50 Dollar Greenhouse
- Want to find out if this thing works before you read all this? Read 6 months in the Greenhouse.
- There is another article on Building the Greenhouse Doors.
My $50 Greenhouse
Welcome Stumbleupon Gardeners! How about a Thumb up if you like this article?
Hind Sight – What I would do differently
The planning is over and construction on my hoop house greenhouse has begun. I’ve rounded up all of the materials and it looks like I’m going to end up with about $50 in a 165 square ft. green house. Granted I already had most of the materials because I’m an incorrigible pack rat, but even if I had bought everything new just for this polytunnel It would still only come to about $120 $150 – less than a dollar per square ft. Due to the fact that we are in the midst of a global economic meltdown, and the future is a bit uncertain keeping the cost of this project as low as possible is an important consideration.
After some research I’ve decided to build the structure of the hoop house out of 20 ft. joints of three quarter inch PVC plumbing pipe. Some similar greenhouse designs that I’ve run across use 10 ft joints of pipe and then fasten everything together with pipe fittings, but I’m saving quite a bit of cash with the long joints of pipe and by not using any fittings – also overall simplicity is improved. There is one thing though, you can carry 10 ft joints of pipe in the mini van, but hauling 20′ pipe requires a truck and preferably a ladder rack. However, you could just cut them in half right at the home improvement store and then put them back together when you get home with the coupling that is built into one end of the 20′ long pipe joints – 10′ pipe joints don’t have the built in couplers – just go to the home improvement store prepared with a saw or pipe cutter.
My hoop house green house is going to be 11 feet wide and 15 feet long, and will be about seven and a half feet tall in the center. You could make one of these as long or as short as you want, but using this design the width needs to be between 10-12 feet. 11 feet wide just happpened to work out with the layout of my garden which has 3 foot wide beds with 5 ft paths between (the wide paths are so that I can keep it tidy with my riding lawn mower) so eleven feet covers two beds and the path between them. This width also makes the sides go fairly straight up from the ground for the first few feet – I’ve noticed that in some hoop house / polytunnel designs the outer edges are almost unusable because of the slope of the greenhouse sides.
How to Build the $50 Hoop House
I decided to begin the construction by building the end walls first – even though it would be more fun to throw up the main structure in just an hour or so and make a big showing of progress, I think that in the long run it will be quicker and easier to build the end frames first on my garage floor.
I temporarily attached a joint of pipe to a piece of 1x4 to establish the outline.
Pre-drill the pipe and use one screw so that the pipe can swivel to whatever angle it naturally aligns to. For now just let the wood "run wild"
I used pressure treated lumber for much of the polytunnel end frames even though I usually try to avoid treated wood in the garden. In this case I think it’s called for or else the greenhouse probably wouldn’t last more than 2-3 years without rebuilding the frame. In any event I’ll try to keep it off of the soil as much as possible.
Build the rest of the frame to accommodate the door size that you want to use. My door will be 5 feet wide, but in most cases 3' wide would be adequate.
Leave the piece that runs across the bottom of the door in place for now. Once everything is set in place it will be easy to cut out with a hand saw.
I used a bit of weather resistand glue at all of the joints to help make it all more rigid. Notice the wood recycled from concrete form lumber.
Mark the final outline once the wooden parts are assembled. Watch out for that screw when you saw to the line!
Now just trim to the line - I used a reciprocating/sabre saw, but you could also use a hand saw or circular saw if it's all you have. Just make a straight cut in about the right place.
Now re-attach the pipe to the outside of the frame. I used screws and wire ties because I'm a belt *and* suspenders kind of guy.
The end wall frames ended up being reasonably light and very rigid. BTW, you might notice that the second one is different (simpler) from the first because this is a learn-as-I go process. Both of them work fine though.
back side of the green house end frame
and the front side...
This is the front side because it is all on one plane so that the plastic skin will lay flat on it. The back side has reinforcement gussets that stick out.
And Now for the Plastic
The plastic sheeting that I’m using is plain old non-UV stabilized 6 mil “clear” plastic sheeting from the lumber yard. There is exactly one reason that I am using this particular variety instead of special polytunnel / greenhouse plastic – it’s what I have. I cut a 22′ piece off of a 100′ x 20′ roll that I already had (I’m a contractor) which was about $90 for the roll – so in essence I used about $22 worth of plastic sheeting after you apply the 10% TN sales tax. Had I ordered real green house plastic from littlegreenhouse.com a similar sized piece of 6 mil plastic would have been about $71 with shipping. The real deal would no doubt last much longer than the “visqueen” that I’m using, and also probably has better thermal and light transmittance. If all goes well maybe I’ll get some of that next year. Also, It’s hard to buy large pieces of heavy duty plastic like this without buying a whole roll, so unless you know a contractor or Mom and Pop hardware store that will cut you a piece you might really be better off ordering some of the good stuff. On the other hand a big roll of plastic sheet is one of those things that comes in awfully handy some times.
