The Ultimate Guide to DIY Greenhouses: Pros, Cons, and Everything In Between

Hey everyone! I wanted to clarify what I meant when I list "bugs" for a con on the 6mil plastic greenhouses. In our experience there were always an excess of flies and other insects in these designs and they would die and end up in the crevasses of the 6mil plastic. It was difficult to clean them out and over the years there were a gross amount of them built up. There were no issues with pests on the plants or anything like that!

So far this has not been the case in our greenhouses with rigid plastic panels, so that I why I list that as a "pro" for those designs and a "con" for the 6mil. However, they are young so we will if that continues over the years. Our A-Frame greenhouse is older than our cattle panel greenhouse (with 6mil) and the same issues appeared in the cattle panel shortly after it was built, so that is why I decided to add that to the video. I realize that there are other factors that go into that, but that has been what we have observed. We are also close to industrial farms so there are an abundance of flies hatching in the summer months with the spreading of manure. I just thought I would expand on this a bit, I have gotten a lot of comments on this topic. I should have been more clear in the video. Thank you all for watching! I appreciate it more than words can describe.

We made our greenhouse sort of like your cattle panel. We use 2 by 12 ground contact wood to creating basically like a raised bed. Then 2 foot post above that before the cattle panels so that it would be taller. All of it is window screened in. At first we covered it with plastic and being in the far south that was the biggest problem we had because it cooked everything. The solution was to make long strips of window screen and sew them together. Then down the center of the greenhouse put 6 foot wide by 20 foot long plastic which we anchored via eye screws and rope. This helped keep the screen from catching wind and tearing loose from the framing. We also added an outside bed for plants that require bees for pollinating. We placed pvc as a cold frame over that bed. In our not too cold winters (as low as 20° overnight) we can completely cover the greenhouse and outside bed with plastic that is attached to 1" pvc pipe that rolls and unrolls. We tried bug net before using window screening and it disintegrated from the sun/heat in 3 months. We critter protected the underneath of the whole build plus lower sides with 1/2" hardware cloth. No bugs, no moles or any other pests after the changes. The beds are to either side and full length with covered walkway in the middle. T5 plant lights under cover take the edge off the cold nights and oscillating fans on low create wind pollinating. My only wish now is I wish it was 2 feet taller. 4' sides would've been better for tall tomatoes and such. I almost forgot, we also attached gutters and use them for growing herbs. Total size 16wx20l

This is a great video! I need to create a “temporary” house for 2 months of the year in winter and shade for 4 months. This gives me more options than I realized. Thank you!!!!

Bugs are probably coming out of the soil. Use cleaner soil. I bought some soil from a large store and it was full of bugs. The stuff used for growing indoor weed is great and clean. A little more expensive. If your not using your own compost. Stay away from store bought and learn to pasteurise.

Use a large old trampoline frame for a polytunnel..Nice and quick, cheap and easy. $100 and 60 was on the plastic cover.

6 mm plastic? That's very thick! Surely you mean 0.6 mm?

Thank you 💖

im trying to finish mine wich is a rectangle of wood but the roof should be sloped. so there is slopes on two sides but on the rectangle frame i cannot slope so the plastic just goes up. really really weird. never saw such stupid design. my other option is to make it a bit taller and slope normally. my original plan was to cover from inside wich makes little sense cause if i do so i should cut the plastic + never saw a greenhouse covered from inside the weigh of the plastic is always above the frame. so my decision is to make a weird geenhouse with a roof making waves. i made cabins and houses and walla before. doing greenhouse is so much more harder

Yup. Your tips about cattle panels are spot on. My cattle panel hoop house here in Colorado, the hail capital of the states, was great until the snow collected in the hail cloth and flattened out the tops of the curves on a more or less permanent basis. I cut a big branch off a dead tree - about like yours -- and propped it up in the middle so I can at least walk semi-upright in it again, but I wish I'd known in advance that the hoop needed support. I could have taken off the hail cloth and just put it up again next spring since I wasn't using it for winter growing anyway. But that's a pain.. And yes, jagged edges. The hail cloth has many little tears, which don't really matter like it would on a plastic cover.

Check out using compost for heat. Jean Paine method.

Thankyou for sharing all the different ways you have made greenhouses, I live in south texas and my winters have gotten colder and colder each year, I used the pvc build you showed and it works good to hold up my toule in fall and I am ordering shade cloth for my brutal summers, thank you

Thank you for this video. It gave me lots of ideas

This is my type of guy right here. I farm and I simply refuse to buy and prefab BS. Bravo my brothers. Bravo.

Why not remove the plastic for the Winter?

Going to watch the A-frame vid now. It's the closest I've seen to the idea I have to add on one side of my "Shed to Greenhouse." I'm not ready to give up my perfectly good roof, so I'm going to add a slope of polycarb coming off the roof and creating another little room essentially. Thanks for making your videos!

The brutal truth is this: YOU cant build a DIY greenhouse cheaper than a store bought kit.
Because we have to pay retail for our materials while a factory buys trainloads of materials to built their kits & pays wholesale so even after paying their people min wage their kit is cheaper than us doing it paying retail. Unless you have a source of free materiel. Or maybe buying a 2nd hand greenhouse using it as a base & modify it to your desire.

