Guidelines to Using Your Backyard Greenhouse
If you have a greenhouse in your backyard, then you are truly blessed. You have a wonderful space to grow plants during chilly weather; a warm cozy place to spend a sunny winter day; or even a quiet, private hideaway when life gets overwhelming.
Using your greenhouse in any one of these ways is great; however, most people have a greenhouse for plants - a place to grow their own vegetables, flowers, fruits, and herbs. By using your greenhouse mainly for growing plants in a controlled environment, you can be sure that what you're eating is grown the way you want it.
It can be free of unwanted pesticides that most commercially produced vegetables might have. You can grow your favorite varieties, and experiment with new types.
If you like flowers, then a greenhouse is perfect for you. Try some exotic flowers and plants in your greenhouse, because they are bound to do well in the controlled environment a greenhouse offers.
Let's take a look at some requirements of greenhouse farming, so you can make sure your plants get what they need to thrive, and that your gardening efforts aren't wasted.
Planting
Let's consider the best way to start seeds growing. Most greenhouse gardeners like to plant seeds in flats, set up off the ground. This allows you to better work with the seedlings, to monitor their growth, and to keep the soil warmer than if they were sitting directly on the ground.
Use a good soil mix for starting your seedlings. You can buy commercially made planting soil, or you can make your own by mixing 1/3 garden soil and 1/3 well-seasoned compost and 1/3 sand. You know your seedling mixture is perfect if it is fine textured and crumbly, and tends to fall apart after being squeezed in your hand. Mix it well, and spread it in the flats. Plant your seeds according to the directions on the seed packets.
Misting
When the temperature soars, the humidity inside your greenhouse drops, and if it drops below 30 percent, moisture is pulled out of the plants through their leaves, and the growth of your plants is seriously hindered.
A misting system produces favorable, consistent conditions throughout the entire year, which helps increase germination and growth rates, helps to control diseases, and reduces plant stress.
A greenhouse misting system causes the greenhouse to cool and humidify by spraying a mist of very fine water. This mist is easily evaporated, bringing the temperature of the greenhouse down. Temperatures may be lowered by as much as 30 degrees Fahrenheit. Humidity levels can be maintained near 90 percent.
Greenhouse Fogging
Because an overly damp greenhouse environment can cause molds and other disease problems, some greenhouses are using a similar process called a greenhouse fogging system.
High-pressure pumps force water through tubing out through special fog misting nozzles, creating a fog-like mist. Humidity and cooling are accurately controlled, without causing noticeable wetness to the surfaces of your plants and greenhouse interior.
With a greenhouse fogging system, the plants may be provided with all the moisture they require simply by pulling the moisture from the air through their leaves, just as they do in nature.
With the use of a good misting or fogging system, your plants will be healthier, propagation and germination will be improved, and energy costs will be reduced.
Lighting
Lighting can be one of the most essential elements to successful plant production in a backyard greenhouse, since greenhouse plants have meticulous requirements for proper lighting. A good lighting system will help to add light to shady areas and propagation areas in the greenhouse,
There are many types of greenhouse lighting available, including incandescent grow bulbs, standard T12 fluorescent horticultural tubes, compact fluorescent plant grow light systems, high output T5 fluorescent tubes, and high-intensity HID grow lights, to name a few.
High intensity discharge (HID) lighting is used in a greenhouse to supplement sunlight, as well as to actually replace it during the winter when natural sunlight is in short supply. HID lighting is capable of producing 500% more light than regular incandescent grow bulbs using the same amount of electricity.
Metal halide (MH) grow lights emit a light spectrum, which contains the important red and blue wavelengths that plants need for proper growth. This color spectrum keeps plants short and compact, making it the best for all-purpose growth, starting seeds and cuttings, as well as for actually growing fruiting vegetables like tomatoes and peppers, full size bedding plants, and leafy greens.
High Pressure Sodium (HPS) bulbs work well as a multi-purpose light. They emit a spectrum, which is more concentrated in red/orange light. Because of the lack of blue spectrum light, using only HPS lighting can result in "leggy" plants, but it is favorable for the fruiting and flowering stage of a plant's development.
Switchable, or convertible models provide the ability for growers to easily switch between metal halide (MH) and high-pressure sodium (HPS) in one fixture, in order to utilize both of these technologies without having to purchase both types of fixtures separately.
Adding supplemental lighting will give you stronger, healthier seed starts. Your plants will mature faster and will be more vigorous, plant yield will be higher, and flowers will be more spectacular than can be achieved without supplemental lighting.
If you are a serious greenhouse gardener, you will recognize these benefits to increase the health, strength, growth rate, and yield of your plants.
Water
It's important to water correctly. With freshly planted seedlings, give them just a light misting at first so the seeds won't float up to the surface. Apply enough water using this method until the soil is thoroughly damp. Keep it damp but not soggy. If you see green growing on top of your soil, that's a sign that you are watering too much.
Keep in mind that because of the humid environment of the greenhouse, your plants will probably not need as much water as you are used to giving your outside garden plants. There is plenty of water in the greenhouse atmosphere for the plants to absorb.
Fertilizer
Good planting soil mixes contain the nutrients your plants need for at least the initial stages of plant growth. However, since these nutrients become depleted, you will need to feed your plants with a balanced fertilizer.
Please be careful with this, because if you over feed your plants, you can harm them worse than if they receive no additional nutrients at all. One recommended type of feeding mixture is liquid seaweed. Another is homemade animal-manure tea.
Monitor the Temperature
Your plants will wilt and die if they get too hot, so you need to monitor the temperature inside your greenhouse carefully and consistently. To make this easy on yourself, just install a thermometer at the level of your plants inside the greenhouse. This way you can do a quick check to know exactly when to adjust the cooling or ventilation.
Don't allow your greenhouse to go above 80 degrees Fahrenheit. It's better to let your greenhouse be a little cool than for your plants to get too hot.You will probably need to install some kind of ventilation system. You have a few options here. The most basic is just to put a fan at each end of the greenhouse near an opening.
Vents in the roof of the greenhouse can allow you to let hot air escape when necessary.
Even easier than this is an automatic ventilation systems that open vents when the temperature reaches a certain level. This may be a bit costly, but it is very efficient and relieves you of having to open and shut them manually.
Chris M Frederick is a greenhouse enthusiast and self-proclaimed backyard gardening expert.
His website offers you more information on Using Your Backyard Greenhouse. Don't miss his FREE 10-part mini-course on "Greenhouse Gardening". It's jam-packed with tips and techniques for the greenhouse gardener enthusiast to help you grow the most luscious, beautiful, bountiful crop of vegetables, flowers, herbs, and fruits. Subscribe for FREE by visiting his website at GreenhousePlansSecrets.com.
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