I just rolled the plastic out on the frame... Notice the falling leaves - I'm racing against fall weather with this project.
and cut it off nice and clean with a sharp utility knife. A scrap of wood to cut over and a sharp knife make this much easier.
after stapling the plastic to the front, flip the frame over and fold over the plastic and staple it to the back. Just fold the excess together as you go. Fold in the direction that will be down so that condensation won't collect under the folds.
then trim off the excess. Be careful not to make a miss-cut!
Cut the plastic out of the door opening - leave enough to fold double before stapling it to the frame. Notice the cuts back to the corners of at the top.
Thusly
Mark out the locations of the door sides on the ground, and drive fence posts or long pieces of rebar at the sides of the door frame.
If you have much wind I would recommend using steel fence posts or rebar that is at least 5/8″ diameter in these spots. My fence posts don’t match because they’re left overs from previous projects – remember, I’m on a tight budget!
Check the fence posts for plumb and bend them a little if they need straightening.
Tie the hoop house end frames to the fence posts with wire ties, wire or rope.
The humongous wire ties made this really quick easy and strong, but If I didn’t already have them I would just use “baling” wire, and it would work as well.
Once the end frames are in place pull a string to line up the stakes for the ribs.
Drive rebar pins every 3 feet to secure the intermediate ribs...
At this point it takes about 2 minutes to install the pvc pipes for the intermediate ribs - and the polytunnel takes shape.
As you can see it’s getting dark, and I’ll have to finish this later. Total time invested so far is about 2 1/2 hours. I believe that taking the greenhouse down next summer, and re-assembling it in the fall will probably only take an hour or so, but I guess I’ll see about that.
Since the site location where I’m building my greenhouse isn’t all that level I had to raise up one side of the end frames with some 2×6s that I ripped to fit – later I cut the tail off where it sticks out toward the fence. Also notice that this means that the PVC pipes that are the intermediate ribs are too low where they hit the ground…
So I extended them with some scraps of PVC conduit that I had – I never throw anything away. BTW, the gray PVC conduit is sunlight resistant unlike the white – although somewhat more expensive and is less expensive! If you want to do a really good job you could use it instead. You should probably use the gray conduit instead of the white pipe that I used. You could even opt for schedule 80 conduit which is much thicker if you wanted to go whole hog, or if you needed to make a structure that is sturdier, more permanent or wider.
I strung it all together with 1×2s that I ripped out of some slightly used 2×4 studs…
I used a few wire ties to get everything located, and then drove a 1 1/4″ drywall screw at each joint to secure it. As you can see by the lay out marks, I first measured and marked all of the locations so that it would go together reasonably straight.
If you look really close in this picture you will see the wires that serve as X bracing on the sides.
I used a doubled wire that I attached at the top and bottom of the ends using a washer and a screw.
I then used some scraps of wood to twist the double wires together and tighten them up like a rubber band airplane. You just want them to be snug so don’t go nuts tightening them up. These wires really go a long way to make the whole structure more rigid and sturdy.
Now for the plastic covering – measure and cut your piece of plastic – you want a little extra in all directions – the piece that I used is 20′ x 22′.
My greenhouse is 15′ feet long so I cut a 2×2 x 15′ – Here I’m positioning it in the center of one of the 20′ edges of the plastic – leaving 2 1/2 of plastic past the ends of the 2×2. Staple it together just to hold it in position.
Now roll the 2×2 under one complete turn so that the edge you stapled is facing up under the top layer of plastic sheet.
Now screw a 1×2 on to secure the plastic. By wrapping the plastic around the 2×2, and then sandwiching 2 layers between the 2 pieces of wood you make a very secure connection, and also add some weight to the bottom edges to help keep them from billowing up in the wind. Do the same thing to the opposite edge, and then roll it all up and get someone to help you carry it to the hoop house and unroll it across the top…
Thusly. Now you almost have a greenhouse.
Roll under the edges on the ends and staple them securely, and other than the doors the structure of your polytunnel greenhouse is finished. Total time at this point – about 6 hours. Everything is a bigger job than it seems like it’s going to be. Rake soil or mulch up to the gaps at the bottom to keep out drafts and (larger) critters. Cats in particular are likely to be attracted to such a nice sheltered spot with a bed full of soft loose dirt to dig in so pay attention to the details. Rocks, bricks or concrete stepping stones or blocks placed on top of the soil/mulch around the outside edges are probably a good idea.
Before I even started on the hoop house I tilled copious amounts of compost into the beds where the greenhouse was going to end up. So, even though I probably won’t get a chance to put up the doors until next weekend (which is Halloween), I’m all ready to plant some lettuce and spinach for (hopefully) some fresh mid winter greens. One of my goals in building this polytunnel is to have something fresh coming out of the garden or greenhouse all year long. That might be a little optimistic, but I’m going to give it a shot.
