What Type of Greenhouse Should You Build?

Today we're going to take a look at several types of greenhouses. These are just some of the more popular styles and there are many variations. It's simply some information to help provide some food-for-thought when you are ready to build one.

Video is sponsored by:

[gingerarmstrong]

The length was perfect and I'm glad you ended with reminding us that we can always grow in the great out doors, even though it's dependant on seasonal, environmental factors. Thank you for including the reviews of the styles that you wouldn't recommend, I found it just as helpful!

[bestliutr]

Chinese farmer here and we indeed mostly use the Chinese style of greenhouse.

For easy roll/unrolling of the cover material, older ones have pulley systems or counterweights on the other side of the wall. New ones mostly go electric, one button push and let the motor do all the work.
I haven't seen anyone use cloth to keep warm. Most I saw used cotton quilt or straw mat.

Snow removal is not that great. Last week my area suffered from 2 days of snowstorm, and a lot of these greenhouses in the area were crushed. I'm here looking for structural design ideas.

Because the cold winds always blow from the north side, snow accumulates quickly and not evenly on the south side, and the weight can either bend the beam or horizontally add too much pressure on the wall.

[dustman]

The barrels will exchange heat with the interior whether or not they are in line of sight with the sun. Thermal mass in general helps to moderate temperature in both summer and winter.

[SSanatobaJR]

Your concerns about the pit or in ground greenhouses are all addressable. There are easy solutions to all of them. Sounds to me like either you haven't done enough research on them or just don't like them for some weird reason and are finding excuses. With the earth heating and cooling, the floor adds thermal mass too, not just the walls, plus there are ways to increase the geothermal heating and cooling abilities of the greenhouse. You can use mirrors to reflect morning and evening sun into the shadowed areas. And simple fences or rails can keep large animals and humans off the greenhouse (or you can just elevate the roof above the ground level a bit). Finally I know of several big name greenhouses that are located much farther north than you and use no heating yet grow stuff all year round.

[st]

I love the diagrams to explain how the light will affect each green house. Very useful info, even if it’s a longer video. Thanks!

[Ed]

as you added 'the great outdoors', maybe I should point out something in the middle: Just a transparent roof. That is the great outdoors but then without rain, which is beneficial for tomatoes to keep them from contracting blight

[lightpawshird]

I'm currently in the process of designing our family homestead, thank you for this video! It was extremely helpful in deciding which greenhouse we will use!

[KenLong]

Great video.
The Chinese style Greenhouse is basically what I'm looking for, but without the permanence, more of just a frame I can lean up against the building and cover with plastic sheeting as I wait to harvest. Now I just have to find some plans and adapt them to my space and needs. Thanks

[TheRainHarvester]

Lots of great diagrams! I made some YouTube videos of my passive greenhouse using "unistrut". I managed to get 20' of glass without any obstructions (no structural beams etc). The glass I used is frequently thrown out (free) from interior remodeling of businesses!! In fact, the unistrut was being thrown out too.

[calciumchloride]

Wow, like others here I was overwhelmed with the number of designs I wasn't familiar with yet. I've been gardening for years, seen a bunch of videos, etc., but this is the video I'm recommending to any fellow gardeners looking for ideas--especially if I can convince them to do shots every time you say "whatnot." :D Thanks and Best Wishes.

[ecolocalguy]

Good overview of greenhouse types. Answer of what type is for you is "depends." Zone, wind exposure, budget, long term goals, etc. all play a factor as you have outlined here. We went with a 2V geodesic dome, 22' in diameter, using the high tech bubble film called solawrap here in the states (made in Germany) for the cover. The large triangles of the 2V were able to minimize waste of the 2m wide solawrap, . We we also able to cover 4 triangles with one run of the material. North wall is insulated with Reflectix, and we have a ground to air heat transfer system (GAHT) with tubing buried 3-4' under the dome to stabilize the temperature. It was 17 degrees outside this morning, and dome interior is 34 degrees.

[DrunkNutssack]

As a soon to be greenhouse builder, I respect a good long variety of info. I've watched most of your videos about builds, congrats to being in my private "Brains" folder that stores the best of the best videos about the subject. On that note, make the video, keep on target and let it rip. I appreciate you and your videos.

[gomezadams]

Very informative video. You covered everything except for cold frames, which I would have included. Granted these are typically used to harden of your seedlings before spring planting, but they could also extend your growing season for things like carrots, radishes, strawberries and even raspberries provided you keep them pruned back and extend the height of the cold frame wall. Just a thought to all your subscribers who are thinking about getting started in green housing.

[gracebethel]

makes me feel pretty lucky to live where we don't have to deal with the snow loads! thanks for the info on expense, structural strength, light intensity for these greenhouse options.

[ChrisM-tnhx]

This is awesome. I'm just over the border north of you, so nice to have information that's relevant to our temperatures. Thanks!

[petersamios]

Great comparison. I like the Chinese version. The one that I saw has 2 outside layers separated about 1-2' at the top and 1' at the bottom. The bottom ring has the clear poly. About 1' up, at the top, is a spool with the blanket. The top has a 2nd layer of poly with some motorized shakers that installed on the top ring. These shakers are used to vibrate off the snow. The additional ring is to prevent the blanket from getting wet.

For my situation, I'' probably add some geothermal tubing on the back wall along with on the lower front wall - this will feed a below the frost line loop and would be used for adding heat in the winter and some additional cooling in the summer. If you had a pool/pond, you could use it as a dump for the extra heat in the summer. Put some solar up to run the water pumps and controller and you're set.

Just my 2 cents

[isaacswan]

i wonder how long it's gonna be until youtube starts censoring gardening videos

[qwertykevin]

I love the cow you included for size reference. He's adorable.

[sobrevivenciayhum]

Thank you that was great. I live in Canada and all that information is going to come in handy. Much appreciated the conversion to the metric system.

[BasBleu]

Great video! The length was perfect for the topic, as you were through without being redundant. Thanks very much!