, 10mil would better, but I've only ever dealt with the polycarbonate sheeting greenhouses personally, 6mil is kind of the thinnest you'd want to go with outdoors, imo.

I have used the 6 mil as a temporary covering to protect younger trees from frost in the past, it transfers light well enough and holds up to the abuse decently, still gotta be careful with it though it does tear and poke through like any other thin plastic would, mainly use large washers to hold down the weak points or around the bolts, need lots of surface area where it is to be fastened down as to increase its holding power and less chances of it tearing through, I'd probably even try gluing the washers down to the material with some type of adhesive if you want better hold, this will increase the total cost but may provide better insulating quatilites where the fasteners are adhered to.

Anyhow I'm pretty baked, hopefully this will point you in the right directo, cheers.

 

[SuperNutz]

If it's just being used for one season to keep things dry you could probably get away with 3 mil ... but if it's something you'll be using again or on a more permanent basis you should definitely go with 6 mil greenhouse film .. you also want to keep in mind that pvc off-gasses and over time can degrade the plastic .. with pcv you either want to paint the pvc that comes into contact with the plastic with latex paint, or use felt tape between the pvc and film.

Are you bending the pvc into hoops?

No bending, just a slight pitch down from the center of the roof to the side walls. More or less like a house/barn frame type thing. I'll have some pics later hopefully... gotta get back out there, was hoping to beat the 8 pm rains tonight and have it all covered. Morning dew has been just as bad as rain the past week.

 

[SuperNutz]

I'd definitely go with atleast 6mil if I were you, 10mil would better, but I've only ever dealt with the polycarbonate sheeting greenhouses personally, 6mil is kind of the thinnest you'd want to go with outdoors, imo.

I have used the 6 mil as a temporary covering to protect younger trees from frost in the past, it transfers light well enough and holds up to the abuse decently, still gotta be careful with it though it does tear and poke through like any other thin plastic would, mainly use large washers to hold down the weak points or around the bolts, need lots of surface area where it is to be fastened down as to increase its holding power and less chances of it tearing through, I'd probably even try gluing the washers down to the material with some type of adhesive if you want better hold, this will increase the total cost but may provide better insulating quatilites where the fasteners are adhered to.

Anyhow I'm pretty baked, hopefully this will point you in the right directo, cheers.

lol thanks

 

[ganga gurl420]

I want to see a pic when its done....

 

[eddy600]

Break out the leaf blower

 

[SuperNutz]

Rain came early lol... Lightning stopped so I'm heading back out lol, a little water never hurt no one.

 

[SuperNutz]

LMAO... 10 feet up on a ladder in the pissing rain just trucking along and a huge flash and an instant boom a fraction of a second later hahaha. Grabbed the tools and ran to the barn and was trapped for 45 mins in there listening to what sounded like the apocalypse ffs, should have just called it a day a few hours ago. About halfway done with the GH though.. Hopefully tomorrow.

 

[mustbetribbin]

LMAO... 10 feet up on a ladder in the pissing rain just trucking along and a huge flash and an instant boom a fraction of a second later hahaha. Grabbed the tools and ran to the barn and was trapped for 45 mins in there listening to what sounded like the apocalypse ffs, should have just called it a day a few hours ago. About halfway done with the GH though.. Hopefully tomorrow.

It's been reported than lightening has increased up to 300% worldwide, gotta be careful out there, just had an intense lightening storm here where I'm at a few days back, some folks without power still.

Glad you are ok.

 

[SuperNutz]

Hmmm...? Would sealing it in and running fans and a dehumidifier at night and rolling up sides on dry days be a good approach? I ask because I would rather take more naps then spend time spraying for mildew and cannapillars.

 

[mustbetribbin]

Honestly man, I don't think the rolling up the sides and exposing the crops to nature is the best approach, depends on the location I suppose, but if I was to build another greenhouse, I would build one with a double door entryway setup, where you walk in and have kind of a decontamination area for you to walk through before you enter the greenhouse, then have a door way from there into the greenhouse, this way you have some extra peace of mind against the pests just walking right through as they please, and you could use the space to store a few items, maybe install an air filter or something that's needed for your setup to run while allowing for you to have extra space inside the greenhouse for you to have plants and other items like maybe a heater or dehumidifier as you have mentioned.

Pests can get pretty bad inside a greenhouse, so I would do my utmost to keep them out and take extra measures to prevent infestations of any sort from happening, depends if your going to seal the bottom off also, or if you have a way to sterilize the ground after its built so that bugs don't come out of the dirt.

Just want to make a great attempt at prevention beforehand, that's probably the best advice I could give, that low wind/low UV environment is just too easy for them and they multiply quickly, so yeah definitely go out of your way if your able to keep the critters from coming inside, it will pay off in the long run.

Farewell and happy building, hope it all comes together well for you.

 

[SuperNutz]

Honestly man, I don't think the rolling up the sides and exposing the crops to nature is the best approach, depends on the location I suppose, but if I was to build another greenhouse, I would build one with a double door entryway setup, where you walk in and have kind of a decontamination area for you to walk through before you enter the greenhouse, the have a door way from there into the greenhouse, this way you have some extra piece of mind against the pests just walking right through as they please, and you could use the space to store a few items, maybe install an air filter or something that's needed for your setup to run while allowing for you to have extra space inside the greenhouse for you to have plants and other items like maybe a heater or dehumidifier as you have mentioned.

Pests can get pretty bad inside a greenhouse, so I would do my utmost to keep them out and take extra measures to prevent infestations of any sort from happening, depends if your going to seal the bottom off also, or if you have a way to sterilize the ground after its built so that bugs don't come out of the dirt.

Just want to make a great attempt at prevention, before hand that's probably the best advice I could give, that low wind/low UV environment is just too easy for them and they multiply quickly, so yeah definitely go out of your way if your able to keep the critters from coming inside, it will pay off in the long run.

Farewell and happy building, hope it all comes together well for you.

A lot of good points. At this stage sealing it would basically make it an indoor grow with the pests already there and I know that hell from experience lol. And I don't want to keep the good bugs, lizards, toads, frogs, etc out since they've been killing it so far with eating the caterpillars and other pests.

 

[UncleBuck]

This is going to fail spectacularly