The length was perfect and I'm glad you ended with reminding us that we can always grow in the great out doors, even though it's dependant on seasonal, environmental factors. Thank you for including the reviews of the styles that you wouldn't recommend, I found it just as helpful!
Chinese farmer here and we indeed mostly use the Chinese style of greenhouse. For easy roll/unrolling of the cover material, older ones have pulley systems or counterweights on the other side of the wall. New ones mostly go electric, one button push and let the motor do all the work. I haven't seen anyone use cloth to keep warm. Most I saw used cotton quilt or straw mat. Snow removal is not that great. Last week my area suffered from 2 days of snowstorm, and a lot of these greenhouses in the area were crushed. I'm here looking for structural design ideas. Because the cold winds always blow from the north side, snow accumulates quickly and not evenly on the south side, and the weight can either bend the beam or horizontally add too much pressure on the wall.
The barrels will exchange heat with the interior whether or not they are in line of sight with the sun. Thermal mass in general helps to moderate temperature in both summer and winter.
They will absorb much more energy if they are in line with the sun. Convection is only part of the exchange, radiation from the sun is around 1000watts per square meter(reduced for glazing and angle and reflection)
I'm currently in the process of designing our family homestead, thank you for this video! It was extremely helpful in deciding which greenhouse we will use!
As a soon to be greenhouse builder, I respect a good long variety of info. I've watched most of your videos about builds, congrats to being in my private "Brains" folder that stores the best of the best videos about the subject. On that note, make the video, keep on target and let it rip. I appreciate you and your videos.
makes me feel pretty lucky to live where we don't have to deal with the snow loads! thanks for the info on expense, structural strength, light intensity for these greenhouse options.
Great video. The Chinese style Greenhouse is basically what I'm looking for, but without the permanence, more of just a frame I can lean up against the building and cover with plastic sheeting as I wait to harvest. Now I just have to find some plans and adapt them to my space and needs. Thanks
Wow, like others here I was overwhelmed with the number of designs I wasn't familiar with yet. I've been gardening for years, seen a bunch of videos, etc., but this is the video I'm recommending to any fellow gardeners looking for ideas--especially if I can convince them to do shots every time you say "whatnot." :D Thanks and Best Wishes.
as you added 'the great outdoors', maybe I should point out something in the middle: Just a transparent roof. That is the great outdoors but then without rain, which is beneficial for tomatoes to keep them from contracting blight
Very informative video. You covered everything except for cold frames, which I would have included. Granted these are typically used to harden of your seedlings before spring planting, but they could also extend your growing season for things like carrots, radishes, strawberries and even raspberries provided you keep them pruned back and extend the height of the cold frame wall. Just a thought to all your subscribers who are thinking about getting started in green housing.
Lots of great diagrams! I made some TH-cam videos of my passive greenhouse using "unistrut". I managed to get 20' of glass without any obstructions (no structural beams etc). The glass I used is frequently thrown out (free) from interior remodeling of businesses!! In fact, the unistrut was being thrown out too.
I could do without the background music. I prefer listening to this man speak. Information, not entertainment, is what I came for. This is REALLY GREAT, by the way. Saving me watching loads of other videos to try to find all this information all over TH-cam. Good to have it all in one video - no matter how long.
Good video. Need to learn how to keep plants in winter. Moved from CA to Texas. It’s a lot different and I hate when my plants die. So this information is very needed currently.
This was a cool video, considering doing a small hybrid of a bermed passive solar / Chinese greenhouse here. Our winters don’t usually get overly cold during the days, so if I can retain heat, that would probably work. I currently just have some indoor plants and a cold frame outside as an experiment in late season growing. First freeze may happen this week, so we will see how it goes, but everything I planted outside should be fine down to about 20F, or so.
Great comparison. I like the Chinese version. The one that I saw has 2 outside layers separated about 1-2' at the top and 1' at the bottom. The bottom ring has the clear poly. About 1' up, at the top, is a spool with the blanket. The top has a 2nd layer of poly with some motorized shakers that installed on the top ring. These shakers are used to vibrate off the snow. The additional ring is to prevent the blanket from getting wet. For my situation, I'' probably add some geothermal tubing on the back wall along with on the lower front wall - this will feed a below the frost line loop and would be used for adding heat in the winter and some additional cooling in the summer. If you had a pool/pond, you could use it as a dump for the extra heat in the summer. Put some solar up to run the water pumps and controller and you're set. Just my 2 cents
I'm planning on an enclosed setting for my aquaponic garden. I live in the tropics and it gets damn hot so a green house doesn't seem practical. My idea is to build a shade house using 50% shade cover with narrow weave to keep down the pests and allowing air flow to keep down the temperature. During the wet season I'll cover the roof will clear plastic sheeting to keep out more of the rain. Does this sound like a good option or should I be doing something different?
Awesome video, especially for beginners looking to get an overview on the types of greenhouses out there. Thanks for all the effort put into explaining the designs 😀
What considerations would you make for a greenhouse on the arctic circle? It's a bit complicated that in the summer the sun rises and sets in the north, and doesn't show up at all for a few weeks in the dead of winter. Yearly average temps of 4c, frosts 9 months of the year.
I would love to see a passive solar with a berm, or a huge dome! Can't get enough of bucky's design. Wish I could make something like the eden project in England for cheap but that would cost millions! Lol your vids are so good and informative I always wish they were longer or at least had one more often. I am always super excited when I see one of your vids pop into my subscription feed! Can't wait to come up there and take a tour one day.
Good overview of greenhouse types. Answer of what type is for you is "depends." Zone, wind exposure, budget, long term goals, etc. all play a factor as you have outlined here. We went with a 2V geodesic dome, 22' in diameter, using the high tech bubble film called solawrap here in the states (made in Germany) for the cover. The large triangles of the 2V were able to minimize waste of the 2m wide solawrap,. We we also able to cover 4 triangles with one run of the material. North wall is insulated with Reflectix, and we have a ground to air heat transfer system (GAHT) with tubing buried 3-4' under the dome to stabilize the temperature. It was 17 degrees outside this morning, and dome interior is 34 degrees.
