Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with greenhouse

It's so very, very cold...

bolognius maximus — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 10:26:20 -0800

I have an uninsulated sunroom that gets pretty chilly in the winter, and want to make it so that it is at least room temp. and can be used for plants (without breaking the bank). Any ideas? My house has a sunroom that was built on to it, and I would like to use this room like a greenhouse for my houseplants. It isn't really insulated, and it has 3 very large windows and a sliding glass door. The floor is ceramic tile. I would like to not send my electric bill sky-high. I usually have to keep the door between the living room and sun room closed from late October until about March or April, because I am in Indiana where it is so cold (and it sucks) and cranks up my heating bill.

My idea was to use Gila Heat Control Light window film, to keep heat in. Then I wanted to use free-standing plant lights of some sort (so I don't have to drill holes, if I don't have to).

Does anyone have any ideas about how to best accomplish this? Has anyone tried any of the Gila films on their windows? Can anyone recommend a plant light? Thanks in advance.

Cactusfilter: How do I bring 200+ cactuses back to full health and keep them alive for the winter?

ageispolis — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 13:05:25 -0800

I've inherited a greenhouse and it is full of cactuses and succulents. I would very much like to keep them alive and healthy but I do not know where to begin! How can I become a cactus caretaker? I am in Victoria, BC, a temperate climate entering a rainy winter in the next couple of months. The previous owner died of a heart attack in June, and the cactuses have seen no care since then. Many of them are wilted, look unhealthy, and the greenhouse is dirty and falling apart. There's some fans and a lamp inside.

I would guess there's about 200 cactuses in the greenhouse.

Some of them are labelled echinocereus, opunita rufida, echniocereus sheerii, euphorbia mammillaris, grassula falcata, lobivia tiegriliana, ... and I could go in but there are 200 of them. Some are quite beautiful, some hideous. Do I leave them in the greenhouse or bring them inside for the winter? If I leave them inside, do I seal the greenhouse? When I inherited it the door was wide open and the ceiling panels are lifted to allow airflow. Such questions prove my inadequacy at dealing with this sort of thing, but I would hate for the cactuses to slowly dry/die out when I feel I have come across such a marvelous collection.

Greenhouse gas emissions per kg of fossil fuel

PercussivePaul — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 22:49:40 -0800

Given that, say, 100kg of fossil fuel is used in the making of a certain consumer product, I am interested in knowing - roughly - how much greenhouse gas emissions this might produce. Anyone know off-hand? Specifically I am interested in these two metrics:
- Emissions of greenhouse gases (e.g. carbon dioxide, methane etc.) [tonnes]
- Emissions of other air pollutants (e.g. sulphur dioxide, nitrous oxide, etc.) [tonnes]

This is for an eco-centric grant application for a non-profit I volunteer with which promotes re-use of this product (computers, if you're curious) in order to extend its lifetime. I'm trying to come up with a rough estimate of how much GHG emission reduction we might reasonably be able to take credit for.

That 100kg figure is an estimate based on a bunch of contributing factors including direct energy usage in manufacturing as well as "embodied" energy. The original source says:
"Although the amount of fossil fuels needed to generate electricity varies from nation to nation acording to different mix of energy sources used (e.g., more hydropower and less coal implies reduced fossil fuel use), throughout this analysis the global average is used (IEA 2002). " The source is the IEA Key World Energy Statistics, which I can find online.

I've found this pdf from the EPA that gives CO2 emissions in lbs per ton of coal, or barrel of oil, or cubic foot of natural gas, etc. I don't have a breakdown of how much of which type of fossil fuel is used. I could probably reconstruct it from the original data or from the IEA report but that may be time-consuming and I'm worried I might screw it up - this is my next step if no-one here has any ideas - but it also seems kind of like overkill. I don't need a precise figure for overall emissions; one or two significant figures is fine. The original data is not very precise in any case.

Thanks. I can provide more info if it would help.

What are your best tips for a new greenhouse owner?

adriana — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 11:42:43 -0800

What are your best tips for a new greenhouse owner? I'd like to learn how to use a greenhouse. Here are some of my questions:

- is it possible to use it year round? I live in virginia

- what should I know about setting it up (inside)? Any tips on best practices?

- what can I grow inside? While I like flowers and ornamental plants, I'd love to use it for "growing my own food"

- do you have any stories to tell about your own greenhouse?

- do you have any suggestions for absolute no-no things in the greenhouse?

- anything else you think will help a complete newbie like me

- links to blogs you like by greenhouse owners, and other sites where I can learn

Thanks.

omg global warming in my window!

nihlton — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 18:43:49 -0800

would my window sill plants benefit from enclosing them and ramping up co2 levels? assuming of course I also ramped up water, nutrients and heat. (ill worry about appropriate levels later - i just want to know if it would be worth it before i go any further)

if the species help - im growing lychee, pomegranate, artichoke, lime and mahuang.

