The Profitable Greenhouse

Glass greenhouses are primarily constructed from one of two types of glass material. They are usually built from smooth transparent pieces of polyethylene or vinyl film.

The other kind of glass that can be used is corrugated or special types of glass such as Fiberglass, Al-synite, Mylar, Filon, and Corrolux.

If you’re not too concerned with long lasting durability, you’ll probably favour smooth film glass. This type of glass greenhouse is best for when you want to have an inexpensive greenhouse that can be built quickly and will only be used for additional plantings or plants that are seasonal in nature.

If you are looking for a glass greenhouse that is going to be longer lasting and more durable, then you should consider constructing the greenhouse from corrugated glass. All testing that has been done on this type of glass greenhouses show that they can last up to 25 years without deteriorating.

If you just don’t have the funds or the means to construct a regular glass greenhouse, it’s highly suggested you make it out of one of the transparent types of glass. They are very economical and you will still gain hands on experience at growing plants in a greenhouse even if they are glass and not glass.

If your eventual aim is expansion-that is, having a series of greenhouses-plan that series from the very start. Make your first house fit in-on paper-with those you will build later, so as to form a complete unit.

Many greenhouse operations start on a small scale but soon need to expand, so select an adequate site at the start.

What Type of Holistic Greenhouse?

There is a type of greenhouse to meet every preference, every gardening need, every budget. I have seen sun porches and chicken houses converted into greenhouses; greenhouses built as second-story units over garages; free-standing or detached greenhouses; step-into pit houses, and many kinds of attached-to-dwelling ones. There are heated, partially heated, and unheated greenhouses, each successfully designed to suit someone’s gardening-for-profit plan.

Greenhouse designs are numerous but types fall into these main divisions: span, lean-to, uneven or partial span, and the pit house, which may be any of these types but with a greater portion of the walls below ground level. If you have plenty of room-real acreage or a large lot-the free-standing span house may be best for you. This type, if properly placed, receives maximum sunlight throughout the day in every season.

A lean-to, as the name suggests, is erected against the side of another building. The partial span or uneven type has a greater distance from eaves to gable on one side of the house than on the other. In the north, the low winter sun comes directly through such a roof for maximum light. And in the summer, when the sun is high, this greenhouse draws light reflection from both sides.

The cost of pit-house construction is low. Many growers use pit houses only during early spring and into fall. They are left idle during the coldest months of the year to avoid a heating bill. Other growers operate a pit house economically by having it dug off the basement and served by the household heating system. This arrangement affords ample space for potting, household tools, and other necessary equipment. Although curved eaves make a handsome greenhouse, there are no special advantages in them.

One of the most critical factors you need to be aware of, with your commercial greenhouse, is the temperature is crucial to how successfully your plants will grow and thrive.

Unheated greenhouses, otherwise known as, cold houses are one type of greenhouse you can have. Another type is known as cool houses.

Cool houses are usually kept at 55-60 degrees during the night. Warm houses, which are heated, are usually kept at 60-70 degrees during the night. When planning on what types of plants you can grow in your greenhouse, it’s important to realize you should add 10 degrees to the night temperature to obtain the proper daytime temperatures. Any one of these types of greenhouses is suitable to grow many different kinds of plants inside.

If you live where outdoor night temperatures never dip below 32 degrees, you can run a cold (unheated) commercial greenhouse the year round. Otherwise, you might find it profitable to operate a cold greenhouse until late fall, close it down during the coldest winter months, then resume operations in early spring. In such a house, you can make money on annuals, spring-flowering bulbs, and bedding plants by forcing or starting them in late February or early March. The cold greenhouse is also an excellent place for growing lettuce.

In summer, use the unheated greenhouse for tomatoes, seedling perennials, or almost any plant that flowers in summer. In this type of greenhouse, winter-grown plants should be planted directly into the bench soil. Here they will withstand lower temperatures than if planted in pots. In the following lists are plants I have found profitable to grow under the various conditions specified.

If you don’t have the time or desire to take the courses in a classroom, you wouldn’t have to. If you don’t want to go to a classroom, you have two options available to you.

You can either take the courses over the internet, or you can take the classes through the mail.

When it comes to a quality education you don’t have to worry that just because you’re not in a classroom, you won’t be getting a fantastic education. Several well recognized and top
notch schools offer these types of courses through the mail or online.