+Scott Baker That's pretty cool! It's been getting a lot more views than my other videos so I guess people are liking it. I had a big hit earlier this month from some site called survivopedia.com. ;-)
Sorry, but not nicely done. You need to do more extensive research and then recreate this video. You are claiming that pit and solar greenhouses have some big flaws when they do not. The problems you talk about are easily corrected.
@@SSanatobaJR ...The pit one does have a lot of unexpected big flaws, as do they all, for first time green thumbs...which every person on video that I have seen, who has built most any type of green house or tunnel structure of any kind, say they would do differently, to suit their exact requirements, the next time. The pit one, needs a 6 foot pit, to be a true pit, which uses the existing earth as a basis for its structure. Any water that does comes in, can escape via a pipe to the outside, and the warm air, (from being buried 6 or so feet in the ground,)can also flow back up the pipe to the inside and rise to help heat the thing. You put all the dozed out soil, from making the 6 ft deep x say 20 foot long, pit, behind the proposed cold winter wall, and use the east side from the ground up, to maximise the winter sun. The big mistake most make is not digging the deep water escape pipe trench, before they pile up mountains of dirt around it. My cellar, 7 ft down, maintains an all year round temp of 54F...or 12C, so the benefit of the pit sounds a good deal if one has the space...and a bit of a smallish rise in their yard.
pro money saving tip: you can get tons of free trampolines in the fall, as people will throw them away then. That is the free steel arch. I made raised arches with the straight tubes on the bottom and "ladder style with each half facing eachother. Trampolines are lego pieces with a little angle grinder treatment. Then covered with building plastic sheets. Or roof stingers in between the modules. Not for winter growing, but it is a cheap way to prolong the growing season and makes good free/cheap structures.
+marchetta67 yes it depend on couple things is it hydroponic, aquaponic or earth grown the earth grown need to heat the soil a little bit but yes it does grow the same as out side Lettuce takes 30 days and in winter takes 45 days hydroponic, aquaponic earth takes what ever the temp of the soil is....short or long time or not at all
+marchetta67 Yes they would, in fact I would argue that they would have better value, as they tend to be healthier and much less stressed plants, than those grown outdoors.
You're a sweetheart, thankyou for making this video!! So informative and well done!!Your lil "it was hot in that greenhouse, I don't usually sound so grumpy...I think I was delirious near the end" was adorable, Im glad you made it out ok. PS Love the random cow 🐄
my concern is high wind, hoop greenhouse doesn't work, blew up. i need a design for high wind i am thinking 2X4 for the sides at some slope and galvanize pipe for top. top winds in northern texas is about 70 mph. what do you think, you video did not cover it.
Your concerns about the pit or in ground greenhouses are all addressable. There are easy solutions to all of them. Sounds to me like either you haven't done enough research on them or just don't like them for some weird reason and are finding excuses. With the earth heating and cooling, the floor adds thermal mass too, not just the walls, plus there are ways to increase the geothermal heating and cooling abilities of the greenhouse. You can use mirrors to reflect morning and evening sun into the shadowed areas. And simple fences or rails can keep large animals and humans off the greenhouse (or you can just elevate the roof above the ground level a bit). Finally I know of several big name greenhouses that are located much farther north than you and use no heating yet grow stuff all year round.
And your concerns with solar greenhouses are addressable too. There is a company in Colorado that is producing large passive solar greenhouses for industry. And their designs do not make heating an issue. You need to do much better research. This is not a good video on all the types of greenhouse because you info is not accurate enough.
Hey, that was a great video and really thorough. Didn't realise Goths were so popular in the world of green houses. I searched for Chinese greenhouse and you came up. It has made me think about loads of things, which I'm now gonna draw. Cheers.
@@Bigelowbrook I've just finishing sketching it all out. I used some charcoal bamboo I made for the first time. And that in itself was great. Thanks for getting back to me and the inspiration.
17:48 "It takes a few hours for the sun to get around" Is that really right? At least here where i live the sun raises as quarter to 9 and sets quarter past 3. The effect of is that the sun is already at a almost 45 degree angle to the south when it raises. There is also a fairly simple remedy to this. Set Mylar film on the side and rare walls (at last the last say 5 meters), then the end will get double sun exposure in the evening and morning compensating for the losses.
In winter areas you want your greenhouse length going East to west right? I am working on a electromagnetic pump uses 0 energy and creates 110 watts for the greenhouse....
+1stWorldofFreedom most of the passive solar designed greenhouses run east-west. However, running them like this makes for uneven/insufficient lighting on the north side. Running the building north/south provides more even lighting. Like The passive solar is nice, but once you want to build something large enough for support a commercial operation, it's usually more economical to stick to a traditional greenhouse.
+Bigelow Brook Farm (Web4Deb) I'm curious about that- at northern latitudes, how much light are you getting from the north side anyway? Seems it makes more sense to insulate the north wall, and as well create thermal mass there, as opposed to what little light you gain from the north. Yes? No? Here is Alaska we have long daylight hours in the summer anyway, so the real benefit of the greenhouse is warm soil sooner in the spring, since fall daylight hours tend to be too short to support growth.
I am designing and building a new greenhouse on my place for my aquaponics system from repurposed materials. Thanks for some great input. I have 2 12× 24 hoop houses one is my aquaponics lab the other is the aviary. I have the material to build a glass double paned greenhouse that doubles as a solar pumphouse, water purification, and aquaponics lab. Most my production is still in my gardens but I love the aquaponics. Sadly last year my current greenhouse was severely damaged by Hurricane Harvey but I have almost rebuilt it.
At 17:50 I realized that was a fish tank. I freaked, was greatly unexpected lol Also the passive solar, why not lay the barrels down sideways on the south wall and plant things over the barrels? They should get enough light to warm up, correct?