Addendum:
Complete Materials list for the “$50 Greenhouse” – As Built
Each Qty Total
$4. 23 6 $25.38 20′ x 3/4″ PVC schedule 40 plumbing pipe
$6.70 6 $40.20 1×6x8′ pt – ripped into 1×3s
$4.99 4 $19.96 8′ steel “T” fence post
$2.18 3 $6.54 2×4 stud – rip into 1×2s
$3.97 2 $7.94 1×4x12′ pt
$5.73 1 $5.73 2×4x16′ rip into 2×2s
$7.91 1 $7.91 20′x1/2″ rebar – cut into 18′ lengths
$4.88 .75 $3.66 8″ nylon wire ties – 100
$5.47 .5 $2.74 1 1/4″ x 1lb drywall screws
$6.97 .3 $2.09 16 guage galvanized utility wire – 200′ – for X braces
$2.97 .25 $0.74 3/8″ t-50 staples – 1000
$79.00 .22 $17.38 20′ x 100′ x 6 mil clear plastic
Scraps of plywood for reinforcements – scrounged
$140.27 Total
OK, that’s a bit more than I estimated because I didn’t count all of the minor bits that I just take for granted because I buy them in bulk and keep them on hand. These prices are what you would pay if you just bought the quantities that you need for this project. Drywall screws for example are only about a third as much when you buy a 25 lb box like I do being a contractor. However, you can shave most of the 20 dollar overage by using 5/8 rebar instead of fence posts, and gray UV resistant PVC conduit which is actually less expensive than the non resistant white plumbing pipe that I used – you can also do without wire ties, and use scraps of wire instead, etc. I already had everything on hand except for the PVC pipe and a couple of pieces of 1×6 lumber. However, surely almost anyone can get some of this stuff for cheap or free if they put some time and effort into it – so shop around and use your imagination to find what will work best for you.
Admittedly it might be hard for most people to build this for just $50 out of pocket, but then again a serious scrounger can probably do it for even less.
Hind Sight – What I would do Differently
- Use UV resistant gray PVC Conduit instead of white plumbing pipe – it should last longer and is actually less expensive
- Use UV resistant greenhouse plastic instead of “visqueen” construction plastic – It’s a good bit more expensive, but I’m so pleased with how the polytunnel turned out so far that I’m pretty sure the investment in durability would be worth while. However, if the extra expense meant putting off the project I would go ahead and use the cheap plastic because 1) The plastic will have to be replaced sooner or later anyway and the difference in cost seems proportional to the difference in life span 2) It wouldn’t be worth putting off having a perfectly usable greenhouse.
- I should have painted the PVC pipes with latex paint before applying the plastic sheeting – apparently this makes the poly sheet last longer, and maybe makes the frame pipes more resistant to UV.
- Site Selection – As you can see in the pictures my garden is in a clearing in the woods and the truth is it doesn’t get as much sun as I would like for it to – however I can still grow a nice garden – it just doesn’t yield as much as it might. I can’t really do very much about this, but you should keep in mind that you want as much sun as possible as well as a sheltered well drained spot that is as close to the kitchen as possible so that it isn’t too much trouble to trot out and get a bowl of fresh lettuce for supper. All that being said – do the best you can with the spot you have, and you might be surprised with the results you can get with a little effort.
BTW, Stumblers – Thanks for all the thumbs up. Feel free to hotlink the images or scrape the text as long as you leave the links intact!
Other homebuilt greenhouses:
- Another PVC greenhouse – quite similar to mine but with a few differences that are very worth looking at.
- A great wood framed greenhouse design – great construction details.
- Another $50 greenhouse – Seriously.
- A PVC 1/2 hoop house built onto the side of a home for $58 – should be very efficient.
The Greenhouse doors are built now and my small hoop house is complete.
Update – Dec. 10, 2008 – we had 2″ of rain and 30 mile per hour winds last night and so far so good – no damage to the greenhouse.
Does it really work? Does the wind blow it away? Is it even worth the effort? Read 6 months in the Greenhouse.
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Use if insect nets instead plastic is preferable in warm season.
For vegetables (tomatoes, cucumbers, herbs) use Meteor Patented BioNet.
For fruits use Multi-Protect net.
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I’m excited to give this a try, especially after I read the 6 months follow-up post too. We live in NW PA. I’ll let you know how it goes!
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I have a similar hoop house 28′ long, that, after much trial and error was erected about 7 years ago. It has withstood quite a bit of wind just fine, due to, I believe, its flexibility and general shape. It moves around with wind but has never blown out or flown away. It also sheds snow quite nicely. Gib
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This is good. This is really, really good.
I used to run a small greenhouse operation (13000 sq.ft. under “glass”) in south Georgia many years ago. We used a mix of commercially purchased bow-type greenhouses and home-built wooden frame ones in the 30×100 ft range. It really teaches you what you do and don’t need in a greenhouse.
A lot of people could benefit from a small greenhouse to start plants in or to carry them over the winter. I had been thinking of doing a posting on my blog of a simple design, but you’ve done such a great job that I may just link to yours instead.
Thanks, that really means a lot from someone with actual experience.
Great post…just read it on Lifehacker, this is exactly what I was looking for, I too would like to build a similar greenhouse. My biggest concern is being able to take it down easily (I live in Miami, Fl) and hurricane season lasts for about 5 months, so I need to make sure that my greenhouse can be torn down quickly.
Thanks for the detailed guidelines and for sharing your experience.
Actually, you can take the plastic off of the tunnel part and the doors off of the ends pretty easily. That’s how mine looks right now – just the ends and the ribs. At that point there isn’t much to catch in the wind. In October I’ll Set it back up for the fall and winter.
