I would like to know your opinion about this ceramic heater for my outdoor greenhouse with 1,40m x 1,40m x 2,0m?

I used in the past an termoventilator but this ceramic one as a termostat that would work way better for me.

Thank you in advance!

https://cognoscitiva.pt/produto/aquecedor-de-ar-ceramico/?fbclid=IwAR167IVWrS3h4Lqrqk8eIsb7qXuTikKyYU16TDK7BbwwHERGwF0dDbF5stE

Polycarbonate does not allow UV light to the plants but glass allow only UVA.

What is the best for our plants.

Thank you.

Where can I buy distilled water ?

Is it just bottled water? 

Also could I collect water from my shed ? Or is it best to stay clear as the roof is covered with shed felt, wood it harm the plants?

Hello  ... I found these two peats, has anyone tried them? they are valid?
Thank you

Eco Flor o Torba Silver 20-40

So my nepenthes collection has grown to the point that it isn't feasible to keep them under grow lights in my living room. Plus I want to try and expand into some hydroponic vegetables and herbs, and do some year round growing, so I'm planning on building a greenhouse on my property. I'm looking to build a passive solar greenhouse, and provide as little supplemental heat or cooling as I can (although fans are an absolute must). I'm targeting the ability to grow intermediate to "lower highland" type nepenthes, which would give me a good range of temps to accommodate most other types of vegetables I'd want to grow with it. I'm shooting for day temps no higher than 85F/30C and no lower than 70F/21C, and night temps no higher than 70F/21C and no lower than 60F/15C. I'm expecting my target high (day and night) to be for the summer, and my target low (day and night) to be for winter. I'm Zone 7b, so we get some hot summer days (mid 90'sF/34C is not uncommon), but our winters are usually mild (typically the lowest it gets is the mid 40'sF/5C for extended periods of time). We occasionally get snow, maybe a few mm at a time, maybe 2 or 3 times a year. And usually it's gone the same day. Humidity in the summer is usually an issue though.

I've been inspired mostly by this guy Sweet Gum and Pines and this guy Merck's Greenhouse. Both live in comparable environments to me. The first has been operating growing nepenthes about an hour away from me for a decade. He definitely uses more electricity, by using an evaporative cooler and a propane heater. The second is able to do things much more passively, by using water barrels as heat batteries. That would be a much more preferred option. I'm then partially stealing a design from here.

Electricity and water will be run to the space, which isn't an issue.

So here are my plans and thoughts:

1. The footprint will be 16 feet long, and 10 feet wide.

2. The "foundation" of the walls will likely consist of either cinder blocks, or landscaping timbers, and the structure will be secured using ground anchors. A 4x4 pressure treated post will be driven into the ground and concreted on either end, extending 12 feet high. A third will be in the middle. A 4x4, 16 foot beam will act as the ridge resting on the 3 posts.

3. The center posts will be off center. The longer side (8 feet) will be facing south. The shorter side (2 feet) will be facing north. The shorter side will have a 10 foot wall, made of 2x4's, insulated with rockwool, with sheathing on the outside (painted). The longer side will have a 45 degree roof slope, covered in Triple Wall Polycarbonate. The walls on the long side will be ~3.5 feet high, and also covered in polycarb. The shorter side will have a roof that's either shingled, or with tin roofing material. 

4. The roof trusses will consist of 2x6x12' pressure treated posts, 2 feet on center.

5. For air movement (and cooling), a 2'x2' air intake shutter will be on either side closer to the ground, set to open at 75 degrees. On the long wall, another passive shutter will also open at 75 degrees. Hopefully that will create a chimney effect (like in Merck's Greenhouse). A separate 20" 3400CFM Exhaust Fan will be positioned above the door, set to turn on at 80 degrees. If I need to, I'll insert another air intake on the door on the opposite side of the greenhouse. 

6. I highly suspect I'll need to get some Aluminet Shade Cloth to cut down on the light and heat in the middle of the summer. But I don't know how much until I get it up and running.

My plan is then to install a heat battery. I've seen plenty of designs that use 55 gallon water barrels, and the math indicates I should need 700-900 gallons. They'll be stacked in the right hand side of the greenhouse, in the 2' section to the right of the door. I may try to just put a 4 foot high, 2 foot wide, and 16 foot long "pond" in there with some aquatic plants and some koi instead, which should provide 950 gallons of water. 

But I'm not sure if I should put in a subterranian geothermal battery system, like this guy did. I've seen plenty of people do this in northern climates to me (Idaho, Canada), but not many that have done it in warmer climates like mine. If I do put it in, I'd have to dig in all the pipes before I put the walls up, so a decision needs to be made on that. If I did it, I'd try to dig down about 3 feet or so to install the tubes, then fill with dirt and some gravel.

Whether I use the geothermal battery, or the water battery, or both, hopefully I can hit my target temps. If not, I can always get an evaporative cooler to help drop temps and install it on the west wall, or an electric heater, or take the hit and install a split level HVAC unit. That I can figure out after I build it and observe the temps. But the subterranian construction I can't . . . 

If I need to, I'll add some supplemental LED lighting, but I have no plans on it currently.

