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University of California Vegetable Research and Information Center 
YS-78 - 8As a service to the public, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has reproduced this chapter from the 1978 Yearbook of Agriculture. A copy of the Yearbook, Living on a Few Acres, may be purchased by sending a check or money order for $7.00 to Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D.C. 20402. When ordering, use Stock Number 001-000-03809-5.
 
Year-Round Gardening With a Greenhouse
 By Conrad Link and David Ross
The greenhouse is a specialized structure designed for growing plants year-round. A clear or translucent cover permits sunlight to enter, which heats the greenhouse during the day. Whenexcessive sun heating occurs, ventilation is needed. During cold nights and much of cold days, aheating system is required to maintain the desired temperature.After the initial investment in land and the greenhouse structure, the main expense will befor heat and labor. If the owner and family are the labor force, then heat becomes the biggestexpense. Other costs will include soil and growing media, fertilizer, pesticides, pots, seeds, and bulbs. The part-time greenhouse operator must develop a market for his products and skill withattention to details that result in quality plants.Crops to be grown will be influenced by where and to whom they will be sold. Marketingincludes selling wholesale to flower shops and garden centers or selling retail directly to theconsumer.A greenhouse should be on a site that takes advantage of full sun, provides good water drainage and utilizes windbreaks. Electricity and a good water supply are needed. A separate building should be used to store equipment and supplies, to provide workspace, and perhaps tohouse the heating system.Size of the greenhouse should be well planned. If the hobby or business endeavor provessuccessful, the greenhouse will soon be too small. Plan the size, location, and layout to permitfuture expansion.Larger greenhouses are more efficient and more economical to operate as they cost less per square foot and the environment can be maintained more uniformly. Heating and ventilationsystems are the most expensive items needed for a greenhouse. Their costs per unit area are lessin larger greenhouses.
Structural Options
Many styles of greenhouse frames exist; select one that is pleasing and practical for you.The frame may be wood, steel, or aluminum. The cover can be glass, plastic sheet, or fiberglass,each available in different sizes and qualities.A popular low cost greenhouse is the pipe frame or curved roof style. The foundation is aseries of pipes driven into the ground to support the curved roof members. Roof members may be made of steel or aluminum pipe or may be a curved truss.
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University of California Vegetable Research and Information Center 
The cover is a single or double layer of greenhouse-quality, ultraviolet-inhibited 6-mil(0.006 inch) thick or heavier plastic sheet. Plastic sheet is good for one or two years, dependingon the material quality and weather. An air-inflated double layer of plastic film can reduceheating costs by 30 percent.For a more permanent cover, use a clear greenhouse grade fiberglass. Fiberglass isavailable in several grades having service lives of a few years to perhaps 20.Plans are available through your county or state Cooperative Extension Service for wood framegreenhouses which can be covered by plastic film or fiberglass. Wood in contact with the soilshould be pressure-treated or painted with a wood preservative, Copper naphthenate is a safe preservative near plants; creosote and pentachlorophenol are harmful to plants.A good quality greenhouse can be built with a good foundation and rigid frame, or aninexpensive greenhouse can be built with a temporary frame to give seasonal plant protection.A glass greenhouse is the third possibility. Glass and aluminum or steel combine to makea long lasting, beautiful greenhouse. The glass, rigid aluminum or steel frame, and a sturdyfoundation make the initial investment high. However, annual maintenance is much less.While the glass greenhouse is a showplace, the beginner will find the less expensive, temporary plastic or fiberglass greenhouse well suited as a first structure.Two additional structural options are the hotbed and coldframe. These are low-walledframes with cover to give plants protection during cool, windy spring weather. A hotbed has aheat source in the soil. A 3 x 6 foot coldframe or hotbed can be used to advantage for startingvegetable or flowering plants.
Heating Systems
The greenhouse can be heated with steam, hot water, or hot air. The system can be fired by any of the conventional fuels. The heating system should be fully automatic and as free frommaintenance labor as possible.A thermostat is used to control heater operation. The fan on a hot air heater should bewired to run continuously to maintain uniform air temperature throughout the greenhouse.Two smaller heating units instead of one large one provides some insurance in case aheating unit fails. A small standby electrical generator is good to have for a power failure.Heating units must be vented to the outside if there are combustion gases. Provide an air inletnear the heating unit so oxygen is available for combustion.Heater size is determined by the following equation: heater size (BTU/hr) = (total surfacearea in square feet) times (night temperature difference between inside and outside, °F) times (aheat loss factor).The heat loss factor is 0.7 for air-separated double plastic sheet and 1.2 for single layer glass, fiberglass, or plastic sheet. These figures should be increased by adding 0.3 for hobby(small) greenhouses or for windy locations.
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University of California Vegetable Research and Information Center 
For further details read the bulletin, Hobby Greenhouses and Other Gardening Structures,available from NRAES, RileyRobb, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 for $2.
Ventilation, Shading
Ventilation is essential for producing good quality plants. The temperature must not gettoo high, and a supply of carbon dioxide must be maintained. Ventilation can be provided bynatural convection, using side and roof vents, or by mechanical means using exhaust fans andinlet louvers. Thermostats and electrical motors are used to automate ventilation.The ventilation system must be able to change the air once each minute in a largegreenhouse, and to change it one and a half times each minute in the hobby (small) greenhouse.Winter ventilation requirements are about one-quarter air change per minute. Two fans, with onehaving two speeds, are often used; the low speed of one fan is enough for winter. Motorizedintake louvers are placed on the opposite wall.The volume of a greenhouse is length times width times average height and is given incubic feet. The fan rating will be in cubic feet per minute (cfm).Shading materials such as saran cloth, movable lath strip covering, lime and water, anddilute white latex paint are used to reduce light intensities and to cut the solar heat load insummer. Light reduction is necessary for those plants which grow best in low light.Many plant functions are controlled by the length of day. Some plants such as petunia,China aster, or tuberous begonia naturally flower in the long days of summer (long-day plants)and others such as chrysanthemum or poinsettia flower in the short days of fall or winter (short-day plants).Other plants such as carnation, rose, lilies, and everblooming begonia flower regardlessof the day length (day-neutral plants).A greenhouse operator must protect short-day plants with a light-tight cover to induceflowering when days are long. Artificial light is used on long-day plants to induce blooming inwinter months.
Temperature Control
A well designed heating and ventilating system allows the greenhouse operator tomaintain the most efficient and economical temperature for plant growth. Greenhouse nighttemperatures are generally maintained at 50° to 70° F, depending on the kind of plant. Thetemperature is permitted to rise 10 to 15 degrees during the day before ventilation is started.The effect of temperature on growth varies with plants. Seedlings of many crops arestarted at a warm temperature and then grown at lower temperatures. This is true of annualvegetable and flower plants germinated and started at 70° to 75° F, grown at 65°, and finished at55°.
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