Shadehouses.

I have been using two smallish hothouses i got from kmart over the past 2 years, while one of them didnt quiet make it through the last summer i just needed something with a bit more room to move. The plastic on the kmart jobs didnt like the direct summer sun too much and fell to pieces on one, a quick repair with some decent shadehouse plastic has done the job so far but i dont like its chances of standing up to too much rain or a storm. So room was the main issue but also the plastic on the smaller two is completly clear and had to be covered with a layer of shadecloth or 2 for the one houseing seedlings, oh yeah, ventilation is shockin aswell. I had enough, it was time to build something a bit more stable and user friendly. I searched around for some plans for a good stable shadehouse that i could build on the cheap and for awhile i was just going to do a star picket and poly pipe job, i ended up with something similar but it looks alot prettier haha. It hasnt taken long at all so far but i better keep my mouth shut, i havent got to putting the plastic on yet . I wouldnt mind getting some heat pads and such in there also, hehe, if the boss lets me.





nearly done, just need to get the plastic, the benches in and most importantly the plants into their new home


Any of you guys got nice big shadehouses? What sort of plants do you have in there or is it just for a special purpose such as seedlings/grafts etc? and do you have suggestions about raisning cacti in a shadehouse?

Great photos PD. I like what you have done and I bet your cacti will like their new home. When I put mine up, I put the clear plastic over it, and then 50% shade cloth - based on all the literature I had read. Put the cacti in it in the middle of last summer. Mistake #1. They burned and all the small ones, and astros, started to suffer. Lithops all died.

Had to get 75% shadecloth for south oz and I put a strip of in the middle of my "house", so that each end still gets 50% sun and I can lift an end and give them full sun from the north end.

All my seedlings now get 75% shade, including my astros and lithops. Larger hardier plants like gymnos and ferros get 50%. I have moved my seedlings into the 50% end now because its not summer. In winter the ones that I'm trying to grow fastest (new seeds germinating) will get full sun.

Suppose my advice is - think about the shade cloth requirements for oz - they are not what some of the lit says.

pictures of my work in progress later.

cheers,
Calycium

Yeh i will definitely have shadecloth over the top in summer and some good ventilation. The heat really hurt some of my plants in the smaller houses and seedlings just stall. Will be the first year i have grown my seedlings through winter outdoors. They are going really well atm, much better than under the fluoro lights which isnt really a surprise but the real cold hasn't hit yet so im not counting my chickens.

Do you get any growth out of the plants through winter at all? I know my ornamentals slow to almost a stop in one shadehouse but that receives very little to no direct sunlight at all during the middle of winter.

Nice work PD, makes mine look like a lean to

Is the design for this "house" available on the net anywhere?

Cheers.

A small backyard greenhouse - PDF

There ya go trig
A few things in the design arent available in Au but they dont really matter that much, such as PVC cross joints, i just connected the ribs to the top middle support with lil roofing bolts also it says a aluminum tube should be put in the top middle support for stability but you cant get it so i didnt bother with it. The two 45x90 supports i ran on the top from front to back arent in the design but you need them unless you want the front and back frame to fall over.
Plastic is available at GOOD nurseries for around $20 per mtr and i saw it on ebay aswell nice and cheap (11 bux per mtr)

Cheers mate. Looks good. I think there is a website that sells solarweave and another one too I think. They are in Australia. Will have to have a look on my other computer for the link though. Will post on the forum as they had some other good stuff too.

Done and done.

Just awseome PD. Wish I had room for something like that.

Can't see the pic, seems to be a problem with the gallery. Damn!