Most of what you said makes me think it'd be wiser to invest in multiple small greenhouses over single large ones to avoid heating excess space and paying extra fees. It's so frustrating to me that growers have to deal with permits and taxes on top of how expensive just the greenhouses are. Makes me feel inclined to just have several small hoop houses with poles right in the ground than dealing with laying a foundation and paying fees. Thanks for the informative vid!
what should be the ideal size of the green house?and with the gutter connected green house do we need to build wall between them or can we keep joining it without any wall between them making it one huge green house instead of several small green houses connected together?
Comment from M.Peebles for Horti70: What about adding support lines (wire) for wind 🌬stability? Also, do you have designs that include water catchment to augment irrigation?
Could you use a walipini as a sort of heat sink for and above ground structure using hydroponics? If you run hydroponics upstairs and then channel that water downstairs into the walipini, couldn't you normalize and control temperature more easily?
The walipini greenhouse is an awesome concept for insulation but it does seem like it would be difficult to get adequate light. I'd love to see some of these in person and how growers have made them work for them!
you can see one of these in Canada: th-cam.com/video/DPfmYNNo-4U/w-d-xo.html. They speak french but this is interesting as you can see the design at least.
I have an in ground greenhouse, 6 feet below grade. The "heat of the earth" idea is not true. It would be true of a pipe you buried that deep, but the glazing(greenhouse plastic) lets heat out faster than the earth could put it in
I would say that you may be sighting them wrong? My understanding is that the longest side should face the sun (Southeast in the Northern hemisphere, Northeast in the Southern hemisphere) you seem to be facing the long side of the greenhouse East/West which would greatly lower the amount of heat during the winter. You can also arrange roof overhangs and Thank you for making the video it is very interesting.
a lot of info.. very nice.. I do however wish you'd have listed the wind gust rating of them.. I have to be careful of what type /kind of greenhouse I put up.. due to wind gust..
What kind of greenhouse would you recommend for a tropical weather like Hawaii or Thailand? I want to protect my veggies because I always get insects and white flyers covering my tomatoes and veggies, so I’m thinking maybe a greenhouse will eliminate majority of this issues cause I don’t want to use chemicals and on growing foods.
It was a very interesting topic, but I would like to ask a question. I have an annex to a residential apartment, an area of 9 m * 9 m. I want hydroponics, and the temperature in summer is 40 and in winter 4, what is the best option for me without material losses
You showed a semetrical Walapini when most in northern climates have only ONE steeper south facing side, heating up cement or water barrels which act as heat sinks. The steep slope helps to keep the snow off it. Your passive solar./walipni combo is ideal.
Hey Rob, Great video, truly informative. I would not worry about the length of any of your videos, you always have something to share. My problem is I can't get enough of your videos. You've got so much growing on up there at the farm I wish you could cover EVERYTHING. From the geodesic green house to the fields to the fruit trees. Get out there and document it all. This autumn I hope you will do another walk around the property showing off that great fall foliage. Also I'm looking forward to the new green house build, but where are you going to build it (in one of the fields)? Winter is coming, is the rocket stove ready? If you want go ahead and answer these questions in a NUTS video. Cheers, Bill
+William “Bill” Walter It will be in a video, but we're going to level out one of our fields and put the greenhouses there. Rocket stove and wood stove are ready! I"m filming an update video about them this weekend. Probably won't do any more NUTS videos....very low viewing on them...and people keep asking questions that I answer in them anyway! ;-)
this was very informational propagation guide to different types of greenhouses. Im really curious if you've had an academic experiences. I will say in Northern California we don't get very much snow, so factors of rain might apply to the greenhouse factors
Can you not use leach lines in your green house to leach out salt from the soil after growth periods that you can also evaporate and use that salt? Just a thought.
Would love to see the longer version PLEASE, where can I see that? By the way, Im in Arkansas & wind is really high...up to 70 mph at time. Just got a foot of snow...so anyone has the recommendation of which type is the best? Thanks.
I have only one location on my tiny property. Faces east and South attached to my house so no western sun. Thinking about polycarbonate roof and sides with roof vent and fan. Would this be ok?
Great video, very informative and thank you for explaining about the Chinese greenhouse. That's the one I plan on trying to build and I didn't even know such existed! My garden is too small for a greenhouse so I thought my garden should become the greenhouse. The plan is to make the top cover retractable so I can dismantle it in the spring - it's a work in progress in my head at the moment. Any thoughts on this idea would be gratefully received. Regards, Poo
I see most run houses longways east to west...you seem to prefer north n south. If thats accurate what do you see better form that north to south orientation?
traditional greenhouses run north/south since you get better sun/heat distribution. The solar greenhouse go east/west for the heat gain but the north wall usually don't get as much sunlight
A little off topic, but did you use a breathable tape on your dome for the very bottom channels of the polycarbonate closest to the ground? To keep bugs out but let condensation out as well.
What a great video man. Your information awareness level is over 9000. Your parents did a good job. And you made yourself worthy of it. It's a pleasure to share this earth with you. Keep it up. :)
19.10 the barrels dont only store heat from sunlight (direct gain) they also store heat from within the room (indirect gain). If the greenhouse heats up, so will the barrells wether there in direct sunlight or not.
Hey Rob - I certainly enjoy longer videos more than shorter ones, but it's more likely that I'll watch the shorter ones first as it's easier to squeeze them in with a busy lifestyle. I suspect you'll get a higher number of views on short ones, but happier viewers from long ones. Cheers!!
+Jim Conner yup, you nailed it. I'm not a fan of watching anything too long either since I watch them when I have a couple of free minutes. I usually try to keep them at the 5 minute range. Plus editing something this long takes foooorrreverrrrrrrrrr!
