Hi, I am here in east Texas too. My Dad used an old water heater to heat his greenhouses. He cut the top off and let the warmth of the heated water fill the greenhouse. It worked fabulous and was very cost efficient.
If you hot those plastic barrels with some 80 grit sand paper, the paint will stick better. There is also a spray you can get from the auto store specifically for getting the paint to stick to plastic better.
Hello from MD. Thanks for sharing! You have no idea how much you push me to keep going. I’ve been so stressed, as we all have, and homesteading has given me peace and prepped me for survival. God Bless you!
I have lived in both south Florida and south Texas, and let me tell you that in the summer in both places it is so hot and humid that anything other than tropical plants will cook and die there!
This is straight up my alley, I am 100% in the market for something like this in the next few years. Glad to know I can help support your channel when it comes time. God bless you and yours!
Thats around 72 square meter of greenhouse for 3000 dollar or 42 dollar/square meter. I purchased a greenhouse from China with 180 square meters for 2500 USD. Or 14 dollar per square meter. Shipped and duties paid. It has similar features. The ceiling is a bit higher, It comes with doors and a hand winch to rolle up the sides. The frame is made of 50mm galvanized tube (the frame in the video is made of around 35mm tubes)
Just got my Derksen greenhouse this week in southeast Louisiana. I had a solar panel driven fan installed that turns on when it gets too hot. I was thinking of doing passive solar but with so little cold weather here, I think the propane heater may be a better choice. It’s only an8x12 so I hate to use up too much room with water containers. I would like a poly tunnel to go over my citrus trees.
Thanks for the greenhouse video my man. Just fyi, a little surface prep on that drum will get the paint something to stick to. To properly paint anything, surface prep, primer, paint. Scuff with sand paper and wipe very clean with isopropyl alcohol. Then paint and see if that sticks a lot better. It is always recommended to use a primer before painting. Primers are thinner that actually bond to the surface and are designed to get into microscopic crevices to get a consistent coating for the paint to stick to. Thanks again for the video. Helped me out a lot.
~If you live in an area with a lot of Black Bears sometimes they like to chew plastic. Then a person could put a Gallagher (or another brand) Electric Fence around your greenhouse to repel Bears. ~Also an open "unvented" Propane Heater does give off dangerous Carbon Monoxide fumes. If you plan to spend a lot of time in your greenhouse keep this in mind.
Just get some barrels that come in black color. They will also be cheaper as black plastic means it has been recycled a few times, hence the burnt out color.
Unfortunately I was not able to afford such a nice greenhouse. But nought one last year. It was a 10x20 Quicktent greenhouse. Was supposed to be q0x26 but it wasn't. Didn't even open it until couple of weeks ago. Used it for my potted citrus and avocado tree as well as my fall potatoes. Unfortunately the wind got so high it tore the stitches first thing. So going to order a replacement cover and only put it on when needed. If windy when I need it I will strap tarps on over ot to add some protection. Thanks for another great video....Jeff
@@CountryLivingExperience Thanks, I'll just have to go with what I have fir the near future. But plan on a larger one someday. Even if I just build it. Thanks
Hey Mike, I hope you got through the storm okay today. Over here North of Longview we were very blessed looked bad but never got severe. Praise YAH!......Jeff
Good morning Eric, I enjoyed your video. I don’t think we can have a green house up here. We’re already getting into the teens at night and starting Sunday we’re going to have a week of snow. Furthermore I don’t think a green house can hold the 5-6 feet of snow every winter. We also get high winds at times. Personally we’d Love to grow food year round. Also during the winter months we only get about 3-4 hours of sunlight per day as we live in the mountains. On the up side, we get about 16-17 hours of sunlight during our summer time. We were able to get 5 harvests from our Swiss Chard and multiple harvests from our wax beans as well. Anyhow, have a great day and Be Blessed !
You'll do the best with what you have Doc. I am sure of it. Remember I mentioned that I have plenty of friends with greenhouses in the northern states and they get plenty of snow.