If you do have the time and the desire to take these courses in a classroom, you have ample opportunity to do so. The majority of colleges and universities do offer these sorts of classes to people interested in taking them. By taking such types of courses you’ll be broadening your horizons and knowledge of plants.

These schools have prominent horticulturists on their staffs, and they stand ready to help with all of your “growing and selling” problems. One of the landscape schools is now adding to its curriculum a course in greenhouse growing and management.

My brother, a major in the United States Army, will retire at the age of forty-three. Looking ahead, he and his wife took a florist course. Upon retirement, they will build and stock a small greenhouse and open a florist shop.

When it comes to greenhouse design there are numerous options available to you. One of the most economical greenhouses you can have is called a pit greenhouse.

To keep the cost even lower, often, these types of greenhouses are heatless.

You can also choose a lean to greenhouse, an attached to the dwelling greenhouse, and lastly, a free standing greenhouse. The free standing greenhouse is the most aesthetic of all the different designs available. However, it’s important to remember that aesthetics isn’t really the point to the greenhouse.

When it comes to constructing your greenhouse, you have several options available to you. First of all, you could get the whole family together and make it a family building and bonding experience. If you’re not handy enough to build the whole thing, you could construct as much as you can with your family and let a professional take over from the point you get stuck.

For example, you could have someone pour the cement for the foundation and walkway, and then do the rest yourself. Or whatever combination you’d be comfortable with. If you’re not handy with construction at all, you can just hire a professional to construct it from the start. When it comes to cost of construction of your greenhouse there are numerous price ranges. For a simple design, you could get away with paying as little as $200. Conversely, a greenhouse with all the “bells and whistles” could cost you thousands or tens of thousands of dollars. The point is, the cost of constructing a greenhouse can fit almost anyone’s budget.

So you have decided to have a greenhouse in your backyard.

It is a hobby that can be productive especially in terms of your livelihood. It is a good way to earn a living by selling the produce of your greenhouse for a price. You will also contribute to the good of the environment. But before you start making your greenhouse, you have to consider the very purpose of it and that is, to store heat so the plants will be able to grow even during the night or the cold season. Thus, you will need a very effective greenhouse cover to do exactly that.

A greenhouse cover should be waterproof, durable and it should be able to protect your crops from the cold and the pests. It should be able to protect the environment where the plants grow. It should be able to withstand the strong winds and the heavy snow. When it is cold, the greenhouse cover should be able to keep the internal temperature so the plants live longer. So make sure that the greenhouse cover system that you are considering is right for your gardening needs. The size should fit and the materials used should complement the type of greenhouse that you have. By doing so, you will find it easier to manage a greenhouse because you already have an effective greenhouse cover.

We dug and poured the footings ourselves (a measure of economy), but we hired a cement contractor to lay the actual foundation and the greenhouse walk or aisle.

The foundation is made of cement blocks; it is 5 cement blocks high and 6 long. The walk is made of cement slabs. This work and the materials cost $285.00 and the job was finished in 1 day. Within 2 days the cement had set and we went on with the rest of the construction.

The actual details of fastening supports and cross-pieces, installing doors, ventilators, and so forth are not relevant here. In the first place, they would require endless pages of text and diagrams-and such data are easily obtained from any number of commercial greenhouse construction sources. Also, there is no one “best” way to build a home greenhouse-there are dozens! The construction as well as the type will depend on the requirements of your climate and what you desire (and can afford). Incidentally, construction guides are available from lumber firms as well as greenhouse builders. I will offer, how ever, certain points of information that are generally helpful, whether you build your own greenhouse or have it built by a construction firm.

For my greenhouse, I decided I would use redwood. I used redwood because it is extremely resilient and a hardy wood. Best of all, it will not rot. It’s a rot resistant wood. I used the redwood to build the frame. I believe this was one of the best possible choices I could have made, when it comes to the construction of this greenhouse. Greenhouses have what are known as “lights.” This term can be a tad confusing for the non-initiated. The “lights” I’m speaking of here, refer to the glass panes found on greenhouses.

I chose to use a substance called Trenglaze, to seal the glass panes. Why I chose Trenglaze, is because it is non-hardening putty. Another thing I was sure to do was use non rusting brass screws.