Bigelow Brook Farm (Web4Deb) Well I for one very much appreciate your editing efforts. I know from experience how long it can take to edit together a video ( I spent over ten hours editing my aphids vs diatomaceous earth one together earlier this month )... but I didn't have to draw any diagrams or make animations for that one (nice artwork there Rob btw) - I'd guess that this greenhouse video represents about an hour's recording, followed by pretty much a whole day editing. Please know that your effort is very much appreciated. Cheers!!
Jim Conner you're close on the time. the original recording was 1hr:25min. Because of the diagrams, there's about 30 hours put into the post editing. Labor of love....I could make more working at Walmart. ;-) I'm glad everyone enjoys them!
if i wanted to do a small walipini one just for family use in ny state would i still need a permit, can i just dig the hole with a shovel myself just cut some wood frame without any foundations
Isnt the reason for the walipini design to keep it hot during winter? As the ground beneath 1 meter is pretty much stable at around 10 degrees, so it reduces the cost of heating and heatloss during winter times.
First of all, the idea of one meter is pretty minimal. Especially in cold regions (where you need the ground heat the worst) deeper is better. Most places can get away with roughly five feet (~1.5 meters) and be stable, but some will need to be as deep as eight feet (~2.5 meters). Secondly, the ground temperature varies depending on your proximity to the equator, so it is not fair to make a blanket statement like ground temperatures are around 50 Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius). In concept the design is more about stability, as it can be used for both limited heat or cooling when outside temperatures fluctuate, and does so passively.
great video, would have appreciated it more if It had more of a high-level overview / comparison chart where we could see all the options / metrics laid out in a large table / pros/cons table
The best presentation on the web on greenhouses. The greenhouse in south florida will be different on Arizona from tennesee from Idaho from Washington. For now it just matters where you live. But eventually someone will make that final greenhouse. That is accepted by all counties. In all regions fits all uses. Can be used for commercial. And has all the cooling an heating abilities. The greenhouse is the future. In taming and controlling extreme temperatures.
Nice review. One point on Geodesic domes. A ton of waste materials during construction. Just think about getting triangles from rectangles of material. Also as you said nothing is square so increased construction time.
Did you consider "sun traps"? that is a short heat retaining wall running east-west or curved with the inside of the curve facing the sun. It creates a micro-climate with elevated summer temperatures.
I am in upstate New York (in the snow belt) I want to grow all year round. I also live off grid so I need to heat withought power. do you have any suggestions?
Just use some imagination and take the your favorite advantages of the various greenhouses and combine them into one design. For example some of my favorite advantages are the temperature stability of the wilipini, but i also like the morning sun advantage of the traditional. So i will consider making a wilipini but the roof won't be level with or even near the ground level, it will be up 8 more ft, a 2 story green house. It will appear like a regular traditional single level above ground greenhouse from a distance with the walls protruding upward 8 ft above ground level and the roof on top of that. But in reality the wall is 16 ft high, because 8 ft of it is hidden in the ground, it will be 8 ft of block wall in the ground to meet the footing. That lower level basement will be for mushrooms, water storage, composting, and by being 8 ft down it will have stable temps all thru the greenhouse, the first story too because you engineer in huge vent areas from basement to first story, along with the vents in the green house for summer, and in winter the composting going on in the basement gives additional heat. So you can grow stuff on the first story and get benefits of morning sun and benefits of stable ground temps from the basement, while have that extra space to use for composting for additional heat in winter, and can also let wood product rot and mushroom and composting, and water storage all in that temperature stable environment, helping to keep it stable. Even the mass of the water you store under the greenhouse is used to help stabilize temps in the house.
The length was perfect and I'm glad you ended with reminding us that we can always grow in the great out doors, even though it's dependant on seasonal, environmental factors. Thank you for including the reviews of the styles that you wouldn't recommend, I found it just as helpful!
Chinese farmer here and we indeed mostly use the Chinese style of greenhouse.
For easy roll/unrolling of the cover material, older ones have pulley systems or counterweights on the other side of the wall. New ones mostly go electric, one button push and let the motor do all the work.
I haven't seen anyone use cloth to keep warm. Most I saw used cotton quilt or straw mat.
Snow removal is not that great. Last week my area suffered from 2 days of snowstorm, and a lot of these greenhouses in the area were crushed. I'm here looking for structural design ideas.
Because the cold winds always blow from the north side, snow accumulates quickly and not evenly on the south side, and the weight can either bend the beam or horizontally add too much pressure on the wall.
I love the diagrams to explain how the light will affect each green house. Very useful info, even if it’s a longer video. Thanks!
Your passion for the topic really shines through. It’s inspiring to watch!
This is awesome. I'm just over the border north of you, so nice to have information that's relevant to our temperatures. Thanks!
Thanks. I get a bunch of comments from people all bent out of shape with this presentation. ;-)
The barrels will exchange heat with the interior whether or not they are in line of sight with the sun. Thermal mass in general helps to moderate temperature in both summer and winter.
My experience with passive solar was that keeping humidity high and stable was THE biggest factor in reducing temperature swings.
@@caddad49 ids solve that concern.
They will absorb much more energy if they are in line with the sun. Convection is only part of the exchange, radiation from the sun is around 1000watts per square meter(reduced for glazing and angle and reflection)
I'm currently in the process of designing our family homestead, thank you for this video! It was extremely helpful in deciding which greenhouse we will use!
As a soon to be greenhouse builder, I respect a good long variety of info. I've watched most of your videos about builds, congrats to being in my private "Brains" folder that stores the best of the best videos about the subject. On that note, make the video, keep on target and let it rip. I appreciate you and your videos.
makes me feel pretty lucky to live where we don't have to deal with the snow loads! thanks for the info on expense, structural strength, light intensity for these greenhouse options.
Great video.