Before I do anything like that please watch videos like these.....ua-cam.com/video/sbi0UrSMxoM/v-deo.html, ua-cam.com/video/0x8GNyuDs0w/v-deo.html, ua-cam.com/video/ZD_3_gsgsnk/v-deo.html, ua-cam.com/video/9ILZBGTP1Gg/v-deo.html, ua-cam.com/video/9ILZBGTP1Gg/v-deo.html, ua-cam.com/video/0r8UHFsrGJA/v-deo.html
We have a lot of videos on this subject. ua-cam.com/video/AATNOWVVtBQ/v-deo.html ua-cam.com/video/Zyc1-pGCxAQ/v-deo.html ua-cam.com/video/k3qYmj8vhHE/v-deo.html
Really like all your greenhouse videos. It is on the list of must haves... now we need to get to time and finances lol. I love the idea of stretching our growing season here in Ohio. Thanks for sharing! 🤠
Excellent video as always. Very informative. I have a question that the internet doesn't help with. If I bring in exotic plants from other areas of the world and grow them in the greenhouse will they have the same properties they had in their native environment. Like medicinal and health benefit-wise? Just wondering your thoughts on it. Thanks
For the thermometer, can you help me understand how the Bluetooth works? I thought devices need to be close together to communicate. Is your house close enough to the greenhouse, that it still stays connected? What about when you are away from home - do you still get updates then?
What about toxicity from the plastic fumes Is there any plastics or other material that do not off gas Anything that off gas it will get into your plants Any suggestion re very welcome
Where I live here in Valley Center California two years ago I have built two 12' x 30' metal hoop greenhouses with woven cord reinforced plastic sheeting. We put down heavy duty landscaping ground cloth which so far the gophers haven't chewed through. The real problem is the rabbitts, squirrels, rats, mice and insects having a buffet. Squirrels, mice and rats can chew through plastic in minutes and 3' of 1/4" x 1/4" fencing around the outside stops only the rabbitts. The mice, rats and squirrels just use it for a ladder and chew through the plastic at 3' high. The squirrels,rats and mice attract snakes including rattlesnakes which have already bitten one of my small dogs. We are now building a 24' x 30' greenhouse. I'm going to dig out dirt 24" over the whole foot print of the greenhouse lay wire fencing to stop the gophers. Pour a concrete stem wall completely around the perimeter with framed in doors on each end. bring in soil mixture, walls will be top and bottom plates with studs and rafters 36" oc, and sheet the whole building 1/4" fine mesh screen. This is So cal so we have no snow with 360 plus days a year sun so a 50/50% shade cloth will be required in the summer
We don't have snow either and always use a 50 50 shade cloth. We don't have problems with mice, rats, or squirrels because we have farm dogs and cats. They keep all of those pests away.
@@CountryLivingExperience One of my small chihuahuas was chasing a mouse in in one of our greenhouse and got bite in the face with a rattlesnake. This is why we build our green house so tight.
We are west of you and planning out on a smaller/cattle panel scale. How did your plants handle our last couple big ice storms? I noticed you’re growing in beds. How far off the ground does that make your plants?
Thank you for all of this information. The fact that you included the price is priceless! By that i mean, info is great but if you don't know what it cost, how can you make a decision???? God bless and keep growing.
Re: Blue barrels to Black...There is paint for plastic...Krylon Fusion for Plastic® , Valspar® Plastic Spray Paint , and Rust-Oleum Specialty Paint For Plastic Spray . If using regular spray paint then your item will need to be primed. (From an internet search).
I grow under pine trees and struggle to get enough sun. I do live in South Mississippi, zone 8b, hot and humid, but do you think the shade cloth would be necessary in my situation?
Are you able to trim back branches (to get more sun)?? Even if you took a lot off, it may work out ok and everyone would completely understand the hack job!! Then shade cloth if necessary. I need it where I Iive because I get straight direct sun ALL day.
@@CountryLivingExperience I checked out the source you had for the greenhouse. They had a link for FAQ for what shadecloth was best. They said most veg plants require 40%. Flowers more% and hardier plants less %. I used your link to get 10% off (super thanks for that❤️😊) and I also received free shipping on my custom made shadecloth. Love your channel and thank you for all you share with us. Yah(God) bless you and yours.
Does the heat from a compost pile or barrel(s) suffice to keep a greenhouse like your sufficiently warm? I've wondered if this 100% self sufficient way would work. Great vid as always.