I also opted to have double strength greenhouse glass installed instead of the regular single strength greenhouse glass. For durability’s sake, you can’t go wrong with using double strength greenhouse glass. The benefits far outweigh any additional costs. The double strength greenhouse glass only costs about $.20 more per piece of glass.

A point for you to consider, in regard to the double strength greenhouse glass; I’ve had this greenhouse for 4 years, and during all that time, not a solitary pane of greenhouse glass has become cracked. If that’s not impressive, add to that, not one single pane has become broken in 4 years either.

The lights cut to fit by the manufacturer, measure 20 inches wide. On the roof the lower ones are 20 by 42 inches. These are larger than many greenhouse builders use, but they mean much less construction work, admit maximum light to the plants, and minimize drafts. A layer of pea rock covers the ground flanking the walks.

Finally, we painted the outside cement blocks pale green, the framework white, to blend with our green-and-white stucco home.

For Maximum Space

Getting started making money by growing house plants in greenhouses isn’t difficult, no matter what age you are, skill level you are, or type of budget you have. In fact; in Oklahoma, there is a young man, who is doing quite well.

He converted a 6′ x 9′ space into a plastic covered greenhouse. The total cost for constructing his greenhouse, $70.00. His monthly net income from growing house plants in his greenhouse, $70.00 per month.

Another example is a Maine woman. She has four big greenhouses that are producing her very healthy monthly income. Her beginnings are very humble. In fact, all she did was converted an old, unused, chicken coupe into a lean to greenhouse. Her total investment was $75.00.

At first, she was just using it as a profitable hobby. Then, as mentioned, her hobby began thriving as a business. The types of house plants she decided to specialize in consist of the following: gesneriads, (African violets, etc.) and such bedding plants as: Coleus, wax begonias, and geraniums.

Believe it or not, the labour costs and building supplies for a smaller greenhouse could actually wind up costing you more, per square foot than building a larger greenhouse.

Once again, remember, to keep the size of the greenhouse in regards to cost in perspective.

Today a prefabricated unit somewhat over 8 feet wide and 14 feet long, constructed of first-grade redwood, aluminum, and double-strength glass, costs a little less than $450.00, and this does not include the foundation.

An 8- by 10-foot lean-to, 11 feet high, costs about $300.00.

If you plan to assemble the material yourself, ask for prices on glass in box lots. Purchased this way, it costs much less, and you will have extra lights on hand in case of breakage. One of the large companies in my area sells glass in box lots for approximately 50 cents per light.

Glazing compound (putty) costs a few cents per pound.

By assembling your own materials, you can save 10 to 20 per cent of the cost of a prefabricated structure.

Upkeep and depreciation will depend on the original construction and the materials used. Greenhouses made of aluminum stand for years without seasonal replacement or repairs. Cypress and redwood, though the strongest types of wood for greenhouse use, still will show loosened screws and bolts as well as weather damage with the passage of time.

Before one shovel full of dirt is dug to break ground for your new greenhouse, there’s one thing you must do. You must consider the holistic nature of your new venture.

You don’t want to unwittingly violate natural energy or karma. Your area may have rules and regulations when it comes to where to place the greenhouse or even what materials can be used in the construction of your greenhouse.

Also, it’s important to note that some places, in residential areas, it is expressly forbidden to build anything of a commercial nature. This destroys karma and reduces the holistic dimension of your greenhouse. If you plan on using your greenhouse for profit, this could include your greenhouse. You need to make sure you research and understand all your local laws before you build your greenhouse. In fact, it’s even good advice to do some research and then hire a lawyer to be sure you aren’t violating any laws.

As with any building which is going to be constructed, you need to start with a set of building plans. After you have a solid building plan, all that’s left is to figure out the how’s and the who’s of the construction. You have several options available to you, when it comes to the actual construction of your greenhouse.

If you want the construction of your greenhouse to be completely hands free, you can make arrangements with a manufacturer of greenhouses. All the headaches of finding all the materials necessary for the construction of the greenhouse, the heating and cooling units, and the mason work, will be handled by the greenhouse manufacturer.

In fact, some of these manufacturers can even arrange a builder to construct the entire greenhouse for you. They can also arrange for a plumber to put in the water and heating units.

Or you can purchase the material you need (new or used), and have some local labor come in and build your greenhouse. Or you can do it yourself, perhaps with some help from your family.