Help me fix my wife's greenhouse please!

orlin — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 11:00:26 -0800

How would you recommend repairing a heavy plastic (clear tarp like material with what appears to be fiberglass threads in it for strength) green house flexible cover. After about 10 years of use in the cold region of upper Michigan, my wife’s portable greenhouse (door and a few areas along the metal framing) are worn and starting to rip apart. I’ve tried the tried and true “duct tape” and clear plastic vinyl to patch the rips and it only lasted one year. I’d love to get another 5-7 years out of the greenhouse and wouldn’t mind spending up to $100.00 to repair it. Any ideas or suggestions would be certainly appreciated. Thanks in advance….

I want to travel guilt free.

visual mechanic — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 11:34:24 -0800

How many trees do I have to plant to offset commercial airflight? Is there an easy formula which can tell me how many trees (and what kind) I have to plant to offset the CO2 emissions (and any other greenhouse related gases) that any particular commercial airflight that I take is responsible for?

Hydroponic and/or solar-powered container gardening?

allterrainbrain — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 01:26:04 -0800

Solar-powered and/or hydroponic apartment gardening: have you done it or something like it? Do you like or dislike any commercial solar kits or hydroponics kits, or suppliers of seeds & equipment for container gardening? I'm good with plants, but I haven't gardened with a focus on producing food since I was a kid. I've started doing research on container gardening, minimal solar systems, and hydroponics -- both on mefi & elsewhere. I'm looking to set up a system that will pay for itself within a couple of years (cost of all the gear vs. what I'd pay for the amount of organic produce it produces), so we're probably talking under $1000.

So this question is about putting those three elements together with budget as a big factor, and about specific crops to try. I'm thinking cherry tomatoes, strawberries, basil, mint -- generally, any stuff I like that's both expensive to buy organic and decently efficient to grow in a container.

Have you done this or anything like it?? What were your successes & failures? Do you recommend any particular suppliers of hydroponic kits, solar kits, or seeds?

For reference: I'm in NYC, facing south-by-southwest with sun all day; I pay for my own electricity; and I have only a fire escape (no balcony), so I can only put very minimal amounts of stuff outside -- we're talking shallow windowboxes plus hydroponic containers just inside the windows with additional (artificial) lighting. Thanks for all thoughts!

What are the Big Ideas for combating global warming?

Galvatron — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 14:37:01 -0800

What are the Big Ideas for combating global warming? Who is proposing them? Which do you find most plausible? I'll admit it: I've watched some Star Trek in my time. Let me tell you, when there's a planetary crisis brewing, they don't sit around for twenty years debating Kyoto Protocols. They call in the Enterprise, drill down to the planet core with phasers, and reliquify the magma. (Substitute "tractor-beam the asteroid," "initiate a cascade reaction," or "compress the gravitational field" as you see fit.)

If you can accept the idea that we have, in fact reached a tipping point where climate change may accelerate out of control, then we're potentially too late to reverse the effects by meagre (and uncoordinated) efforts at limiting emissions. So what are the Big Ideas for solving the problem? Who is talking seriously about treating the earth as a very large engineering problem?

As just one example, are there proposals for economically feasible ways to temporarily alter the earth's reflectivity? Would such proposals be sufficiently non-disruptive to everyday life that nations could agree on them? What is the probability that such efforts would have the desired effect?

For the purpose of this question, please assume that global warming/climate change is a reality; I'm not interested in holding that debate here. Bonus points for any answers involving lasers.

Drip-lines: How do they work? Advantages?

sirion — Sun, 22 May 2005 22:51:38 -0800

Can anyone give me a good intro to drip irrigation? I'm fairly used to sprinklers, but I've heard good things about drip lines, and I'm wondering whether it's worth trying to switch over. Things to address:
Advantages/disadvantages compared to sprinklers?
Can they be installed using PVC pipes attached to sprinkler timers? (We're in the final stages of running PVC pipes throughout my property, so the ability to connect these things to PVC pipes would be nice)
We have a new greenhouse built for my grandfather, and we're fairly clueless about greenhouse-type stuff. He wants to use it for starting seeds. There are 2 PVC hookups inside - would one benefit from getting hooked up to a drip line?

Care for Sensitive Plants (Mimosa Pudica) and other houseplants?

sirion — Fri, 11 Mar 2005 10:45:46 -0800

Any tips on how to make Sensitive Plants (the fern-like ones that close their leaves when you touch them) thrive? I can usually keep them pretty happy for a few months, but they gradually become more and more unresponsive and eventually die. I'm in Southern California and will be moving to a new place with a greenhouse, and am fairly ignorant in the ways of plant-tending. Another question, just for sucking as much possible information out of this as possible: Anyone have any indoor plants they really like? If so, how do you make *those* thrive?