That would be wishful thinking for me…winds hit over the 30MPH you referenced above…more like 70MPH+ at which time I think that the greenhouse would be 2 blocks away from my home in someones pool and not to mention the debris that would hit those fragile plastic tubes…thanks for the feedback though…I can opt for your suggestion for the less threatening storms.
Recently I have been helping a horticulturist friend deliver plants to various garden centres and nurseries throughout Scotland. It has given me the chance to look at many ‘polytunnels’. The only examples I have seen which have extensive cross bracing are over 15 feet wide and just slightly less than that tall. This makes me think that unless wind strength is unusally high for a particular location, there is no need to worry about lateral strength.
In any case, should the amount of movement be worrying, you could always attach guy ropes.
We have some pretty high winds here at times, and so far I really haven’t had any problem at all. It’s best for the doors to be closed when it’s windy so that the covering doesn’t billow up, but I seriously haven’t had a problem.
I have been looking for plans to build a greenhouse for winter crops too. However, the one shown here does not look like it can withstand California Winds, up to 70 MPH. I worked construction on the North Sea in Scotland and Wales and the wind picks-up in the winter. The rain freezes and blows like darts. I am sure you will feel like a French Girl with a Mini Skirt in a Hurricane when you build this greenhouse. Anyway, good luck.
You’re awesome. Nice instructions, documentation & pics. Keep up the great work.
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Thanks so much for an awesome site.I feel very inspired and hopeful seeing things like this take shape. I greatly appreciate your hard work in sharing this design.
Thank you for such a well written photo article and good step-by-step photos. I have been a garden-less apartment dweller for 4 years and acutely miss being able to grow fresh food. But that will all end soon when I move to a new location with a large yard. That will be the opportunity to construct a greenhouse. Like you I’m definitely on a budget, but I have time. Instead of PVC pipe, I was thinking of ripping scrap lumber down to lathes of about 1 1/4 x 3/8 inch section and then, with some epoxy adhesive, laminating them together to create the hoops. A tip I learned from boat builders is that with a good supply of such thin wood sections, you can tack together a structure using hot melt glue and when it is up and organised the way you want, you can go around and make the connnections more permanent either with screw/nail/nylon tie fixings or epoxy glue.
I also thought the flat section might have advantages compared to the circular shape of pipe.
I walled in the side of a car port like this once and it worked well. You can use the same technique to build cold frames.
For increased stiffness at the end, you could cut plywood to the full shape of the end and then make fairly large cut outs on either side of the door. They would permit enough light to enter, and the shape stiffness of the ply sheet would be far greater than you could hope for from just the rigidity of the pvc hoops of your design.
Robert
I’d love to have one like this, and just about this size. And I’m impressed that it cost under $50.00! I’m no good with tools, so may put a bug in my son’s ear, when he comes for a visit this summer.
I’m wondering how it worked out for you sunlight-wise, based on your site selection.
If I wanted to have a hoophouse for off-season (winter?!) growing, I would be inclined to put it somewhere that gets more shade in the summer, but full sun when the trees aren’t covered with leaves, which is pretty much November through mid-May where I live. If I’d just want to start things a month or two early, and grow late into the fall, I would probably want it to go where I get lots of sun in the summer too.
Just like you speculate – in the winter the leaves fall off of the trees and the greenhouse gets plenty of sun. This Spring the greenhouse got a 1ittle bit more shade than is probably ideal, but the tomatoes that I planted in there on March 15 (at least a month early in my area) have 2″ green tomatoes on them right now (May 29) and I have high hopes for ripe tomatoes 2-3 weeks earlier than usual.
.
I’ve been very happy with the performance of this simple structure. You should check out this article – http://doorgarden.com/04/6-months-in-the-greenhouse
Nice job:) I built something similar a couple of years ago to grow some special herbs. It wasn’t as nice as yours but it did the trick. Thumbs up:))
thanks for the hoophouse walkthrough. i’m conspiring to improvise on elliot coleman’s 3/8″ rebar hoophouse. it will be parallel to a 25′ airstream (parked for the next 7 months or more). elliot’s design has the rebar covered with pvc. i originally planned to make ‘rebar sleeves’ from blankets but a friend talked me into using ducttape to cover the rebar so i’m going to try that. in the summer, my intention is to provide shade for the trailer and a dry living space outside that will include my kitchen (will use a silver shade tarp). i’ll make the additional framing needed from bamboo. in the winter, i’ll switch over to 6 mil construction plastic, and close up the drafty bits to create some passive solar heat. i think eliot uses the rebar to make the frame stronger to protect against wind and snow load. not sure if i’ll need either but i like it! thanks again.
After having used this hoop house for about 6 months and seeing it withstand some pretty gnarly winds – but no snow to speak of – I can vouch for the integrity of the basic design. I would make this comment though – it is a lot more stable when the doors are closed on both ends – open doors make it billow and move around a lot more in the wind. If I wanted to make it stronger I would do one or both of these 1) Use more ribs, putting them closer together. 2) Use bigger pipes for the ribs – 1 1/2″ pvc would be a lot stronger.
Good luck with your RV sun space. Sounds like a plan to me.
This is sweet! I’ll be giving it a go when the weather gets warmer. THANKS!
