Fairly easy to make and fix. using a
minimum of tools. It will stand for 4-5 years before maintenance is required.
The shade cloth is 40% and it is fixed in place with a staple gun, (have not
lost any yet in the winds), when temperatures inside the G/house becomes hard to
control with an extractor fan , oscillating fans and open doors etc:, this is
usually in May and it is removed in October. The gap between the roof and the
shade cloth allows air to move between the two and helps considerably to keep
the G/house cool , the heat stays on the shade cloth but the light comes through.
The roofs are covered with 10mm Double skin polycarbonate sheet, the South
G/house has triple Skin, 20mm. Using this sheeting has created a more `buoyant'
atmosphere inside creating better, sustainable, growing conditions allowing very
large plants and seedling to grow side by side. The original roofs where made of
glass, and shading had to be on by March to prevent scorching of the plants, in
the top of the greenhouse, and left on until November, So i have gained 2 months
better light conditions in the spring and 1 month in the autumn. The green
houses receive no actual direct sunlight from mid-November until mid
February.
Home made Humidifier
This is really easy
to make, You require 4 to 6 lightweight building blocks, a large plastic
tray to hold a good quantity of water, mine is a home made 4x1 timber
box double lined with heavy gauge plastic . Make a tunnel with the blocks, shape
the front to allow the hot/warm air from your fan or heater easy access
through the blocks. Drill lots of holes nearly all the way through the blocks
these will allow the water to penetrate deep into the blocks so that the block
becomes saturated. Set up a water drip over the top of the blocks ,
the warmth created by the heater soaks into the structure releasing humidity
long after the heat turns off! Take
all necessary safety
precautions !!!!!!!!
Growing in a double pot
A
Tolumnia grown in a double pot, the space between the two pots holds high
humidity ideal for rapid root growth.