I spend so long making a decision, deciding the best thing to do, covering all the bases and not wanting to make a mistake. Therefore I do nothing. BUT when you think that you can't take your money with you, spend it now if you can. My ground is unlevel (slight slope) and was old cow lot pasture. Deep manure. It had to be pushed aside and then it never got leveled properly where I want a greenhouse. It slopes a little but I might make do with that?? A concrete 4x8x16 could fix things. I really didn't want a permanently covered greenhouse because I hoped for rain to do part of that job. See what I mean?? Decisions, decisions, decisions. Good grief.
So right....you cannot take it with you. Get it going now so you can start growing food faster. You can have the greenhouse and an outdoor garden like us. You are never locked into just one thing.
I had poor soil and didn't understand amending, etc. I bought some from a landscaping/mulch place and thought it was ready to go. And in my raised beds I didn't realize just how HOT that soil got. Plus watering! Easy to mess that up with too much/too little. Good luck.
That's a very nice looking greenhouse setup you have. If money were no object, I might be tempted to spend the $5,000 or so it likely took to put together exactly what you show in the video. The kit costs $,3000 plus two doors at $100 each. And you didn't say how much for the vent fan kit plus the wiring needed to run it. I'm figuring labor for an electrician to wire to meet code and materials for that part at $300.,.and that assumes you have an easy, close buy wiring junction box to tap into. So we are at $3,500 already. And you said the wood portions were also not included. Materials for 240 linear feet of 1 x 6 wood and sealant to protect the wood likely will cost another $400. You need a 20 gallon propane tank, fuel, and a propane heater, so add in another $150 or so. We are now at $4,050 but we are not done yet. Let's add in 1,000 SF of ground cover material at a cost of another $200. Throw in some Bluetooth monitors, add some electrical lighting and receptacles, run some water lines or install drip irrigation and we are ready to grow veggies. WAIT! Nope, not ready yet. We need those 20 or so pretty metal raised beds full of growing mix to garden in, along with lots of other buckets, bags, pots, and similar veggie containers. Yeah, no doubt about it, that rips a $5,000 budget to shreds to get what you have for growing the family's veggies. What's the length of time needed to recoup that sort of upfront investments anyway, keeping in mind that the tunnel merely EXTENDS the normal growing season. I'm in Jackson, Mississippi, also just like you in Zone 8 b. Our growing season is virtually the same as yours. I typically grow from March to October and sometimes even a little longer WITHOUT any tunnels or bed covers at all. Thus I get an 8 month growing season WITHOUT all the investment you have. Any recovery of the $5,000 cost to grow like you do must therefore come from the EXTRA amount of food I would be able to grow "allegedly" during those other 4 months of the year. Realistically, I don't believe the set up you have would give more than about 2 additional months of food growth, as it really is difficult to grow veggies in the dead of winter due to short daylight, cold temps, and most crops simply not being in sync with a wintertime growth pattern. So do you get, say, an extra $100 worth of food for two extra months using your set up, or $200 per year to count toward payback of the $5,000 it costs for your system? At that rate, it would only take 25 years to recover your gardening investment. Just how long does that UV treated 6 or 8 mil plastic last anyway? It will be exposed to wind much higher than 25 mph in Mississippi at least. We had 50 mph gusts just last week. Plus we get lots of tornadoes and hurricanes. And we get hail nearly every single summer too some of which will rip 8 mil plastic to shreds. Not to mention wildlife that will chew or rip through the plastic sheeting to get inside, like raccoons, possums, skunks, squirrels, and other critters. I'm now 70 years old and have been gardening more than 50 years. I have yet to be convinced that expensive set ups like that pay off in a growing zone such as where you and I are located. It's just too simple to grow for a very long season in our areas without having to invest in that sort of equipment. It's just my opinion but I have a right to express it which I will do. Most of the time, people posting videos like this promoting the sale of expensive equipment are doing so to earn a fee from purchases they persuade others to make. "Influencing" others is profitable. So is getting lots of video views on You Tube. But are the products really worth the cost? In my opinion they are not. I live on a 20 acre homestead property. I've found that many of the ideas of self sufficiency promoted today are not cost effective. That's particularly true for small scale, backyard type gardening set ups. Actual farming operations might be a different story but for the average home grower trying to raise food for their family they would usually be better off simply growing veggies in a less expensive manner.
