Cold Weather Cozy Greenhouse

[Caretogiver]

So I've just recently got my card, I want to start growing in some kind of an outhouse setting...lol well really just a dinky portable shed and I need advice out some good insulation practices!????

[trichcycler]

good luck. I tried this, and even threw a ton of money at the project, with r34+foil/bubble/foil- walls/floor, sealed room, steel building, clear roof panels, and an inflatable ceiling made of greenhouse plastic=r6 over the room.  this r6 lost every bit of the heat gathered in the daylight, past freezing at night. I even had baseboard heaters with digi thermos on at 40f and the heating bills killed me. Then, the sun came and the ac bills killed me some more. The light was never sufficient in the winter, and light deprivation was challenging with a 72 plant garden. After a few months of winter, and a whole summer, I replaced all of the clear roof panels with steel, (only 12 feet of the 40 feet were over the room)=12x30. built a plywood ceiling and topped it with sprayed in insulation at r34. now, its cozy all year at the same temps and the heating and cooling bills are reasonable, about the same as my whole house all year. I hope your experience is much better, but I had a blast with the indoor greenhouse for sure, and don't regret it one bit ! I have an 11 foot ceiling and just moved the garden out of my house, in a dedicated room full of grow tents(yuck) so that was my first outdoor in a greenhouse marijuana grow, and I tended 6 foot trees, then got way smarter, quick.

[pic book]

good luck. I tried this, and even threw a ton of money at the project, with r34+foil/bubble/foil- walls/floor, sealed room, steel building, clear roof panels, and an inflatable ceiling made of greenhouse plastic=r6 over the room.  this r6 lost every bit of the heat gathered in the daylight, past freezing at night. I even had baseboard heaters with digi thermos on at 40f and the heating bills killed me. Then, the sun came and the ac bills killed me some more. The light was never sufficient in the winter, and light deprivation was challenging with a 72 plant garden. After a few months of winter, and a whole summer, I replaced all of the clear roof panels with steel, (only 12 feet of the 40 feet were over the room)=12x30. built a plywood ceiling and topped it with sprayed in insulation at r34. now, its cozy all year at the same temps and the heating and cooling bills are reasonable, about the same as my whole house all year. I hope your experience is much better, but I had a blast with the indoor greenhouse for sure, and don't regret it one bit ! I have an 11 foot ceiling and just moved the garden out of my house, in a dedicated room full of grow tents(yuck) so that was my first outdoor in a greenhouse marijuana grow, and I tended 6 foot trees, then got way smarter

and learned to pitch a tent only when it looked like rain,..

[welj31]

Walipini Greenhouse or pit greenhouse

 

Treehugger.com

[t-pain]

heres some plans for solar heaters you can build into your shack/barn.

 

http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/SpaceHeating/Space_Heating.htm

 

they even have plans for ice fishing shacks, so its possible to heat just about anything.

Edited February 8, 2014 by t-pain

[trichcycler]

no sun=no light=no heat= Michigan winters

[t-pain]

yeah there were some days in early january i swear we only got ~6 hours of sunlight. it was affecting me badly.

 

wasnt it getting dark at 4pm? anyone remember?

Edited February 9, 2014 by t-pain

[mibrains]

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/astronomy.html?n=77

 

shortest day of the year

 

Dec 21, 2013 7:58 AM 5:03 PM 9h 04m 44s − 02s 12:30 PM 24.3° 91.446

 

longest day of the year

 

Jun 21, 2013 5:56 AM 9:12 PM 15h 16m 54s < 1s 1:34 PM 71.1° 94.468

Edited February 9, 2014 by mibrains

[mibrains]

Next eclipse visible in Detroit – Apr 15, 2014 Total Lunar Eclipse

 

http://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/usa/detroit

 

Penumbral eclipse begins Apr 15 at 12:55 AM 171° 36.9°  

The Earth's penumbra start touching the Moon's face. Maximum Eclipse Apr 15 at 1:58 AM 190° 36.7°  

Moon is closest to the center of the shadow. Partial eclipse begins Apr 15 at 1:59 AM 190° 36.6°  

Partial moon eclipse starts - moon is getting red. Total Eclipse begins Apr 15 at 3:08 AM 209° 32.2°  

Total moon eclipse starts - completely red moon. Total Eclipse ends Apr 15 at 4:23 AM 227° 23.6°  

Total moon eclipse ends. Partial Eclipse ends Apr 15 at 5:32 AM 241° 13.5°  

Partial moon eclipse ends. Penumbral Eclipse ends Apr 15 at 6:36 AM 252° 3.0°  

The Earth's penumbra ends.

