Tour My Underground Greenhouse. An in-depth look at How My Walipini was Made. See inside my Walipini

Take an in-depth look inside my underground greenhouse. See inside my Walipini.
Hello everyone, Welcome to my Walipini AKA Underground Greenhouse. Today is Jan. 1, 2020 & I’m going to give you a tour of my walipini. 1st I need to warn you that even though the walipini was built over 2 yrs ago, it is still in the early stages of development. My goal this year is to make some solid improvements to the underground greenhouse so I can grow trees & plans year-round. Be sure to click the subscribe button below to get updates throughout the yr.
Before I start the tour, let me tell you more about where I live. My Walipini is located in Eagle Mtn, UT. The elev. here is aprox 4,900 ft above sea level. Eagle Mtn. is in the USDA Hardiness Zones 6a, 6b & 7a.
Before we step inside, I’ll show you what we’ve done on the exterior.
As you can see, we’ve carved out a section in the natural slope of our yard pouring concrete footings & foundation. Let me tell you something, that was a bill. Also, if I could do it again, I would have sloped the roof more. I’ll talk more about that in a future video. Then if you look over here, we’ve added concreate steps leading down into the greenhouse. Let me tell you something, that was a bill. Then, we ran power & a water line which is attached to our sprinkler system under the foundation wall. That means we have yr-round power & water during the spring, summer & fall. Now, let me show you the roof. Here’s some video taken earlier when there was no snow so you can actually see what we’ve done.
Looking at the door, you’ll see we’ve added a door with a window for airflow & stairs leading down into the greenhouse. I’ve placed buckets to catch the water coming off the roof.
Today the temp outside is 32 degrees. Let’s step inside to see what the temp is & then, I’ll tell you more about the greenhouse from the inside.
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If you're looking for Fun & Exciting things to do in Utah, be sure to check out my Adventure Channel.
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[cocospops]

I'm building one of these right now. 22x14 feet, 5 ft under ground. Walls and footings done, preparing to make the roof. Very excited!

[michaelglenning]

The concrete above grade acts as a radiator. If you trench around the perimeter down to the footings and add insulation it should help. Your sunken greenhouse / walapini would perform better if you had light reflector panels hanging from the ceiling, and if the panels were insulation board you could close them at night to retain heat. To visualize think plantation shutters made out of rigid insulation board covered in reflective mylar. Fiber Pultruded Plastic (FPP) would of been a better choice for the roofing beams as they do not conduct heat. The winter sun comes in on the horizon at low angles which dilutes the energy concentration per square foot. Solar ovens put out reflector panels to concentrate the heat. These reflector panels could double as roofing insulation on the outside as well when closed.

As a learning excercise you can build two scaled down model size versions of green house set ups and put data logging thermostats inside.
1) being your design: concrete pavers dug into ground, but stiking out with metal roof supports

2) being a polystyrene ice chest wedged into ground with dirt embankment on sides, back, and roof. Place a concrete paver inside ice chest and cover with glazing. If you add multiple glazing walls inside this stucture you will create warmer zones progressing toward the back. If south facing poly glazing is vertical, you can have an outside hinged at ground level insulation reflector panel. During daytime it is folded down to capture and reflect additional light. During evening it is folded up to provide insulation. The same set-up is repeated on roof, but hinged at northern roof crest. This roof panel hinges up to 45° during daytime to also collect and reflect light.
Inside the greenhouse you can have two axis of reflector insulation panels hanging down from ceiling. One going east to west and directing light down. The other below the first going north to south. These two hanging insulation panels grids can be closed up at night to add heat retention.

Additionally any excess heat during daytime can be pumped into shallow irrigation tube buried in ground 1 or 2 feet using solar powered HVAC fan drum type (Citrus In The Snow). The heat will leak out of ground during night time into the green house. As you can gather from the design parameters it is better to have an orientation that goes east to west = wide and not to far back, else roof panels are to long. Fold up panels can be made of corrugated sheet roofing composite with insulation in-between, like ice-cream sandwich.

Used insulation panels can be bought on-line that are delivered to your site. Also you can make your own air-crete (honeydocarpenter) add glycerine to soap for best foam. Add CSA (calsium, sulfate, aluminum) to Portland cement slurry for 20 minute set-up time and 2 hour cure with nearly tripple strength, especially if you replace some of the port land cement with reclaimed waste product fly ash.

If that still does not do it, then you can add an additional much deeper trench of corrugated irrigation drainage tubing composite that will pump in 50 degree air at night.

For your set-up, I'd put a hoop house ontop of your existing glazing/roof.

My own interest lies in puting geodesic dome greenhouses over sunken courtyards/gardens similar to the forestiere underground gardens of Fresno CA

[ApocalypticGardening]

Please give this video a THUMBS UP & SUBSCRIBE to my channel. THANK YOU!!!

[jhe]

Fabulous!!!! Thanks for sharing! I also loved the useful comments. I grow kaffir limes in my sunroom in winter, bring them outside in summer. Also, I'm growing 50 avocado trees as an experiment. I live in Utah too.

[gerhardbraatz]

You have peaked my curiosity. I'm subbed.

[AdventuretainmentTV]

The underground greenhouse is so cool.

[SimpleTek]

nice video! Keep making more! cheers from Manitoba, Canada where we think your location is warm!

[w.e.]

You have built a beautiful walipini with thought given to building stable walls. I wish you great success and enjoyment with this project.

[AdventuretainmentTV]

This underground Greenhouse is super cool. NICE!!

[tommyknockerparanormalinc]

Great ideas and great video. I'm about to put poles in the ground myself, to make one similar. Just need to increaae my depth in spring. Woohoo, cant wait.

[MattLaVoie]

Thanks for the update and insights! This is super interesting!

[davidwagner]

I really love your design! I'm sure that you'll get it dialed in right where you like it. Looking at the leaves on your citrus trees, they look like they may be deficient in manganese.

[regenerativelifewayne]

You could put IBC totes in that corner and than set up your pond Aquaponics system for cheap where the horse water 💧 trough is !

[miguelfilo]

The farther you dig the warmer it is naturally. If I did one it would be at least 10 to 15 below ground level. And about three times the area. That way you could keep fig, citrus etc down there full time. That would also be a perfect place to over winter your honey bees.

[karlbe]

The angle of the south facing "window" needs to be at a right angle to the sun, on let's say January 10th. The light needs to hit some dark colored thermal mass, ie 55 gal barrels of water or stones./gravel. Underground tubes would aid your ventilation, moisture and temperature management. This is just what I have learned so far from videos.

[svetlanapil]

Crooked trees are beautiful! Look at the Japanese gardens, they train trees to grow crooked so it has a sculptural look to it. So stop fighting with it and let it be perfect self.

[jayleaver]

I love this build so far, and i agree with you it doesn't slope enough personally i think it would be cool if you made a tall A-frame Polly roof taking your walipini to new heights 😎👌

[brantfordnews]

You did a lot of work to build your dream. I live in a cold climate too and have thought about how to beat the cold. It's good to see someone put in the work and do it. Greetings from Canada.

[wenetwork]

I cannot seem to find the supplier for the polycarbonate rolls like you have shown. Could you help me out with some info on where you got yours please?

[zoneb]

North wall should be black as your heat sink. Noon day sun shines from the South in winter and will hit the north wall. Mirrors or a mod may be required.