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Hi, I am here in east Texas too. My Dad used an old water heater to heat his greenhouses. He cut the top off and let the warmth of the heated water fill the greenhouse. It worked fabulous and was very cost efficient.
Cool
that’s so smart
gotta be good for humidity too
If you hot those plastic barrels with some 80 grit sand paper, the paint will stick better. There is also a spray you can get from the auto store specifically for getting the paint to stick to plastic better.
Hello from MD. Thanks for sharing! You have no idea how much you push me to keep going. I’ve been so stressed, as we all have, and homesteading has given me peace and prepped me for survival. God Bless you!
You're welcome. Glad we could be motivating for you. God Bless you as well!
I have lived in both south Florida and south Texas, and let me tell you that in the summer in both places it is so hot and humid that anything other than tropical plants will cook and die there!
Mine don’t. I have shade cloth as you can see.
This is straight up my alley, I am 100% in the market for something like this in the next few years. Glad to know I can help support your channel when it comes time. God bless you and yours!
Awesome! Glad it was informative. Thank you for your support! God Bless!
If you sand the outside of the barrel it will help paint adhere to the surface of the barrel.
Thats around 72 square meter of greenhouse for 3000 dollar or 42 dollar/square meter.
I purchased a greenhouse from China with 180 square meters for 2500 USD. Or 14 dollar per square meter. Shipped and duties paid.
It has similar features. The ceiling is a bit higher, It comes with doors and a hand winch to rolle up the sides.
The frame is made of 50mm galvanized tube (the frame in the video is made of around 35mm tubes)
Just got my Derksen greenhouse this week in southeast Louisiana. I had a solar panel driven fan installed that turns on when it gets too hot. I was thinking of doing passive solar but with so little cold weather here, I think the propane heater may be a better choice. It’s only an8x12 so I hate to use up too much room with water containers. I would like a poly tunnel to go over my citrus trees.
The propane will be a good addition.
Thanks for the greenhouse video my man. Just fyi, a little surface prep on that drum will get the paint something to stick to. To properly paint anything, surface prep, primer, paint. Scuff with sand paper and wipe very clean with isopropyl alcohol. Then paint and see if that sticks a lot better. It is always recommended to use a primer before painting. Primers are thinner that actually bond to the surface and are designed to get into microscopic crevices to get a consistent coating for the paint to stick to. Thanks again for the video. Helped me out a lot.
Glad it was helpful.
I did scuff the barrels but didn't prime them.
Still working on a greenhouse and chicken enclosure.
~If you live in an area with a lot of Black Bears sometimes they like to chew plastic. Then a person could put a Gallagher (or another brand) Electric Fence around your greenhouse to repel Bears.
~Also an open "unvented" Propane Heater does give off dangerous Carbon Monoxide fumes. If you plan to spend a lot of time in your greenhouse keep this in mind.
Glad there are no bears here.
love the bees wax thermostat.... buell motorcycles used the same theory in there motorcycles for years
Cool
Great video great view.Tree house.Trees 🌲. Summer. Great weather Sounds.
Thanks
This is a very helpful video for me, thank you.
You’re welcome
Just get some barrels that come in black color. They will also be cheaper as black plastic means it has been recycled a few times, hence the burnt out color.
Couldn't find black ones around here.
Unfortunately I was not able to afford such a nice greenhouse. But nought one last year. It was a 10x20 Quicktent greenhouse. Was supposed to be q0x26 but it wasn't. Didn't even open it until couple of weeks ago. Used it for my potted citrus and avocado tree as well as my fall potatoes. Unfortunately the wind got so high it tore the stitches first thing. So going to order a replacement cover and only put it on when needed. If windy when I need it I will strap tarps on over ot to add some protection. Thanks for another great video....Jeff
Hope you find a good solution for your greenhouse needs. We did an old video on greenhouse strapping using paracord. Check our video archives for it.
@@CountryLivingExperience Thanks, I'll just have to go with what I have fir the near future. But plan on a larger one someday. Even if I just build it. Thanks
Hey Mike, I hope you got through the storm okay today. Over here North of Longview we were very blessed looked bad but never got severe. Praise YAH!......Jeff
Good morning Eric,
I enjoyed your video.