 

Moon close to horizon, so make sure you have free sight to West-southwest.

Edited February 9, 2014 by mibrains

[Guanotea1]

Immediately it sounds to me like you'd be better off in a grow tent. Or closet, if we are talking small scale and you said the shed was basically like an outhouse size.

 

However if you want to pursue this you need two things:

Shed must be constructed of 2x4 or 2x6 (or larger) lumber OR

Concrete Masonary Units (CMUs aka concrete block)

If you can have an electrician run electricity to the shed,

 

I think... Based on scale (this is a small shed) I wouldn't bother trying to get the sun in. If you REALLY want to pursue this path I can forward you a book on the subject of winter greenhouse gardening just pm me your email.

 

Basically if your going the shed route insulate the bejesus out of (Caulk all joints, fill up wood cavities with insulation). What you want to do is insulate as much as possible but how that is accomplished will depend on the construction of the shed. I'll assume it's wood 2x4s so then, from outside to in you've got wood, caulked joints, R13 standard roll insulation, EPS/XPS foam boards over that. If this is a temporary or personal grow I would probably just use the white foam boards over your roll insulation and secure them with fender washer and screws. That way you'll have your reflective surface (sorta) AND some additional insulation all in one. And don't forget the floor and the roof!! The floor may be difficult to deal with maybe impossible if its dirt right now and you don't want to excavate / pour concrete which you don't. However if the floor is wood or concrete you might be able to insulate that. The roof is the biggest heat loser which is why grassmatch had such trouble with his panels. Heat rises. That's why we use artificial lighting in these low light/heat winter situations because it solves two problems not enough light and not enough heat! I personally would never ever heat a grow area with electricity during a lights on period, I'll just add more lights!

 

While your at it you need to think about how water will get in and out (otherwise it WILL be a pita). When you water the plants in most systems there will be some run off so that is what I mean by water OUT.

 

Summary of building a grow shed:

 

1) Insulate

2) Electrify (20A 115V for grow room, manufacturer spec circuit for Mini Split)

3) Add desired artificial lighting

4) Temperature control, preferably through mini split ac / heat pump models. I'd go with the HighSeer cheapest model for heat / cool. That will definately! be enough to handle your cooling needs in the summer if you decide to continue in the shed (you might veg in the shed and flower outside!) and probably will be enough heat to handle your dark period to.

5) You will need is CO2 gear. You can't bring in outdoor air DIRECTLY into the shed this time of year (you can, but you are risking many issues) and since that little shed will be sealed up tighter than a drum your plants need to breathe something. 

 

You might not realize it now but you are looking at $2000 dollars min to outfit a shed for growing this time of year. That's if you are able to do all the construction work yourself including burying underground electrical lines. Do it wrong and you run a serious fire risk. Even that much money and all DIY and it won't be an amazing place to grow just an acceptable one. You can skimp out and through a window unit in at a later time for cooling and use electric baseboards for heat now. But that may or may not work and temperature extremes will kill your yield / quality. It's frustrating even for a good grower to work in a crummy environment, let alone a new one!!

 

Growing in the interior of a home / apartment in tents or in a prepared bedroom / basement, however, will cost much less to start. Eventually you may find yourself wanting fancy mini splits and CO2 equipment indoors too, but for now all you'd need is a single fan to regulate temperatures and humidity within a tent that is already placed in an insulated temperature controlled interior area (i.e. your house). That saves you on AC ($$$), CO2 equipment (necessary if your only source of air is from outside due to extremely low outside temps you can't bring it in w/o problems mold condensation etc). 

 

A good run in a 4x4 tent with 12 plants is going to take 100 days from start to finish minimum with soil not hydro and will yield 1-2 lb assuming you use a dimmable switchable HPS/MH ballast start with 400W mH Veg then 600W HPS flower (6K mH to 1K HPS is perfectly acceptable too). A half pound is still an acceptable result. If the total you end up spending for your 4x4 tent and equipment is over 600 bucks you overpaid or more than likely bought something you didn't need, 12 good clones will cost you 120-240. Expect many problems, don't listen to the hydro store guys. Inspect the grow area daily and keep clean. Check for light leaks again and again until your grow area is pitch black with lights on no matter what.

 

Everyone has 20 square feet of interior space unused, get creative and find the space.

 

Watch Jorge Cervantes Videos on Youtube, and if you decide you still want to grow indoors/greenhouse at all (LOL) then pick up his Easy Grow Book and/or MJ grow bible.

 

Good luck!

Edited February 11, 2014 by Guanotea1