AWESOME GREEN HOUSE !!!, I cant wait for my palm seeds to germinate. I just bought some from realpalmtrees.com about two weeks ago and i placed them in a plastic bag with a damp clothe. Then i placed it in sunlight and now i am having some growth from the seeds. I have a quick question though… they have some palm trees that endure the snow, does anyone have a palm tree that’s endured the snow?
Here’s the link… let me know if you have had a palm tree that can endure the snow? and if so, how did you keep it from freezing?
SNOW PALM TREES…CRAZY!
I PLACED THIS BLOG TO BE NOTIFIED…SO LET ME KNOW
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Great article. I’ve been searching and thinking about a ploy house very similar. This just answered a lot of questions. Thanks
dude nice job thanks for posting im gonna use this for a smaller greenhouse you made it look easy and now im ready to give it a try thanks so much and happy gardening..
I just love the step by step photos. Now my husband can build it with me without taking the time to learn all about them. He is an electrician and wants to use conduit instead of pvc. That may help it survive our windy site in the middle of rural Ireland. Over here they are called polytunnels and are quite popular as you would rarely get a summer that would allow a tomato to be grown outdoors. Thanks for the great guide.
Thanks for your comment. I’m finally getting a steady supply of salad greens, and it is my plan to try to get some extra early tomatoes as well. I appreciate the information that you would call this a polytunnel. Perhaps if I add that to the tags and whatnot more people like you will be able to find it. Get your electrician busy and you should be able to have one of these going in a weekend or two.
Ok you say my garden photo at Freedom gardens and know that I am into building things for lesBut you got me! That green house is beautiful. My raised bed gardens are set up to have low hoop houses installed over them easly. A friend of mine has a high hoop house like yours built over two raised beds that are setk up similarly to mine, but I think yours is much better built and more perminent. I like my idea of the air matress filled with water and using a creigs list $5 heater to heat it up better than your rope light Idea but if it works use it. One of My cold frame also cost me nothing but tme and is very much like yours. Keep up the good work
Bill
You know the thing is not to get hung up with how someone else did theirs. My greenhouse ended up being what it is because of the materials that I had to work with. Yours looks great to me, and I bet your neighbor’s works great too. It’s such a simple thing, you almost can’t go wrong – unless you build something that just falls apart the first time it snows or the wind blows.
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any follow up on how it is preforming?
It was sunny and 5 degrees outside when I took this picture in the middle of January. Notice the ice on the inside of the plastic?
The greenhouse performs just fine, but because I didn’t finish until around the first of November It has been slow to get a lot growing in there. I tell about it some in this article about cold frames. I’m planning on trying to get some extra early tomatoes from the green house in the spring and keep some going extra late in the fall. As well as some other stuff. Subscribe to the feed!
[...] might know that I built a small greenhouse this fall. Unfortunately by the time I finished it in early November it was pretty late to get [...]
I’m disappointed I can only “thumbs-up” your post just once. This is a great tutorial. We’ve been talking about building a greenhouse, but thought it would be too time-consuming or expensive. Thanks for posting this!
Yeah, that bums me out too. Seriously, anyone who wants a greenhouse should really be able to have one with a bit of effort.
Great tutorial on building a greenhouse! I have some leftover windows and patio doors that I was thinking of using for a similar project. I’ll be adding you to my TN Garden Blog Roll.
You’ve a great site there, and I tried to add you to my blog roll as well, but either a bug in WP 2.7 or the theme is preventing it. I’ll get it working eventually though. Note the new theme with threaded comments – Oh yeah!
[...] trees caught my eye. I’m thinking of trying some container fruit trees now that I have a greenhouse which I can use to protect them from our notorious late spring [...]
umm… awesomeness! This is so cool and well laid out. I can’t wait to make my own. I would love to know some of the other things you have made and how. You must have other great ideas to share.
Great tutorial. Thumbs up!
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Loved the article, it is EXACTLY what I have looked for in building my own greenhouse. I would be interested in your doors and how you did those. I can pretty much work, build and create anything if I have some kind of instructions or some ideas. I would appreciate assistance on the doors.
Thanks so much again
Kathryn
that is amazing! I think I am gonna try this at home.
Hey! Great job.
We built one very similar in our organic garden up here in the mountains west of the continental divide in New Mexico (7200 ft elevation).
Sun did cause minor damage to the plastic (most clear or frosted plastic will deteriorate given enough UV)…. we are also closer to the sun up here in the mountains… sheer winds did rip the plastic, (which had been deteriorated) but only after we had emptied the greenhouse. We got a really good season thanks to this lil baby.
We grew 20 or more tomato plants in ours… our killing freeze comes in late september/ early october … the only tomatoes that really suffered through it all were the ones closest to the plastic wall.
Kudos!
Thank you for the project instructions,my brother
in Fla. has one almost like yours and I always wanted to try and build one. Now I have all the info.
I need thumbs up great project.
P.S. Don’t worry about Mr. Frost he just seems very negative.
Sharon
Thanks for the info, I will give it a try.
Please send me pics. of what yours produced
and any updates.