The Chinese style Greenhouse is basically what I'm looking for, but without the permanence, more of just a frame I can lean up against the building and cover with plastic sheeting as I wait to harvest. Now I just have to find some plans and adapt them to my space and needs. Thanks
Wow, like others here I was overwhelmed with the number of designs I wasn't familiar with yet. I've been gardening for years, seen a bunch of videos, etc., but this is the video I'm recommending to any fellow gardeners looking for ideas--especially if I can convince them to do shots every time you say "whatnot." :D Thanks and Best Wishes.
as you added 'the great outdoors', maybe I should point out something in the middle: Just a transparent roof. That is the great outdoors but then without rain, which is beneficial for tomatoes to keep them from contracting blight
Very informative video. You covered everything except for cold frames, which I would have included. Granted these are typically used to harden of your seedlings before spring planting, but they could also extend your growing season for things like carrots, radishes, strawberries and even raspberries provided you keep them pruned back and extend the height of the cold frame wall. Just a thought to all your subscribers who are thinking about getting started in green housing.
Lots of great diagrams! I made some TH-cam videos of my passive greenhouse using "unistrut". I managed to get 20' of glass without any obstructions (no structural beams etc). The glass I used is frequently thrown out (free) from interior remodeling of businesses!! In fact, the unistrut was being thrown out too.
I could do without the background music. I prefer listening to this man speak. Information, not entertainment, is what I came for. This is REALLY GREAT, by the way. Saving me watching loads of other videos to try to find all this information all over TH-cam. Good to have it all in one video - no matter how long.
To be honest I enjoy the longer ones just because of the fact it's more information
Good video. Need to learn how to keep plants in winter. Moved from CA to Texas. It’s a lot different and I hate when my plants die. So this information is very needed currently.
You are a good teacher. I prefer shorter ones but on occasions, when you have a lot to present, I have no problems with the lengthier ones.
This was a cool video, considering doing a small hybrid of a bermed passive solar / Chinese greenhouse here. Our winters don’t usually get overly cold during the days, so if I can retain heat, that would probably work. I currently just have some indoor plants and a cold frame outside as an experiment in late season growing. First freeze may happen this week, so we will see how it goes, but everything I planted outside should be fine down to about 20F, or so.
Great comparison. I like the Chinese version. The one that I saw has 2 outside layers separated about 1-2' at the top and 1' at the bottom. The bottom ring has the clear poly. About 1' up, at the top, is a spool with the blanket. The top has a 2nd layer of poly with some motorized shakers that installed on the top ring. These shakers are used to vibrate off the snow. The additional ring is to prevent the blanket from getting wet.
For my situation, I'' probably add some geothermal tubing on the back wall along with on the lower front wall - this will feed a below the frost line loop and would be used for adding heat in the winter and some additional cooling in the summer. If you had a pool/pond, you could use it as a dump for the extra heat in the summer. Put some solar up to run the water pumps and controller and you're set.
Just my 2 cents
I love the cow you included for size reference. He's adorable.
This is a great and useful video regarding greenhouse choices - pros and cons. Thanks for being so thorough!
what type of greenhouse would you suggest to be the best for central/northern California? Am I right to use the arch type?
I like the way you think about the at home growers as compared to the commercial growers needs.
I'm planning on an enclosed setting for my aquaponic garden. I live in the tropics and it gets damn hot so a green house doesn't seem practical. My idea is to build a shade house using 50% shade cover with narrow weave to keep down the pests and allowing air flow to keep down the temperature. During the wet season I'll cover the roof will clear plastic sheeting to keep out more of the rain.
Does this sound like a good option or should I be doing something different?
The greenhouses I've seen in Florida usually still have plastic covering and are well ventilated. It doesn't take much rain to flood a system.
Ok, thanks, so probably covered roof with well vented sides?
yup. Usually fans too. You should find a local person that has a successful greenhouse.
Awesome, thanks for that
Awesome video, especially for beginners looking to get an overview on the types of greenhouses out there. Thanks for all the effort put into explaining the designs 😀
Thank you that was great. I live in Canada and all that information is going to come in handy. Much appreciated the conversion to the metric system.
What considerations would you make for a greenhouse on the arctic circle? It's a bit complicated that in the summer the sun rises and sets in the north, and doesn't show up at all for a few weeks in the dead of winter. Yearly average temps of 4c, frosts 9 months of the year.
I would love to see a passive solar with a berm, or a huge dome! Can't get enough of bucky's design. Wish I could make something like the eden project in England for cheap but that would cost millions! Lol your vids are so good and informative I always wish they were longer or at least had one more often. I am always super excited when I see one of your vids pop into my subscription feed! Can't wait to come up there and take a tour one day.
Good overview of greenhouse types. Answer of what type is for you is "depends." Zone, wind exposure, budget, long term goals, etc. all play a factor as you have outlined here. We went with a 2V geodesic dome, 22' in diameter, using the high tech bubble film called solawrap here in the states (made in Germany) for the cover. The large triangles of the 2V were able to minimize waste of the 2m wide solawrap,. We we also able to cover 4 triangles with one run of the material. North wall is insulated with Reflectix, and we have a ground to air heat transfer system (GAHT) with tubing buried 3-4' under the dome to stabilize the temperature. It was 17 degrees outside this morning, and dome interior is 34 degrees.
Hey! Did you know this is the _number one_ result when you type "greenhouse" in the TH-cam search bar? Nicely done!
+Scott Baker That's pretty cool! It's been getting a lot more views than my other videos so I guess people are liking it. I had a big hit earlier this month from some site called survivopedia.com. ;-)
You do know what shows up in the search bar is based on your algorithm right?
Sorry, but not nicely done. You need to do more extensive research and then recreate this video. You are claiming that pit and solar greenhouses have some big flaws when they do not. The problems you talk about are easily corrected.
