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Thread: Snow proof green house - help needed.

  1. #1
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    Default Snow proof green house - help needed.

    Anyone have experience with a snow proof greenhouse that not made of poly plastic?
    Also has to be affordable on a limited budget with a family of 5 ..

    Simon


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    Administrator Rick's Avatar
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    What's the snow load? That will dictate what materials you can use.

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    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    I gonna guess that that would need to be supported glass.....if it's to used... seasonal?....year around?
    Free standing or lean-to style....
    Heat source?
    Crops?
    Cold tolerance?

    The TV program Alaska the last Frontier is using a Farm Tec High Tunnel....In Alaska...So must deal with snow loads.
    Looks like poly.



    https://www.rimolgreenhouses.com/gre...j5WBoCE5Lw_wcB

    Used a home made glass lean-to style on the side of my garage...for a while....just seasonal......

    Made for 3 double pane patio sliding doors.....was using black painted 5 ga buckets of water for thermal mass....use for plant hardening location.

    Worked pretty well...stayed warm enough most nights...but had an electric heater as back up for those cold nights. (NOT cost effective)

    You would think dealing with cold would be big problem.....That may be true in a year around operation?
    But for me being seasonal...... Over heating was more of a problem...one day of over heating burned down all the plants....need some sort of thermostatic controlled venting.

    So a year around operation need heat and cooling control and well as possible light supplement.....days light cycle are too short in winter for some crops.

    My latest was a folding free standing double walled poly. ..about 6 ft X 4 ft...that lasted 4 years....still have the folding frame.....but have replaced the cover.

    You really need look at cost per results......or just figure it's worth it just for the self sufficiency and fresh food angle.
    Last edited by hunter63; 02-08-2017 at 11:43 AM.
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    Why don't you want to use plastic. It is cheap, and easy to attach. You can buy (at least here in the states) roof panels that are clear plastic.
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  5. #5

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    The stuff called twinwall or polygal will take a snow load. But it is far from cheap. It is cheaper than having to repair and repoint glass greenhouse roofs though. I worked a greenhouse range that was all glass for a while, then we changed everything over to polygal. Not only saved on heat, saved on labor in the spring when there are better things to be doing than repointing glass. Plus a summer hail storm can just plain suck.
    Stuff like this:
    http://www.greenhousemegastore.com/c...plastic-sheets

    Of course, if you are in survival mode, glass over an industrial aluminum frame is more in keeping. Wooden framing will last a good long time too as long as you keep it painted and maintained. Just keep a stack of panes around to replace when you need to. Glass is always a salvagable item. Plastic, not so much.

    If you are living in a really cold area, look into doing an outer layer of plastic that you keep inflated using a fan from inside the green house (or outside if you have too high humidity in the greenhouse.) Keeps the the snow load off the support system, and doubles your insulation. There are rails that you can put on the outside of the greenhouse that you hammer a gasket into (at least they did 20 years ago,) to make the weather seal on the plastic.

    If you can't always be there during the day, definitely invest in some temperature controlled vent mechanisms. A shade cloth is a necessity too if you are using the greenhouse all summer. The range I worked at was so large, the foreman actually lived in a house on site and was practically responsible 24/7 for keeping things from overheating or freezing solid.

    The other thing is keep it clean. Every spring we'd bleach the benches and the floors and replace the soil in the cutting beds. Keep an eye out for insect infestations. White fly, thrips, and fungus gnats were our biggest problem. Botrytis rot fungus was up there too. There are organic and mechanical methods of control for the insects. The fungicides the spray guys used where I worked (Captan, et. al. back then) aren't probably something you want near your food. We grew ornamental shrubbery so wasn't an issue. Check around.
    Last edited by LowKey; 02-08-2017 at 09:37 PM.
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    Thanks for info folk,
    We had a poly tunnel set up for a couple of years but the problem up here in the low Alps is the continuous thaw, so it snows .. which is no problem, just go out and knock the snow off ( can be 50 or 60cm at a time easily, however the climate seems to be changing up here so we get unexpected thawing during the day & a drop into minus over night. The resulting ice layer under the snow was too much and so sudden that it collapsed the tunnel.

    I have been thinking of extending the pitch of the barn roof to the ground and using that with plastic sheeting.. looks corrugated iron sheets but its made of a poly plastic.
    The barn is southern facing so warmth shouldn't be a problem.

    Hunter, thanks for the video link, i'll take a look.
    Keep yu all posted what we do .

    Simon up the Alp

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    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    Still curious...seasonal or all winter....?
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  8. #8

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    If you can get the Acrylite Acrylic products over there, check out their corrugated product, sometimes called DeGlas, it'll last longer than polycarb. Polycarb yellows in the sun after a couple years.
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    Quote Originally Posted by hunter63 View Post
    Still curious...seasonal or all winter....?
    You mean the snow fall?
    Snow fall up here is generally from November to March ...
    But we need a green house that can handle the whole year of course ..

    Simon

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    I use a woven poly that's laminated on both sides. Northern Greenhouses is the only place I've found it. It's really strong and with extra perlins can handle just about anything.

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    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SwissBrit View Post
    You mean the snow fall?
    Snow fall up here is generally from November to March ...
    But we need a green house that can handle the whole year of course ..

    Simon
    Gotcha...I get the snow only in the winter...
    It's just that most people grow crops indoors in the winter and move out side for the summer.
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