Thanks, Jerry Brady
Yep…I’ll give ya a thumbs up, 4sure!…isn’t tooooo many times one comes upon a website that’s NOT trying to sell ya something…good stuff, matey……………..
Truly inspiring.
A fully functional food tunnel for 50 dollars and with crystal clear instructions for dummies like me.
Big thank you.
Great site by the way.
Double thanks.
this is awesome! your tutorial is easy to understand and the pictures are great. THANK YOU!!!!
Nice job. you kept it simple. My first attempt at hoop house was a disaster. Used 10 foot w/ 4 way connectors,1/2 in thin wall, with no framing, and flap closures on ends. It lasted till the next wind storm. About 7-8 yrs ago, rebuilt a 28′ unit. I had some 14′, 2×6 white cedar [port orford ], which I used to frame base and ends.made french doors out of 4 old window frames, used self tapping screws to attach 5/8″ pvc to frames as well as the horizontal bracing[of which, starting a/ top added 2 more runs a/approx 4' centers making a total of 5 runs[2 each side, 1 top center. As i was working alone I used duct tape to hold bracing until attaching w/ 1 1/4" self tapping, stainless screws. 1 per rib. Drove 30" 3/8" re-bar into ground, 3 on each side to pin to ground, then for good measure dog legged out from frame 36" a/ 4' centers w/ 30 " risers inside and out side and attached the plant racks. It has worked great. I would recommend using greenhouse plastic as the poly stuff only lasts about 8-9 months and the blows out [usually in january of course]. Next one will be 1″ pvc, as a neighbor donated 9, 20′ pieces w/ rebar in concrete to slide it onto [which I may or not use]
We have a similar greenhouse (16×32 with 4′ pony walls made of lexan and wood with the PVC pipe arched overhead. It’s a great hoophouse but will collapse if the snowload is too great. We take the visqueen off in the winter. Unfortunately we put it on a week too early last April and had to rebuild it when a late blizzard collapsed the PVC pipe.
Nice how-to! Appreciate you taking the time to do this – it’s been a fleeting dream of mine to make a greenhouse over a couple of my raised beds for winter greens. This may spur me on to clean out my garage so I can create a similar project. Happy gardening! ==Andrew Perkins, http://www.scrimshaw.com
Hey, we had the same idea, and made the winter before last. It was not constructed near as good as you did, and therefore the first time a good wind came along, it did not withstand very well. But it did work in keeping our plants safe all winter. We are in the process of replacing all our windows presently (house built in 1939), and are recycling the old lumber and windows (16 of them) to construct a more permanent greenhouse. Keep up the good work!
This is great. Thanks for the inspiration. The growing season isn’t quite long enough for me so this will be just the thing.
gave you a thumbs up! nice project to share with everyone.
Hi and thanks for this fantastic share! I live at the west cost in Norway, and this greenhouse looks perfect for my use. The winter is realy hard here, same as in Alaska, but the spring and summer is fine. I will have to take it down for the winter, it will not survive.
And reasemble it again in the spring time. Again,,, Thanks for this great share! Soon there will be a greenhouse of your design in Norway!
Alf Inge Fredriksen
Wonderful instructions and the photos actually add a good deal of clarification. I started to make a similar one but with jointed connections some years ago and ran into a lot of problems with joints and trying to stablize everything. This looks so much simpler and straightforward (and do-able by one person) so I am going to have to give it another shot.
I am wondering, for those of us in high wind areas, if it would be a good idea to build a sort of windbreak on the north or even on three sides, varying the height from perhaps 3 feet on the sides to 6 feet or so on the north and maybe face it with foil or some such? Perhaps straw bales with plywood facing, covered with silver insulation or even just painted white to reflect light?
Robert Frost: try to find something on your keyboard that isn’t the same tired kneejerk reaction which is so BORING, useless and unimaginative. Do people like you have comments like this on a sort of speeddial, so you can wander through the maximum number of sites annoying the maximum number of people in the minimum amount of time? Perhaps you should consider getting a life…maybe doing something so you can have a glimmer or what real people are up to? Then perhaps, instead of so vividly demonstrating your ignorance for all to see, someday you might also be able to contribute something a fraction as useful as this site is. One hugely helpful thing would be a computer program which automatically deletes any comments including the word “photoshopped”, in case you need a project to get going on.
@David,
I have a very similar hoop structure, also made of 1″ PVC, and it has been up, exposed to full sun in southern California, for about 15 years. I wouldn’t worry about the UV for a while
BTW, You have been both Stumbled and Dugg (Digged?)
[...] clipped from doorgarden.com [...]
What an inspiration! Great job! I may try something similar to this in my small city yard. Thanks so much!!
Robert Frost…. What a sad, angry individual!
Dude, this page rocks! Even if the thing blows down with the first gnarly winds, it was a good project and the documentation is about as good as it can be. I can hardly wait to see the doorway done, and see what the weather has to say about the materials and construction techniques used.
Excellent, excellent, excellent. Love the step by step directions with the pictures. I’ll try this over my two established beds for next spring.
@littlewren – I’m sure you are correct about the ventilation, I’ll have to give it some thought – we always have a few 60+ degree days in the middle of January. That’s a good point about it being a temporary structure, a lot of codes have exceptions for anything without a foundation.