I don’t think we can have a green house up here. We’re already getting into the teens at night and starting Sunday we’re going to have a week of snow.
Furthermore I don’t think a green house can hold the 5-6 feet of snow every winter. We also get high winds at times.
Personally we’d Love to grow food year round.
Also during the winter months we only get about 3-4 hours of sunlight per day as we live in the mountains.
On the up side, we get about 16-17 hours of sunlight during our summer time. We were able to get 5 harvests from our Swiss Chard and multiple harvests from our wax beans as well.
Anyhow, have a great day and Be Blessed !
You'll do the best with what you have Doc. I am sure of it.
Remember I mentioned that I have plenty of friends with greenhouses in the northern states and they get plenty of snow.
@@CountryLivingExperience Please give them my email address so that I can ask them questions.
Thanks!
Before I do anything like that please watch videos like these.....ua-cam.com/video/sbi0UrSMxoM/v-deo.html, ua-cam.com/video/0x8GNyuDs0w/v-deo.html, ua-cam.com/video/ZD_3_gsgsnk/v-deo.html, ua-cam.com/video/9ILZBGTP1Gg/v-deo.html, ua-cam.com/video/9ILZBGTP1Gg/v-deo.html, ua-cam.com/video/0r8UHFsrGJA/v-deo.html
How did you build your planter boxes , can you show that and how to line or fill with soil?
We have a lot of videos on this subject. ua-cam.com/video/AATNOWVVtBQ/v-deo.html ua-cam.com/video/Zyc1-pGCxAQ/v-deo.html ua-cam.com/video/k3qYmj8vhHE/v-deo.html
Really like all your greenhouse videos. It is on the list of must haves... now we need to get to time and finances lol. I love the idea of stretching our growing season here in Ohio. Thanks for sharing! 🤠
Thank you. Hopefully you’ll be able to get one soon.
Excellent video. Great information. Thanks
Thank you
Excellent video as always. Very informative. I have a question that the internet doesn't help with. If I bring in exotic plants from other areas of the world and grow them in the greenhouse will they have the same properties they had in their native environment. Like medicinal and health benefit-wise? Just wondering your thoughts on it. Thanks
Thank you.
Yes, if you keep those exotic plants alive and maintain good soil, they will have the same healing properties.
For the thermometer, can you help me understand how the Bluetooth works? I thought devices need to be close together to communicate. Is your house close enough to the greenhouse, that it still stays connected? What about when you are away from home - do you still get updates then?
Our greenhouse is about 60 feet from our house. It works fine at that distance. Away from home it cannot be monitored.
What about toxicity from the plastic fumes Is there any plastics or other material that do not off gas Anything that off gas it will get into your plants Any suggestion re very welcome
I am not worried about anything like that. It would be so minimal if it even exists.
i think off gases would be gone fast if much cause your not using this inside a house or enclosed and insulated area
When it comes to a greenhouse do plants rely more on sunlight or heat in the greenhouse?
Heat
Thank you for answering.
I’m needing a newer greenhouse - live in Alaska. There’s still at least 18” of snow on the ground😀
They are valuable for sure.
Where I live here in Valley Center California two years ago I have built two 12' x 30' metal hoop greenhouses with woven cord reinforced plastic sheeting. We put down heavy duty landscaping ground cloth which so far the gophers haven't chewed through. The real problem is the rabbitts, squirrels, rats, mice and insects having a buffet. Squirrels, mice and rats can chew through plastic in minutes and 3' of 1/4" x 1/4" fencing around the outside stops only the rabbitts. The mice, rats and squirrels just use it for a ladder and chew through the plastic at 3' high. The squirrels,rats and mice attract snakes including rattlesnakes which have already bitten one of my small dogs. We are now building a 24' x 30' greenhouse. I'm going to dig out dirt 24" over the whole foot print of the greenhouse lay wire fencing to stop the gophers. Pour a concrete stem wall completely around the perimeter with framed in doors on each end. bring in soil mixture, walls will be top and bottom plates with studs and rafters 36" oc, and sheet the whole building 1/4" fine mesh screen. This is So cal so we have no snow with 360 plus days a year sun so a 50/50% shade cloth will be required in the summer
We don't have snow either and always use a 50 50 shade cloth. We don't have problems with mice, rats, or squirrels because we have farm dogs and cats. They keep all of those pests away.
