My Latest Indoor Greenhouse

[Redwood Ryan]

Hey all,


Took a trip up to Meehans Miniatures in Maryland today and bought a decent sized tree. I took it home only to realize it was a little too tall for what I've got set up right now, so I did some tweaking and built another greenhouse. Took me a whole 45 minutes and cost me under $35. All I used was PVC, drop cloth, and tape. I sometimes use mylar to reflect light, but didn't this time as the mylar I have is too thin and I wanted to be able to somewhat see the trees and hold heat in. So here's what I did....

First I built my frame:

I then covered it in 2 mil drop cloth (2 mil holds in heat the best):

Cut out the top:

Covered the hole with plexiglass:

Added my trees and my light, and I'm ready to grow:

I'll end up adding a door and a couple more lights sometime in the next week, but this is at least a start. Thought I'd share it with you all to maybe spark some thoughts amongst other indoor growers.


And I'm sure I'll get plenty of nay-sayers that will question "Why I go to such effort", but hey, it's what I do and this is how I've been growing for years and nothing is going to change that

 

[KennedyMarx]

I really like the setup pictures you've posted, Ryan. They inspired me to try my hand at a similar one, but I had problems dealing with fungus growth. I chalk that up to lack of air. Didn't you have a fan blowing around in one of your other little greenhouses?

 

[Redwood Ryan]

I really like the setup pictures you've posted, Ryan. They inspired me to try my hand at a similar one, but I had problems dealing with fungus growth. I chalk that up to lack of air. Didn't you have a fan blowing around in one of your other little greenhouses?

Thanks! I've actually never had a fan blowing in any of my setups. What I usually do is just leave the door to the setup open for a few hours to let new air move in, then seal it back up.

Humidity in this one is up to 80%.

 

[JudyB]

Does your light just sit atop the PVC and plastic? Do you ever hove any heat issue from that?

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Does your light just sit atop the PVC and plastic? Do you ever hove any heat issue from that?

It's on top of the plexiglass, and the T5s never get too hot so heat isn't much of an issue.

 

[edprocoat]

Another nice on ryan ! Only problem I can foresee is eventually you will run out of indoors for your greenhouses !

ed

 

[Nybonsai12]

Looks great. How many bulbs are in that light and what is the distance from the bulbs to the plants?

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Another nice on ryan ! Only problem I can foresee is eventually you will run out of indoors for your greenhouses !

ed

Isn't that the truth

Looks great. How many bulbs are in that light and what is the distance from the bulbs to the plants?

This one's got 4 bulbs in it and the plants are about 5 inches away.

 

[Brian Underwood]

Man, if the fuzz ever raids your house you'll be in handcuffs real quick... right up until they realize your growing ficus...

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Man, if the fuzz ever raids your house you'll be in handcuffs real quick... right up until they realize your growing ficus...

Tell me about it

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Added shelving for the smaller stock and two more light fixtures for a total of 8 bulbs above this setup. Humidity is at 99% (according to the hygrometer).

 

[KennedyMarx]

Ryan, I just realized I was thinking of the fogger you had blowing into one of the enclosures. In my mind I guess I just associated it with increasing airflow more than increasing humidity.

Do you put your cuttings into the enclosures? I've had a hard time figuring out the best way to take cuttings of my different ficus. I've tried putting some in my enclosure, but I think they stayed too damp because they all began rotting. I think part of the problem (more so than the environment even) may have been that the original tree wasn't growing strongly enough to really have viable cuttings.

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Ryan, I just realized I was thinking of the fogger you had blowing into one of the enclosures. In my mind I guess I just associated it with increasing airflow more than increasing humidity.

Do you put your cuttings into the enclosures? I've had a hard time figuring out the best way to take cuttings of my different ficus. I've tried putting some in my enclosure, but I think they stayed too damp because they all began rotting. I think part of the problem (more so than the environment even) may have been that the original tree wasn't growing strongly enough to really have viable cuttings.

I'll occasionally put my cuttings into a setup like this, but most of the time what I end up doing is just planting the cutting and sticking it inside a bag so that humidity is much stronger and it increases the chances of the cutting rooting.

 

[mcpesq817]

Hey Ryan, nice set up.

Have you checked out Gardens Unlimited in Ladysmith VA? They have some pretty nice larger ficus for what seemed like a good value.

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Hey Ryan, nice set up.

Have you checked out Gardens Unlimited in Ladysmith VA? They have some pretty nice larger ficus for what seemed like a good value.

Oooo I have not. I have no idea where Ladysmith is (I imagine down around Richmond), so I'll have to do some Googling to see what I can find about them.

 

[Redwood Ryan]

I wonder how a schefflera would do in this setup....it is nice and warm and humid....

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Built another greenhouse for my biggest ficus that really has not been doing well at all lately. Added a warm mist humidifier and it's really warm and humid in there

 

[Redwood Ryan]

And a third one built tonight. I need to find a way to cut the plexiglass, so I'll finish it up tomorrow night. I'll have 4 bulbs over this one.






And I got myself a new PVC pipe cutting tool:

 

[Redwood Ryan]

I think I'll use this last greenhouse to start some Ficus from seed so that they'll be ready come spring time. So if anyone is interested, I'll be able to sell some of these harder to find species.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

Let me know when they've established and I'll take some off your hands.. It's not too far a drive and I could use some decent stock