Robert Frost said…
“ALL THOSE PICTURES AND ALL THESE COMMENTS ARE PHOTOSHOPPED” – It’s true they are, also I’m a spy – an undercover agent for the FBI – sent down here to infiltrate the KU-KLUX-KLAN … It’s also true that the headline is a hook, and I do want people to read my blog, however I actually did build this for about $50 out of pocket. Some of the other materials have been in my garage for years. Just for you I’m working on a rundown of the materials required, and their approximate costs. Maybe that will make up for my evil ways.
Sarcastic Mom said .
“Great project – thanks for detailing. Very inspiring and informative.” Thanks.
Mary said … “We had snow in South Central Wisconsin today!” Wow – sounds like you really need something like this.
Diana Lee G. said …
“Thanks for the added information! Now have I have something useful I can do with some of the lengths and lengths of PVC pipe I salvaged and have been saving for several years. :>)”We should stop calling ourselves pack rats and start saying recyclers.
Fern said …
“Great article! You definitely got my SU thumbs up!
” All of the encouragement has really made it worthwhile – Thanks.
SimplyAlon said … “I believe you would make a grand instructor on some other DIY sites.” I actually do a bit of that – Thanks.
@Tony – You are entirely correct about how beneficial thermal mass is – I have a small winter plant maintenance room where I use 4 black 55 gallon drums full of water to buffer the temperature and humidity, and it works great. This project was designed for Simplicity with a capitol S though, and it will have to rely on the soil to act as a heat sink to the extent that it can. Your solar fan sounds like a great add on though – if the sun is shining the fan is fanning. I will have to do something, I can’t always run home to ventilate just because the sun comes out. Thanks for the suggestions.
Really like the idea and direction. I think you are right on with the single ribs (as opposed to jointing or adding couplings).. I think it will add to the simplicity and crazy enough stability –KISS.
Being somewhat of a contractor myself, I can see how the only real “purchases” would be that of the conduit (pvc) & plastic sheeting that I would buy…Brother Frost needs to understand that those of us who are recourceful enough to think about providing our families with food in the off season, are often times the same ones who have other extra items…. lets say for a rainy day. Right on with your bad self.
I am really interested to see how the wind effects it. I live just south of Charlottesville, VA and we see sporatic (but intense) wind gusts seasonally. Today for instance I could see it blowing away entirely.
Any thoughts of slightly heating for the deep winter months?
Jack
Hi, great idea many thanks for the great explanation you have inspired me. (I worry about the UV resistance of the pipe though.)
Can I offer a suggestion based on what I did a few years ago in my large coldframe/ mini green house.
I placed about 10 x 25 litre containers full of water on the floor. Placed boards over them and then put the plant pots (Or beds) on top
I then placed a 12 inch square 12 volt solar panel which went straight to a suitable fan. This fan drew the air from a pipe in the apex of the green house down to floor level and blew it over the water containers.
This keeps the greenhouse cooler during the day, warmer at night (Plants like even temperatures) and excess moisture condenses on the water containers keeping the humidity down.
The more the sun shines the more heat is pumped below. You can use old pop bottles, jam jars or whatever is to hand (full of water) for the storage.
Have fun
Tony
Hello neighbor! Hailing from Bartow County, GA. Absolutely loved the simplicity of design and DIY instructions. It was informative and now taken as a personal challenge to construct such a structure on a smaller scale, as I am limited in space. Thank you for sharing and patiently sharing with step by step photos. I know it can be challenging. I look forward to seeing my own end result. I believe you would make a grand instructor on some other DIY sites. Grand Job, Many Kudos and of course a Stumbler’s thumbs up!
Great article! You definitely got my SU thumbs up!
Thanks for the added information! Now have I have something useful I can do with some of the lengths and lengths of pvc pipe I salvaged and have been saving for several years. :>)
[...] Get a head start on next spring’s gardening with this awesome project! The $50 greenhouse! [...]
Thanks for the pictures and wonderful instructions. There is a lady near Madison, Wisconsin that talks on her blog about her hoop houses and walking around in them in the winter picking vegetables and now I know what she is talking about! It will be on my agenda for the next season!
We had snow in South Central Wisconsin today!
Great project – thanks for detailing. Very inspiring and informative.
Oh, and don’t worry about Robert Frost up there… I think he just needs to take “the road less traveled” and get lost on it.
[...] 27, 2008 by mickki A friend sent me this article, which gives instructions (and photos) for a 165 sq ft greenhouse, constructed for under $50. I [...]
ALL THOSE PICTURES AND ALL THESE COMMENTS ARE PHOTOSHOPPED.
plus, you called it a $50 dollar greenhouse and clearly it would be $120. I hate when people say things just to grab your attention and then you read the fine print and you find out that $50 dollars has nothing to do with it. In fact, the price is higher and they just wanted you to read their blog SOOO BAD.
So…you suck. gg
Some friends of mine built a greenhouse almost identical to this one in design, and it worked just fine, although in our temperate climate it is necessary to give some thought to ventilation, even in winter.