@@CountryLivingExperience One of my small chihuahuas was chasing a mouse in in one of our greenhouse and got bite in the face with a rattlesnake. This is why we build our green house so tight.
We are west of you and planning out on a smaller/cattle panel scale. How did your plants handle our last couple big ice storms? I noticed you’re growing in beds. How far off the ground does that make your plants?
The plants did well in the last few storms. I do need to heat the greenhouse with propane at night though. My raised beds are only 12" tall.
Thank you for all of this information. The fact that you included the price is priceless! By that i mean, info is great but if you don't know what it cost, how can you make a decision???? God bless and keep growing.
God bless you too Nancy. Glad the info was helpful.
Does that Mr. Heater have a thermostat or do you have to go out and manually turn it on/off before and after the weather dips below freezing?
This particular model does not have a thermostat. Other models do.
Re: Blue barrels to Black...There is paint for plastic...Krylon Fusion for Plastic® , Valspar® Plastic Spray Paint , and Rust-Oleum Specialty Paint For Plastic Spray . If using regular spray paint then your item will need to be primed. (From an internet search).
Thank you
😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊 Thank you very much for the information. 😊😊😊😊
You're welcome
I grow under pine trees and struggle to get enough sun. I do live in South Mississippi, zone 8b, hot and humid, but do you think the shade cloth would be necessary in my situation?
If you are struggling to get enough sun through the pine trees then I don't think you need the shade cloth.
Are you able to trim back branches (to get more sun)?? Even if you took a lot off, it may work out ok and everyone would completely understand the hack job!! Then shade cloth if necessary. I need it where I Iive because I get straight direct sun ALL day.
On the shade cloth- how did you figure out what percentage you needed? Why did you choose 40%?
Honestly, just by talking to people and observing other market gardening channels.
@@CountryLivingExperience I checked out the source you had for the greenhouse. They had a link for FAQ for what shadecloth was best. They said most veg plants require 40%. Flowers more% and hardier plants less %. I used your link to get 10% off (super thanks for that❤️😊) and I also received free shipping on my custom made shadecloth. Love your channel and thank you for all you share with us. Yah(God) bless you and yours.
Why can’t I ring the bell? Are they blocking you?
Weird. I have no idea.
Does the heat from a compost pile or barrel(s) suffice to keep a greenhouse like your sufficiently warm? I've wondered if this 100% self sufficient way would work. Great vid as always.
Thank you. I don't think it would be enough but it really all depends on the size of your greenhouse.
I spend so long making a decision, deciding the best thing to do, covering all the bases and not wanting to make a mistake. Therefore I do nothing. BUT when you think that you can't take your money with you, spend it now if you can. My ground is unlevel (slight slope) and was old cow lot pasture. Deep manure. It had to be pushed aside and then it never got leveled properly where I want a greenhouse. It slopes a little but I might make do with that?? A concrete 4x8x16 could fix things. I really didn't want a permanently covered greenhouse because I hoped for rain to do part of that job. See what I mean?? Decisions, decisions, decisions. Good grief.
So right....you cannot take it with you. Get it going now so you can start growing food faster. You can have the greenhouse and an outdoor garden like us. You are never locked into just one thing.
How do you protect against pest?
Which type of pest?
That's funny your bad winds are 25 that's typically a normal day here. Are bad days are 50 to 60 mph with gust of 70
Yep. Not super windy here. In WY, where my brother lives, it is similar to your experience. Do you live in WY?
@@CountryLivingExperience no I live in the Oklahoma panhandle and this week it's been sustained 25 pretty much all week with higher gust
Ah, cool. I wish we had a bit more wind because I would add a small wind generator to my off-grid systems.
There is alot of wind farms nearby
Yep. I'm in MO and we can get some strong.
Watching from Biliran Island, Philippines sir
Kamusta
What cover crops do you have in your greenhouse?
We planted some beds with a fall cover crop mix from Johnny's. Mostly winter rye and field pea.