So for those that have built and maintained greenhouses for year round CP growing, what are your thoughts? Should I do the subterranian battery system, or skip it? Anything I missed?

washed the greenhouse inside and out

Is there any soap product that anyone uses

The house I'm thinking of buying has a south facing garden. However, the greenhouse would have to go on the east side of the garden by the fence. This would mean that it gets shaded by the fence in the morning. Then at midday, it should get full sun for the majority of the rest of the afternoon.

Is this enough light to grow nice plants in a greenhouse?

Thanks.

I'm hoping to setup a fully-automated terrarium for my carnivorous plants using TerrariumPi. This uses a Raspberry Pi along with humidity/temperature sensors, and can switch on/off heaters/misters etc.

I'd be growing sphagnum moss, along with some Droseras, Dionae and maybe some others.

I was hoping to get some advice on equipment.

• Tank - I was just going to buy something like the Exoterra Terrarium.
• Lights - I was thinking the MARS Hydro 300W lamps
• Ventilation - I don't want stagnant air, however, not sure what to get. Any advice?
• Heating - ZooMed Under-Tank Heater

What do you think?

Thanks,

Victor

ok so not strictly " growing under glass" but they are under perspex some of the time!. 

Last season was dismal for my vft's, a mix of poor soil choice (Westlands), constant battering by heavy downpours and only a few hours sunlight as they fell in the shade early afternoon ( small garden and an unsympathetic wife!).

This was the best I could get away with, a mobile bench that I can wheel back into the sun for an extra 4/5 hrs,  replanted in better medium using deeper pots and a pull down perspex cover for bad weather.  I know black wasn't the best choice colourwise but it looked odd against the current furniture...  

plants are currently sitting in trays but I'm wasting valuable space so gonna get a liner instead. 

He's just bought himself a usb ultrasonic fogger and usb fan. The fogger continuously produces a fair amount of, well, fog!  The fan moves it round the greenhouse in a leisurely way.

Would this be a good idea for the CPs in my greenhouse, and does anyone do this?

Thanks.

Guy

I'm looking into getting a greenhouse and have found that polycarbonate is a great deal cheaper than glass.

My only concerns are what effect it has on sarracenia, and does it fade to a less clear state,causing it to allow less light. 

Would I be better off going traditional and having glass?

Mark.

what do i need? I want to use a 10 square meter 6mm polycarbonate greenhouse. Maybe packet inside witch bobbelwap(what about light level?)

The needs ?:

A hydrofrogger.

A heater set on 13c?

But What about Cooling ? 

Enyone have a similar setup in same climate ? Please tell me about it :)

So........... how fresh does the rainwater need to be? is there a maximum period after which I shouldn't use the stored rainwater? Or am I just worrying for nothing?

Thanks. 

After a little advise. The relative humidity in my greenhouse is constantly dropping below 30% given the current hot weather. All my Sarrs are stood in 1-2 inches of water. I find myself damping down the greenhouse floor to help bring this up a little.

I was looking at a misting system to help automate this process on the hotter days!
 

My question is, would you set it up to spray the Canopy’s of the plants ( with rain water) or set it to just wet the floor and therefore fed by normal tap water?

Regards

Neil

So I bought a Robinsons Regal greenhouse (12'7" x 20'10"). here are the photos of the construction, starting with the base ...

Where can I buy aluminium shade netting from in the UK? Just cannot find it anywhere... 

If you considered one and decided against it, what was your reasoning?

It is built with 18mm varnished plyboard, with 50mm foil backed insulation on external surfaces and under the base. Internal grow space dimensions are 54 x 140cm. Total height is 60cm to fit under greenhouse benching.

Inside is lined with Hydrogarden Orca grow film, which is highly reflective but gives a white diffuse light and is a useful tough cloth like material to work with 

In the base is a thermostatically controlled Bio Green Sahara heat mat. 

Lighting is a MarsHydro SP 250 mounted into the lid of the propagator about 15 inches from the foliage. Out of the box, it provided 45000 lux @230watts, but the its wattage can be adjusted down which I have done to about 19000lux @90watts directly under the lights, to about 10,000 lux in the far corner of the propagator. It’s a white spectrum light but claims to have a good PAR rating. As its size and shape fits the unit well, the light is reasonably even within the grow space – much better than my other propagator with a smaller light where the difference between lux in the centre and corners of the unit are 5x compared with this at 2x

Do I move it to an area where it 

1. Get morning sun then in dappled shade from a large apple tree then gets the sun late afternoon-about 6pm.

OR

2. Gets morning sun then dappled shade the in the sun midday then just catching a very little sun as the sun goes down. As its next to a large shed. 

What would be the best option??????

Greenhouse is 8ft by 6ft. Temperatures are hitting upwards of 28C.  It has two roof vents (Auto open), one side window oppersite end of the door, which I also open. So confident there's enough air circulation!

I've tried a 24 and 45 watt fan to push the air around a little.  Spraying the floor, but struggle to bring the temp down at all! A few pitchers look as if they're getting heat stroke! 

Time for a little shade cloth in the afternoon? Or are these temps ok for the sarrs?

Trying to think how I might control the temps moving into Summer months. If anyone could help ..

Regards

Neil