Simple as it is, believe me having these instructions will save people a great deal of trial and error, and should produce a nice tidy result. The beauty of this one is that while the new materials are relatively inexpensive, almost all of them can be sourced cheaply or for free. It strikes me that the same design could be used to build a shade house using shade cloth instead of plastic.
It would have to be a pretty rampant council that took exception to one of these in your back yard, but as it would not be classed as a permanant structure I am guessing most of us could get away with it without any hassles.
@online meeting reviews – I’m just full of cheap half baked ideas – you should check back or subscribe so you don’t miss a single one.
@Dianna Lee G – That is indeed an oversight. I used plain old 6 mil clear (more or less) plastic sheeting from Lowes. I’ve added a better explanation and a link to a source for the real stuff in the article. Thanks for pointing that out.
@Ignozi – we have some pretty fierce winds here in central Tennessee too, but they’re usually only violent for pretty short periods. Our region has many commercial greenhouses that are shaped like this and I’ve never seen one blown down. My mileage may vary. I’ll post about it after we have some wind.
@Dennis – I’m sure that you could use greenhouse panels run horizontally kind of like they do those economical carport covers. I would be more concerned that the plastic pipe wouldn’t hold the screws securely enough. I would certainly want to upgrade to Schedule 80 conduit if I were going to try that.
@Gleno – Thanks for the comment and the complement.
@Bill Canaday – No idea, you would have to check with your local codes. Good luck with that. It would probably be more likely to pass muster if it was behind a privacy fence.
@Urban Organics – Thanks for the link and the thumbs up. Nice organic gardening website.
@Sherry – I’m in middle Tennessee and we don’t usually get very much snow what with global warming and all. This is not as flimsy as it might look, but you could easily beef it up by putting the ribs closer together. Putting them on 18″ spacing instead of 36″ would only cost about $20 dollars more. Your guess is as good as mine about how much snow it would hold before it collapse, but I would probably want to clean it off often to be on the safe side.
Thanks to everyone for the compliments and thumbs!
Thanks I have qwanted to try one also, now with your plans it should be much faster to build. I also am a pack rat and have much of what I need already.
I also have 70 triple glaze windows 18″ X 36″ have any good ideas on how to use them. Got them from old store freezer doors. The glass is also one way and heated if you were to hook it up.
Hey nice one all round.
its all good…
Just wondering where your from. We live on the East Coast USA and I’m not so sure the plastic will hold up to our snow.
[...] But still, even if just for the inspirational value, I thought I’d pass the link along. [...]
Any clue what urban zoning laws might have to say about something like this? I’d be interested in trying but I’m not too keen on the $500 tickets the City of Detroit passes out like candy.
Great work, professional looking and attractive final product and — best of all — inexpensively done. Your documentation, photos and instructions are fantastic. Thank you for taking the time to share.
I think this is a great idea. I was looking for a way to build one of these for a while… Although i was thinking about plexi-glass instead of plastic… I know we are trying to keep the cost down, but durability was more what i am going after. Does anyone know if you can screw plexi-glass to the pvc pipe of would the plexi-glass break ?
Very nice. I doubt that I could do it for the price though, so I guess I’m lucky to be a pack rat too! Here in So. California we have some wonderfully high winds when the Santa Ana’s come – especially where I live. So what I’m planning is a lower profile greenhouse that is dug into the ground actually. Thanks to your great photos and explanations, I’ve got the inspiration I need. Cheers!
I enjoyed reading this and found it well written and informative, but I would have appreciated more details on “the plastic”. I didn’t see where you stated what kind of plastic you used. What size? What “gauge? You referred to it as “plastic”, “the plastic” “plastic sheeting”, and such. You apparently assumed knowledge on the part of your readers that some of us do not have. But anyway, it was still interesting.
Great article worth a thumbs up. Have any other great cheap ideas?
I’m very impressed. Hope to see pics of monster lettuce and spinach in the coming months! Definitely a thumbs up. Best of luck!
What a clever innovation! Thanks for sharing!
That is just perfect! Thanks
@cherry – I doubt if the plastic will last more than one or maybe two seasons here either, but this gives me a chance to find out if I like greenhouse gardening or not without spending a ton of money.
@Michael James – Thanks for the compliments I’m glad that you found it interesting or useful. And I agree that we should try to produce more of what we use at home and in a more sustainable way than trucking it clear across the continent.
@kevin – I agree – the sunlight resistant conduit would be more durable, and if I had counted the cost before I started the difference might be inconsequential. I’ll look into that.
i preffer to use the grey conduit as it stays more flexible and is uv resistant, you could also use this plan with canvas painters tarps and paint it with the white rubberized roof coating to make a storage shed
The Best of the best! So well documented, via text and photos that you must be a genius! So simple, so clean and neat, and this is what we all should strive to do. Thank you very much for taking your valuable time to contribute to those of us that aspire to “Off the grid living” and urban cultural creatives.
Looks very similar to what my mom’s greenhouse used to look like. The Finnish winters weren’t so friendly on the palstic, though, so it has mostly been replaced by old window glass. The best tomatoes and cucumbers of my life have come from that greenhouse.
[...] been kicking around the idea of building some kind of greenhouse for several years, but I think that I’ve finally decided that in my case the most practical way [...]