@@SSanatobaJR ...The pit one does have a lot of unexpected big flaws, as do they all, for first time green thumbs...which every person on video that I have seen, who has built most any type of green house or tunnel structure of any kind, say they would do differently, to suit their exact requirements, the next time. The pit one, needs a 6 foot pit, to be a true pit, which uses the existing earth as a basis for its structure. Any water that does comes in, can escape via a pipe to the outside, and the warm air, (from being buried 6 or so feet in the ground,)can also flow back up the pipe to the inside and rise to help heat the thing. You put all the dozed out soil, from making the 6 ft deep x say 20 foot long, pit, behind the proposed cold winter wall, and use the east side from the ground up, to maximise the winter sun. The big mistake most make is not digging the deep water escape pipe trench, before they pile up mountains of dirt around it. My cellar, 7 ft down, maintains an all year round temp of 54F...or 12C, so the benefit of the pit sounds a good deal if one has the space...and a bit of a smallish rise in their yard.
great content
This is a great video. Thank you for taking the time! I’m sharing with my neighbors and family.
i wonder how long it's gonna be until youtube starts censoring gardening videos
why
pro money saving tip: you can get tons of free trampolines in the fall, as people will throw them away then. That is the free steel arch. I made raised arches with the straight tubes on the bottom and "ladder style with each half facing eachother. Trampolines are lego pieces with a little angle grinder treatment.
Then covered with building plastic sheets. Or roof stingers in between the modules.
Not for winter growing, but it is a cheap way to prolong the growing season and makes good free/cheap structures.
Where do people just throw away trampolines? That being said, we found our trampoline in the alley, but that was the only one I ever saw lol.
Do plants raised in a greenhouse have the same nutrient value as those raised outdoors? Thanks.
+marchetta67
yes it depend on couple things is it hydroponic, aquaponic or earth grown the earth grown need to heat the soil a little bit but yes it does grow the same as out side
Lettuce takes 30 days and in winter takes 45 days hydroponic, aquaponic
earth takes what ever the temp of the soil is....short or long time or not at all
+marchetta67 Yes they would, in fact I would argue that they would have better value, as they tend to be healthier and much less stressed plants, than those grown outdoors.
Anything is better then mutant off the shelf food.
You're a sweetheart, thankyou for making this video!! So informative and well done!!Your lil "it was hot in that greenhouse, I don't usually sound so grumpy...I think I was delirious near the end" was adorable, Im glad you made it out ok.
PS Love the random cow 🐄
my concern is high wind, hoop greenhouse doesn't work, blew up. i need a design for high wind i am thinking 2X4 for the sides at some slope and galvanize pipe for top. top winds in northern texas is about 70 mph. what do you think, you video did not cover it.
Your concerns about the pit or in ground greenhouses are all addressable. There are easy solutions to all of them. Sounds to me like either you haven't done enough research on them or just don't like them for some weird reason and are finding excuses. With the earth heating and cooling, the floor adds thermal mass too, not just the walls, plus there are ways to increase the geothermal heating and cooling abilities of the greenhouse. You can use mirrors to reflect morning and evening sun into the shadowed areas. And simple fences or rails can keep large animals and humans off the greenhouse (or you can just elevate the roof above the ground level a bit). Finally I know of several big name greenhouses that are located much farther north than you and use no heating yet grow stuff all year round.
And your concerns with solar greenhouses are addressable too. There is a company in Colorado that is producing large passive solar greenhouses for industry. And their designs do not make heating an issue. You need to do much better research. This is not a good video on all the types of greenhouse because you info is not accurate enough.
Can you do a video over green house heating solutions?!? Plz and thank you
Hey, that was a great video and really thorough. Didn't realise Goths were so popular in the world of green houses. I searched for Chinese greenhouse and you came up. It has made me think about loads of things, which I'm now gonna draw. Cheers.
Glad you enjoyed!
@@Bigelowbrook I've just finishing sketching it all out. I used some charcoal bamboo I made for the first time. And that in itself was great. Thanks for getting back to me and the inspiration.
17:48
"It takes a few hours for the sun to get around"
Is that really right? At least here where i live the sun raises as quarter to 9 and sets quarter past 3.
The effect of is that the sun is already at a almost 45 degree angle to the south when it raises.
There is also a fairly simple remedy to this. Set Mylar film on the side and rare walls (at last the last say 5 meters), then the end will get double sun exposure in the evening and morning compensating for the losses.
Great Video. A lot of timeless information. Thank you
Glad it was helpful!
In winter areas you want your greenhouse length going East to west right?
I am working on a electromagnetic pump uses 0 energy and creates 110 watts for the greenhouse....
+1stWorldofFreedom most of the passive solar designed greenhouses run east-west. However, running them like this makes for uneven/insufficient lighting on the north side. Running the building north/south provides more even lighting. Like The passive solar is nice, but once you want to build something large enough for support a commercial operation, it's usually more economical to stick to a traditional greenhouse.
+Bigelow Brook Farm (Web4Deb)
I'm curious about that- at northern latitudes, how much light are you getting from the north side anyway? Seems it makes more sense to insulate the north wall, and as well create thermal mass there, as opposed to what little light you gain from the north. Yes? No? Here is Alaska we have long daylight hours in the summer anyway, so the real benefit of the greenhouse is warm soil sooner in the spring, since fall daylight hours tend to be too short to support growth.
Great video! The length was perfect for the topic, as you were through without being redundant. Thanks very much!
Great video! One additional option, agrivoltaics - using solar fields for agriculture
I personally love the longer videos. The more info the better. Especially when the presentation is professional quality. ;-)
I am designing and building a new greenhouse on my place for my aquaponics system from repurposed materials. Thanks for some great input. I have 2 12× 24 hoop houses one is my aquaponics lab the other is the aviary. I have the material to build a glass double paned greenhouse that doubles as a solar pumphouse, water purification, and aquaponics lab. Most my production is still in my gardens but I love the aquaponics. Sadly last year my current greenhouse was severely damaged by Hurricane Harvey but I have almost rebuilt it.