Dude, you totally skipped over California. The largest agriculture producing state in the country
Maybe he just assumes that if you are homesteading, you don't live in Cali?
Nice!
Everything I grow dies lol. I need to keep working on it. Good stuff and keep it up
Thank you.
You'll get it growing soon.
I had poor soil and didn't understand amending, etc. I bought some from a landscaping/mulch place and thought it was ready to go. And in my raised beds I didn't realize just how HOT that soil got. Plus watering! Easy to mess that up with too much/too little. Good luck.
That's a very nice looking greenhouse setup you have. If money were no object, I might be tempted to spend the $5,000 or so it likely took to put together exactly what you show in the video. The kit costs $,3000 plus two doors at $100 each. And you didn't say how much for the vent fan kit plus the wiring needed to run it. I'm figuring labor for an electrician to wire to meet code and materials for that part at $300.,.and that assumes you have an easy, close buy wiring junction box to tap into. So we are at $3,500 already. And you said the wood portions were also not included. Materials for 240 linear feet of 1 x 6 wood and sealant to protect the wood likely will cost another $400. You need a 20 gallon propane tank, fuel, and a propane heater, so add in another $150 or so. We are now at $4,050 but we are not done yet.
Let's add in 1,000 SF of ground cover material at a cost of another $200. Throw in some Bluetooth monitors, add some electrical lighting and receptacles, run some water lines or install drip irrigation and we are ready to grow veggies. WAIT! Nope, not ready yet. We need those 20 or so pretty metal raised beds full of growing mix to garden in, along with lots of other buckets, bags, pots, and similar veggie containers. Yeah, no doubt about it, that rips a $5,000 budget to shreds to get what you have for growing the family's veggies.
What's the length of time needed to recoup that sort of upfront investments anyway, keeping in mind that the tunnel merely EXTENDS the normal growing season. I'm in Jackson, Mississippi, also just like you in Zone 8 b. Our growing season is virtually the same as yours. I typically grow from March to October and sometimes even a little longer WITHOUT any tunnels or bed covers at all. Thus I get an 8 month growing season WITHOUT all the investment you have. Any recovery of the $5,000 cost to grow like you do must therefore come from the EXTRA amount of food I would be able to grow "allegedly" during those other 4 months of the year. Realistically, I don't believe the set up you have would give more than about 2 additional months of food growth, as it really is difficult to grow veggies in the dead of winter due to short daylight, cold temps, and most crops simply not being in sync with a wintertime growth pattern.
So do you get, say, an extra $100 worth of food for two extra months using your set up, or $200 per year to count toward payback of the $5,000 it costs for your system? At that rate, it would only take 25 years to recover your gardening investment. Just how long does that UV treated 6 or 8 mil plastic last anyway? It will be exposed to wind much higher than 25 mph in Mississippi at least. We had 50 mph gusts just last week. Plus we get lots of tornadoes and hurricanes. And we get hail nearly every single summer too some of which will rip 8 mil plastic to shreds. Not to mention wildlife that will chew or rip through the plastic sheeting to get inside, like raccoons, possums, skunks, squirrels, and other critters.
I'm now 70 years old and have been gardening more than 50 years. I have yet to be convinced that expensive set ups like that pay off in a growing zone such as where you and I are located. It's just too simple to grow for a very long season in our areas without having to invest in that sort of equipment. It's just my opinion but I have a right to express it which I will do. Most of the time, people posting videos like this promoting the sale of expensive equipment are doing so to earn a fee from purchases they persuade others to make. "Influencing" others is profitable. So is getting lots of video views on You Tube. But are the products really worth the cost? In my opinion they are not.
I live on a 20 acre homestead property. I've found that many of the ideas of self sufficiency promoted today are not cost effective. That's particularly true for small scale, backyard type gardening set ups. Actual farming operations might be a different story but for the average home grower trying to raise food for their family they would usually be better off simply growing veggies in a less expensive manner.
You don't need a greenhouse or polytunnel in Hawaii.
Probably not
Plastic is not 6mm thick.
6 mil. Which means 6 thousandths of an inch.
Good ads! This is disappointing
green houses cost too much
Then what do you use off season? You can start small.
Build one, much more cheaper