ventilation/watering question - new GH owner!

[BB48]

Hello All

Finished putting up the greenhouse at the allotment last week after only a few head scratching moments and no arguments with OH!! I moved all my 'babies' in on Sunday and now have a couple of questions.

1 - do I need to water every day at this time of year or is every other day OK until it really warms up.
2 - Ventilation. I bought an auto vent opener but should the door be open a bit too. I am at work all day so worry that it could get too hot.
3 - Any advice on layout. At the moment I have a few paving slabs edged with bricks in the center. I dismantled tatty plastic GH and have it in two bits as staging and pinched a metal shelving thing from OH's shed to put plants on down one side. The rest I plan to have tubs on the floor. Does this sound OK or is there a better use of space.

Is there a way of searching this site for pics to get ideas on how to plan GH.

BB

[Patchninja]

As for watering, it really depends on each plant. You'll need to check the GH every day, at least once a day. Feel the weight of the pots to tell if they need water.
As for ventilating, if you know it's going to be a bit nippy, then I think at this time of the year, you can leave the door closed. If, however, it's going to be sunny all day, the temp. in the GH can soar. I'd say, err on the side of caution and open the door a bit.
There is no rule about watering. You just have to look at your plants. So much depends on the plant, the soil, the sun, the size of the pot.......
As for space, it depends on how much you want to spend on staging.......Have a look at what's about and choose what suits you. The layout of my GH may not be the sort of thing you want. Depends on what and how you want to grow things.
Lots of "depends"! Sorry about that. I think GHs are very personal

[rustylady]

As Patchninja said, the watering question depends on what you have growing and what size containers they're in. You can't lay down rules like once a day, twice a day, or every other day - you really do have to check the plants.

[Two_Sheds]

As the others have said ^.

I have auto-vents on mine (love it); I am watering nearly everything, every day (it's been sunny this week).
I try to water from the bottom, to reduce the green algae that forms from watering the surface of the soil, but sometimes I don't have the time to soak everything for 20 mins each.

[Tomatoking]

Hi BB48

I have added a ventilation advice section to my tomato blog, which might be of help.

Mr TK

[chris]

Do you need to try and maintain a certain temp?

My GH turned up yesterday - looking forward to trying to get started this weekend!

[Tomatoking]

Hi Chris

Well, it would be ideal if you could, but very difficult without automatic ventilation. I try to keep mine around 20 ish in the day and as warm as possible at night. Fluctuating temperatures are not good for plants, but it is difficult to maintain an even temperature if you are not about all the time.

Commercial growers of tomatoes set a night temp of 18 degrees, and vent automatically in the day at about 20 degrees.

Mr TK

[chris]

Ok thanks.. I've got 2 auto vents and a manual lourve. Looking forward to getting it up.

Odd though I expected the toughened glass to be really thick, but its like 4/5mm thick only?

[BB48]

Oh dear - better rush over there now, havent been since Tuesday. Hope everything is OK. Does capillary matting or something similar help in the event that I cant get there one day?

Thanks Mr TK - very useful info. I can see there is a lot more to GH growing than I first thought. Love a challenge tho!

[Tomatoking]

Bloody hell Chris I am so jealous, all I have is a few poles covered with a bit of plastic.

[BB48]

Oh - one more question. I have louvre window to put in but which side is best? Opposite to the roof vent or at the back of the GH or other??

Thanks again

BB

[Tomatoking]

BB48

I would say opposite the roof vent, that way you can vent either side if it is windy, and more heat would escape on very hot days.

Saying that, I am not sure if it is one that fits in the roof, as most I have seen have been on a gable opposite the main door. But the roof makes more sense to me.

[Bigmallly]

I put my louvre on the side opposite the vent but low to the floor & it seems ok.

[chris]

Bloody hell Chris I am so jealous, all I have is a few poles covered with a bit of plastic.

But in the past you must have had some uber kit to gorw tomatoes comercially! ;p If I saw that i'd be green

[Tomatoking]

But in the past you must have had some uber kit to gorw tomatoes comercially! ;p If I saw that i'd be green

Nah not really Chris, just channels of water below the floor where you dropped the picked tomatoes into. They were then floated up to the packing area and washed on the way. The colours and size of the fruit were then selected electronically and fed into separate trays.

High wire growing, where an electric motor lowered the whole row at one time as the plants grew taller.

An electric trolly that ran along the heating pipes like a little train, so you could trim the high wire tomatoes.

Obviously automatic vents, heating, and watering which monitored how much nutrients that had to be added.

But I think the best time was after all that, working in Portugal in the early
80's. It was like stepping back in time, growing in large plastic tunnels, growing in the soil again, ventilating by hand, using your skills to guess what to feed with. So I have recreated that little world again in miniature here in France, and I am as happy as a pig in you know what.

MR TK