Thank you for the great video, I've been trying to figure out the orientation for my gothic arch greenhouse. You explained it very nice
At 17:50 I realized that was a fish tank. I freaked, was greatly unexpected lol
Also the passive solar, why not lay the barrels down sideways on the south wall and plant things over the barrels? They should get enough light to warm up, correct?
Most of what you said makes me think it'd be wiser to invest in multiple small greenhouses over single large ones to avoid heating excess space and paying extra fees. It's so frustrating to me that growers have to deal with permits and taxes on top of how expensive just the greenhouses are. Makes me feel inclined to just have several small hoop houses with poles right in the ground than dealing with laying a foundation and paying fees. Thanks for the informative vid!
what should be the ideal size of the green house?and with the gutter connected green house do we need to build wall between them or can we keep joining it without any wall between them making it one huge green house instead of several small green houses connected together?
Do you recommend 4mm or 6mm plastic covering
Comment from M.Peebles for Horti70: What about adding support lines (wire) for wind 🌬stability? Also, do you have designs that include water catchment to augment irrigation?
Could you use a walipini as a sort of heat sink for and above ground structure using hydroponics? If you run hydroponics upstairs and then channel that water downstairs into the walipini, couldn't you normalize and control temperature more easily?
What greenhouse would you suggest for being most optimal for light deprivation?
Please may I know what is the difference between greenhouse and polyhouse?
Thank you for all this great information! Do you have a recommendation for seasonal greenhouses that could go over existing garden beds for hobbyists?
The walipini greenhouse is an awesome concept for insulation but it does seem like it would be difficult to get adequate light. I'd love to see some of these in person and how growers have made them work for them!
you can see one of these in Canada: th-cam.com/video/DPfmYNNo-4U/w-d-xo.html. They speak french but this is interesting as you can see the design at least.
I have an in ground greenhouse, 6 feet below grade. The "heat of the earth" idea is not true. It would be true of a pipe you buried that deep, but the glazing(greenhouse plastic) lets heat out faster than the earth could put it in
I would say that you may be sighting them wrong? My understanding is that the longest side should face the sun (Southeast in the Northern hemisphere, Northeast in the Southern hemisphere) you seem to be facing the long side of the greenhouse East/West which would greatly lower the amount of heat during the winter. You can also arrange roof overhangs and
Thank you for making the video it is very interesting.
a lot of info.. very nice.. I do however wish you'd have listed the wind gust rating of them.. I have to be careful of what type /kind of greenhouse I put up.. due to wind gust..
You would need to contact each manufacturer for information like this. Every structure is going to be different.
What kind of greenhouse would you recommend for a tropical weather like Hawaii or Thailand? I want to protect my veggies because I always get insects and white flyers covering my tomatoes and veggies, so I’m thinking maybe a greenhouse will eliminate majority of this issues cause I don’t want to use chemicals and on growing foods.
For the traditional greenhouse, how steep should the slope be?
It was a very interesting topic, but I would like to ask a question. I have an annex to a residential apartment, an area of 9 m * 9 m. I want hydroponics, and the temperature in summer is 40 and in winter 4, what is the best option for me without material losses
You showed a semetrical Walapini when most in northern climates have only ONE steeper south facing side, heating up cement or water barrels which act as heat sinks. The steep slope helps to keep the snow off it. Your passive solar./walipni combo is ideal.
Hey Rob,
Great video, truly informative. I would not worry about the length of any of your videos, you always have something to share. My problem is I can't get enough of your videos. You've got so much growing on up there at the farm I wish you could cover EVERYTHING. From the geodesic green house to the fields to the fruit trees. Get out there and document it all. This autumn I hope you will do another walk around the property showing off that great fall foliage. Also I'm looking forward to the new green house build, but where are you going to build it (in one of the fields)? Winter is coming, is the rocket stove ready? If you want go ahead and answer these questions in a NUTS video.
Cheers,
Bill
+William “Bill” Walter It will be in a video, but we're going to level out one of our fields and put the greenhouses there. Rocket stove and wood stove are ready! I"m filming an update video about them this weekend. Probably won't do any more NUTS videos....very low viewing on them...and people keep asking questions that I answer in them anyway! ;-)
this was very informational propagation guide to different types of greenhouses. Im really curious if you've had an academic experiences. I will say in Northern California we don't get very much snow, so factors of rain might apply to the greenhouse factors
Can you not use leach lines in your green house to leach out salt from the soil after growth periods that you can also evaporate and use that salt? Just a thought.
Would love to see the longer version PLEASE, where can I see that? By the way, Im in Arkansas & wind is really high...up to 70 mph at time. Just got a foot of snow...so anyone has the recommendation of which type is the best? Thanks.
I have only one location on my tiny property. Faces east and South attached to my house so no western sun. Thinking about polycarbonate roof and sides with roof vent and fan. Would this be ok?
Great video, very informative and thank you for explaining about the Chinese greenhouse. That's the one I plan on trying to build and I didn't even know such existed! My garden is too small for a greenhouse so I thought my garden should become the greenhouse. The plan is to make the top cover retractable so I can dismantle it in the spring - it's a work in progress in my head at the moment. Any thoughts on this idea would be gratefully received. Regards, Poo
I see most run houses longways east to west...you seem to prefer north n south. If thats accurate what do you see better form that north to south orientation?
traditional greenhouses run north/south since you get better sun/heat distribution. The solar greenhouse go east/west for the heat gain but the north wall usually don't get as much sunlight
Im confused. 12:20 the greenhouse runs north to south with the longside facing east and west, then at 12:53 the longside faces North and south.
Need advice for building a greenhouse for tropical plants in Colorado...
contact these folks in CO. ceresgs.com/
A little off topic, but did you use a breathable tape on your dome for the very bottom channels of the polycarbonate closest to the ground? To keep bugs out but let condensation out as well.
+EarthshipFreedom I never got around to putting any on. Oddly, nothing has crawled up into it!
Very informative. Thank you for posting!
Very informative video. I like the solar greenhouse's use of water barrels, even if it's not always applied efficiently.