!

Not sure type of greenhouse effects bugs.. raised bed vs groumd maybe.
Also, if you bend a gothic style which is made for snow, it sheds snow. The bent one you built is a hoop tunnel qhoch is for seasonal cover. The cover being removed for winter.

There is a reason 95% of comercial greenhouses are bent woth plastic

In case one's mentioned it... on the next build I would do the following:
#1 build a single slope greenhouse with a corridor on the north wall... running East to West.
#2 use a solar tracking app to find out your locations true optimal location and this will determine your optimal roof slope.
#3 Look into geothermal heating and cooling through intake and exhaust systems. Usually requires a concrete slab floor and some excavation of sub structure.. but totally worth the effort.
#4 look into insulated metal panels for sidewalls. Tons of new effective options now that add barriers andr value to your build.

10 years on polycarbonate is not happening... unless you grease the insurance agent. 😂

Nice work all together.. keep up the innovation!!!
Cheers

Hi guys, thanks a lot for this video. Im just starting up so this is all very valuable information. One question. Snow is an issue where im building, but another issue is wind. Which of these designs would you expect to stand up to strong winds effectively? Thanks a lot!!

Jeez man.. You gonna run outta spots in yr yard? Haha. awesome..looks fun.. i'm in Canada..Can you do one with the greenhouise heat battery.. Or stuff like that postal guy in Nebraska w horizontal air heat pummping.. thx

What people will need

If you double up plastic they make small air inflation pump that creates air insulation layer between they plastic

For the A frame, would those concrete deck blocks work for foundation?

Thanks for sharing!

Вне конкуренции, но много вопросов

Rigid plastic does not hold up the large hail

Is there something like the opposite of a greenhouse? I live in Florida, and currently things are getting Far too hot in the summer and expected to only increase yearly degree by degree and for a little longer than before. If I can make something simple that can keep it out of the most of the heat and some of the killing sun it would help greatly!

Thanks, some great advice here !

I wasnt thinking of building a greenhouse but now i am. Thanks!

For keeping the greenhouse above freezing in the wintertime, there are some folks who bury tubes 4 to 6 feet into the ground and have a small pump or fan to bring the heat down into the ground during the day, then back up at night using either air, or water. It uses very little electricity.

Ever figure out why the A-frame was bug free ?

You're lucky of 6 mil plastic will make it a whole year here in Florida I covered up a stack of wood but a piece of six mil three months later it was completely deteriorated

Bridget plastic greenhouse panels are freaking expensive

I've been thinking about putting together a cheap greenhouse. My idea was to use a 10x20 temporary carport where the canopy was torn beyond repair as a frame and reclaimed pallets around the base as weights. I was thinking using a transparent hard plastic for roof and walls then a couple solar panels to run a small heater and grow lights.

Never seen those square surrounds for the metal post spikes. Who sells them? What’s their proper name?

The last greenhouse you did, I have a few ideas that I wonder if you have thought of.
1. Digging down 5 feet so part of the greenhouse is under ground. Keeping growing beds at a depth from a hard frosts or freezes.
2. Below that dig a trench 3 to 5 feet below the greenhouse that you put piping in in a u shape so you have a inlet and an outlet. So you have thermal heat and kooling kind of idea, keeping the greenhouse at a constant temp.

In my polytunnel I excavated a large walkway down the centre to give it more Headroom and make it easier to work on the plants because everything is at a comfortable working height no bending over required

Great job.

depending on the kind of bugs oyu mean, I have used Venus trap,(carnivorous plants) I hung them from the ceiling in their pot. love all the kinds you've built exp the A fame, that's cute

I have never been able to get more than a winter season out of 6 mil. How do you get it to last six years?

What type of bugs are you talking about ? 😢 Please and thank you

What about air intake and extraction?

thanks, second time watching, it has really helped me to think of different things before I build or purchase. thanks

cattle panel a frame sorta but with a steep and non steep angle to cover larger space and just flat faced rear maybe 2 angles to roof a snow shedding angle and a strengthened higher but shallower angle also saw in comments about digging it down into ground for earth heating and cooling but would need an sump pump system for flooding a 12v automatic float bidlge would do just winterize before winter meaning keep them from freezing/breaking from ice expansion

Thank you for this great video! My husband and I are very interested in your last greenhouse or Option #5 and your referenced updated pricing and that detailed plans would be attached but I don’t see either. Can you please repost these? Thank you again.

I like the last 2 greenhouses. Been thinking about a greenhouse to have fresh veggies and herbs all year long.
I see that there's no trees for shade around the greenhouse, how do you keep it cool enough in the summer when it's 80 to 90 degrees. And for the winter, how did that work with the heater ❓ Thanks

Very nice video. Excellent work you guys did for not being total professionals, but at the rate you're learning it won't be long before you are lol. I loved the info, thank you

Really appreciate this video! Thank you. Super helpful and well done.

Gothic Arch Greenhouse: you can curve the twin Wall into the frame.

Why do the plastic sheets greenhouses are more prone to bugs?