harveyc

I'm almost done with my new greenhouse. It's getting crowded in my heated shop right now with about 25 potted bananas, especially with two Ae Ae that are touching the 8 foot ceiling. I accidentally forgot to order enough film for the far end but hope to have it all completed by the end of the week. It will have vents put in as soon as the openers I bought arrive, but I don't expect it to get too hot for a while and am in no rush.

My wife said it looked like a castle as I was framing it. I think that's appropriate given the fact it will house my Ae Ae of royal heritage!

I hope to have a larger greenhouse some day. It's 16' wide (as viewed in this photo), 12' deep, walls are 12' high, and the peak is 16'. The doorway is 6' tall by 3' wide, to give things some perspective. I thought about making the door bigger but will try that for now. Any of the kits I saw didn't get this tall except for the much larger commercial greenhouses.



Update 12/3/2014

The film on my greenhouse roof has finally torn some. Not bad considering it's almost 7 years and the film was rated for 4. In October 2008 we had one very stormy dad with wind gusts of 65 MPH for several hours and there was never any problems.

I've given up on growing Ae Ae, unfortunately. When planted outdoors in the late spring, the plants still never did very well and even our summer nights dropping down into the upper 60s frequently seemed to be a problem. Just not worth the effort in the long run, but it was fun at the time.

I'll be building a larger (but shorter) structure using similar materials very soon. I dream of someday getting something like a 30' x 96' greenhouse or larger.

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Richard

Looks great!

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harveyc

Thanks, Richard. I just hope it doesn't become a spaceship and take off. Any building contractors or engineers here? I have each corner 4x4 bolted to anchors that are in concrete footings that are about 8" in diameter and 15" deep. We had wind gusts of about 20-25mph late yesterday and it held up fine. Still, I'm starting to have second thoughts and wonder if I should have had more of a foundation. I wanted to keep it simple and the plans were mostly in my head!

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Richard

I believe it is well-anchored. To keep it from folding, the diagonals you have so far are good but consider installing a main diagonal on each of the 3 walls without the door. They should run in the opposite direction of each other on the 2 parallel walls.

Basic rule of statics in the wind: too rigid and the wind will tear it apart, not rigid enough and the wind will collapse it.

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harveyc

Thanks, Richard. I didn't want to block light too much thus put the braces up high and relatively short. I was thinking I might put in additional braces as you were suggesting but out of cable with turnbuckles. This would look better, I think, and also not block much light.

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Richard

Out of materials, oops ... time to look for more change in the sofa. Cables would work, but then you need a pair on each wall, forming an X.

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harveyc

It's not a matter of being out of materials or of sofa change but I don't like the looks of lumber braces coming across and down the entire wall. Cables wouldn't be very noticable from the outside. The structure seemed pretty rigid yesterday when we wind gusts of 24mph yesterday so I might be okay as it is. Still, I think I might go the cable route just to be more sure.

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Richard

I see from the weather underground you have wind gusts exceeding 40 mph. Keep in mind that the force is proportional to wind velocity squared.

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harveyc

Yeah, I'm aware of that. We had 47mph last month. I did use screws also figuring they would not work loose as easily. My camping trailer is usually near it to help block he wind though. If my camping trailer blows over, I give up!!!

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Richard

So I have read that Ae Ae likes partial shade. What's your experience so far?

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harveyc

I've only grown it indoors so far except my 2' one that spent warm days last summer in difused light. I plan on planting at least two of my three Ae Ae outside this spring but will have them under shadecloth. I've had one directly under a 1000 MH light with no ill effects. I plan on putting shade cloth in a portion of my greenhouse. I bought some handy clips that should make it easy to adjust.

Jordon suggests growing them in full sunlight even in Florida with intense sunlight. Even though the white portions get fried the plants tend to be stronger. 2008 will be a year of learning for me!

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momoese

I think with enough shade cloth and some added humidity you should do well! What about air circulation?

harveyc

Regarding air circulation, as I wrote above, the vents are going in as soon as I get the cylinders. I am also going to put an old ceiling fan inside. I don't expect too many things to be inside during the summer, though.

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MediaHound

Jordon, Jeffrey, Terry, and I all grow or grew (Terry) Ae Ae in full sun.
There's a few others growing them down here but I have not seen them personally.
They do great in full sun and don't burn as bad as I would have thought before I had seen so many.
Congrats on the new greenhouse, Harvey. I am sure you will put it to good use! How many Ae Ae did you obtain this past year? I know you have quite a few... they should do great in there.
Regards

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bencelest

Harvey:
Your greenhouse started to look great. As Joe and I said when we met at your garden, wish we have as much area as you have.
Congrats! BTW On the picture, is that the poly carbonate you have ordered? Is that sturdy enough to withstand the wind?

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harveyc

Thanks, Jarred. I had a very small pup that was really too small and it rotted and died. I have one pup that is about 24" that I've had for about 5 months, I'd guess, and it has put out 3 new leaves during that time. Not great, but I'm happy. In December I bought two large pups with psuedostems of 4-5 feet (total height of 8-9 feet). They are in tiny 5 gallon pots but will be repotted as soon as I move them into the greenhouse.

I have around 25 cultivars of bananas right now and most (but not all) are in 5 gallon pots and will go in the greenhouse until around April when I'll plant them outside to create my little jungle. Except for a few that I know I want to keep long term, most of those will be left outside and tested to see if they were survive the winter as large plants. I'll take pups off of some of the others and pot up those pups and bring them into the greenhouse late next fall. I hope that the bananas will not occupy more than half of my greenhouse next winter with most of that reserved for Ae Ae. I tentatively plan to bring all of my Ae Ae back inside next fall, though that could change if I end up getting several pups.

I will also grow a papaya (or two) in the greenhouse, a some tomatoes, basil, sugarloaf pineapples, etc. in the greenhouse. I will probably put in some shelves in the northwest corner of the greenhouse and create a multi-level environment for some of the things that don't need all of that height. I will also use that area to start seeds for various vegetables for spring planting. At least that's my plans for now. My plans will probably change over time.

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harveyc

Thanks, Benny. If you take care of all of my weeds you're welcome to come over and plant some things for yourself. Lots of land carries a price too!

I had e-mailed you yeserday or the day before with a link to the film I used but maybe you didn't get that. I used this film: Klerk's K50 6 MIL 4 Year Greenhouse Film. I wanted to use Klerk's K50 Infared/Anti-Condensate Greenhouse Film - 20'W x 110'L but they would only sell a full roll and that was about twice what I needed.

I had thought of using Super Poly which has been discussed here before but I didn't feel real confident with that guy. He said it would be "about 2-3 weeks" before he could ship it and had some ideas that seemed odd to me. Growers' Supply gave great service. I ordered last Sunday and it shipped on Monday and arrived on Friday. Shipping charges were reasonable, I thought. I don't remember the cost on the original order right now but for the film I needed to finish the one end it was about $13. For a long package I thought that was pretty good.

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harveyc

One more thing. I used Douglas Fir wood in the construction and will probably paint it white when I need to replace the film (maybe in summer of 2011). In the meantime, I used a deck sealer product that could be used on damp wood. If I see mold becoming a problem I'll consider replacing the film before then.

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Richard

Douglas Fir is an excellent choice. Screws were also a great choice, not only for longevity but doug fir is notoriously hard to penetrate with ordinary nails. Thanks for mentioning the Klerk's film.

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D_&_T

to help make your frame rigid they make stamped metal brackets that can be screwed on and painted, so they would only be on frame and not block any light!
Is there a floor and is those normal high winds?

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