Thank you for this informational video its was really helpful to see the different styles of greenhouses.
What a great video man. Your information awareness level is over 9000.
Your parents did a good job. And you made yourself worthy of it.
It's a pleasure to share this earth with you.
Keep it up. :)
you're too kind. :)
How do you know he had parents? He could be a foster child.
19.10 the barrels dont only store heat from sunlight (direct gain) they also store heat from within the room (indirect gain). If the greenhouse heats up, so will the barrells wether there in direct sunlight or not.
Hey Rob - I certainly enjoy longer videos more than shorter ones, but it's more likely that I'll watch the shorter ones first as it's easier to squeeze them in with a busy lifestyle. I suspect you'll get a higher number of views on short ones, but happier viewers from long ones. Cheers!!
+Jim Conner yup, you nailed it. I'm not a fan of watching anything too long either since I watch them when I have a couple of free minutes. I usually try to keep them at the 5 minute range. Plus editing something this long takes foooorrreverrrrrrrrrr!
Bigelow Brook Farm (Web4Deb) Well I for one very much appreciate your editing efforts. I know from experience how long it can take to edit together a video ( I spent over ten hours editing my aphids vs diatomaceous earth one together earlier this month )... but I didn't have to draw any diagrams or make animations for that one (nice artwork there Rob btw) - I'd guess that this greenhouse video represents about an hour's recording, followed by pretty much a whole day editing. Please know that your effort is very much appreciated. Cheers!!
Jim Conner you're close on the time. the original recording was 1hr:25min. Because of the diagrams, there's about 30 hours put into the post editing. Labor of love....I could make more working at Walmart. ;-) I'm glad everyone enjoys them!
Hi.
Any thoughts on bubble insulation?
if i wanted to do a small walipini one just for family use in ny state would i still need a permit, can i just dig the hole with a shovel myself just cut some wood frame without any foundations
contact your local building official
Isnt the reason for the walipini design to keep it hot during winter? As the ground beneath 1 meter is pretty much stable at around 10 degrees, so it reduces the cost of heating and heatloss during winter times.
First of all, the idea of one meter is pretty minimal. Especially in cold regions (where you need the ground heat the worst) deeper is better. Most places can get away with roughly five feet (~1.5 meters) and be stable, but some will need to be as deep as eight feet (~2.5 meters). Secondly, the ground temperature varies depending on your proximity to the equator, so it is not fair to make a blanket statement like ground temperatures are around 50 Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius). In concept the design is more about stability, as it can be used for both limited heat or cooling when outside temperatures fluctuate, and does so passively.
great video, would have appreciated it more if It had more of a high-level overview / comparison chart where we could see all the options / metrics laid out in a large table / pros/cons table
The best presentation on the web on greenhouses. The greenhouse in south florida will be different on Arizona from tennesee from Idaho from Washington. For now it just matters where you live. But eventually someone will make that final greenhouse. That is accepted by all counties. In all regions fits all uses. Can be used for commercial. And has all the cooling an heating abilities. The greenhouse is the future. In taming and controlling extreme temperatures.
Nice review. One point on Geodesic domes. A ton of waste materials during construction. Just think about getting triangles from rectangles of material. Also as you said nothing is square so increased construction time.
Thank you for the video. Very helpful in my horticulture course at SRJC!
Why no mid height condensation collection rill to drip feed irrigator channel?
Did you consider "sun traps"? that is a short heat retaining wall running east-west or curved with the inside of the curve facing the sun. It creates a micro-climate with elevated summer temperatures.
Was there a reason the greenhouse is oriented from north to south? It seems better to orient it east-west for heating/cooling.
for a hoop-house style, you get better light distribution and fewer hot spots.
Is there a place to order the 'trusses' for the Chinese style greenhouse?
I am in upstate New York (in the snow belt) I want to grow all year round. I also live off grid so I need to heat withought power. do you have any suggestions?
rocket mass heater. I have several videos about them.
sjp343 compost heaters and thermal storage run hot air/water from top of gh into soil under
How do you live off grid and have Internet access?
Just use some imagination and take the your favorite advantages of the various greenhouses and combine them into one design. For example some of my favorite advantages are the temperature stability of the wilipini, but i also like the morning sun advantage of the traditional. So i will consider making a wilipini but the roof won't be level with or even near the ground level, it will be up 8 more ft, a 2 story green house. It will appear like a regular traditional single level above ground greenhouse from a distance with the walls protruding upward 8 ft above ground level and the roof on top of that. But in reality the wall is 16 ft high, because 8 ft of it is hidden in the ground, it will be 8 ft of block wall in the ground to meet the footing. That lower level basement will be for mushrooms, water storage, composting, and by being 8 ft down it will have stable temps all thru the greenhouse, the first story too because you engineer in huge vent areas from basement to first story, along with the vents in the green house for summer, and in winter the composting going on in the basement gives additional heat. So you can grow stuff on the first story and get benefits of morning sun and benefits of stable ground temps from the basement, while have that extra space to use for composting for additional heat in winter, and can also let wood product rot and mushroom and composting, and water storage all in that temperature stable environment, helping to keep it stable. Even the mass of the water you store under the greenhouse is used to help stabilize temps in the house.
Couldn't the barrels hold water and function as a heatsink and radiator at night...? 19:20
Jared Lapierre he assumed that viewers would understand that he meant water filled barrels. So the answer to your question is yes.
As far as I'm concerned, your videos can't be too long. Keep 'em coming!
What type of greenhouse would you recommend for either North Colorado or Soubthern Colorado?
it all depends on what the climate is in that particular area and what you're trying to grow. Check in with Ceres Greenhouses, I think they're in CO.
Which would be the best starred greenhouse?
Thanks for the deets! Super informative... Cheers!
Excellent discussions. Helpful. Thanks.
what is the best polythene gauge for a green house especially where temperatures reach 32 degrees