Last year I before I got the doors on my hoophouse I was surprised that it wasn't hotter.

With doors on both ends the breeze blew through and cooled things off. Hint, hint.

But you may be forced to get shade cloth immediately. Greenhouse owners in your climate can't hardly do without shade cloth.

Although if you really want to have fun, Google on Bubble and Greenhouse.

Somebody invented a way to cool a greenhouse with --- Soap Bubbles !!!

You think I'm joking, don't you.

Try it.

Two layers of plastic or glazing, a strong fan, a pond pump, buckets, and some cribbage for catching the runoff and recycling it...

The pond pump dribbles soapy water on a mosquito screen in front of a squirrel cage blower.

This produces thousands of bubbles that are then blown up a tube into the space between the two layers.

Bubbles foam between the layers of glazing and immediately absorb the sun's heat.

Most of the light gets through but none of the IR.

When it's cooler or cloudy, the system shuts off, the bubbles start to pop, and then drain down into a gutter to flow back into the bucket they started from.

And it works at night, too ! Set up that way, the bubbles reflect the heat inside the greenhouse back down. Keeping the demon Fr*st out, and the friendly heat IN.

You can buy most of the parts easily, it's setting up the thermostat system that might require help.

And then, somebody's got a turn-key system for sale.

Patris, I'm sure you have seen these pictures before. You have done steps 1-3 now it's time for step 4. Adding the shade cloth.
Step 5 would be to add a misting system that comes on 1-2 times an hour for a few mins. Or until you can get a mister set up leave the hose on that has a nozzle or turn off valve and turn it down til you get a very fine mist. Aim it toward the ceiling and in front of your exhaust fan. Let it run all day.
Follow the information in the chart below. I don't think an evaportive cooler would work for you. I think it's too humid in your area.
My overhead misters did real well for me last year.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cooling information

Well I hate to mess with the shade cloth so I'm thinking misting system.

Can I get a few places to start that some of you have bought from and been satisfied? I did a search and found 3 or 4, but would feel better with experience.

Thanks for your time.
Patris

You didn't say how the structure was setup but I wouldn't be without roll-up sides on a larger GH. You are in a climate where your cooling electric bill must be horrific. I found that the roll-up sides eliminated the need to run fans or use shade cloth. The kits are usually $300 for a 96' long GH unless you want the wirelock pipe which will double that or if you just make your oun from Home depot or Lowes you can save a few bucks. I use a cordless 18V drill to raise mine in the morning. If you install one your tomatoes will be forever grateful.

Sorry, Patris, you will have to do the shadecloth thing. FarmTek sells many different types. I use 50% opacity here in the Pacific northwest, so you will want something even more dense. It dropped the temperature 10 degrees in my gh. Its not hard to 'install'.

Just get some of the clip-on loops from Farmtek when you get the shadecloth and 2 1x1s the length of the greenhouse. The wood strips are to stiffen the long edges of the cloth and hold it down in the wind.

Throw the shadecloth over the greenhouse when the vent is closed and decide how far down the sides you want it to go. add about6"-8" and whack it off. Stand inside to see how much light you have before you do this. Mine comes down about 1/3 of the way on the sides.

Cut out a flap where your vent is so that it can open.

Hand-sew a pocket on either side for the 1x1s, making the pocket wider than needed for the wood strip.

At this point you should have the covering made but not fastened to the greenhouse. Throw it over the greenhouse , adjust it to fit the way you want it. Snap the clip-on loops theough the shadecloth along the edges. I used about 5 or 6 per side and some around the ends where the cloth hung over.

Now you need to figure out how to lace the cloth to your foundatioin. Its easy if you added a wood foundation. Get some eyebolts or whatever (see my pics at the bottom of the page below) and fasten them to the foundation so that you can tie the shadecloth to them. Voila, you are done.

You should also have an air inlet at almost ground level. You could make a screen door panel for the bottom section of your door and pop it in when your nights are warm enough.

Here is a link that might be useful: HFGH Add-ons

Thanks everyone!

Jkirk, love the bubbles idea. I am a big fan of them plus my dogs get a big kick out of chasing them. I am going to look in to that since it does sound just nutty enough to work.

I guess I will go ahead and order the shade cloth and think some more on the misting system. I have lots of cactus in there and do not want to move them. For the time being we have taken the panels off the back wall at the peak.

We are going to buy some screen to staple on there to keep out bugs and hopefully this will give me a little more air moving.

Marbs, since your using 50% and my roof is already 25% guess I would be safe with the 50% cloth right?? How does the shade cloth effect growing?

I would 2 fans around that you have in the windows since you are keeping the door open. It will double your air transfer.

Bob

With the shadecloth on, my gh has about the same light level as a commercial greenhouse. Not a scientific measurement, but it was what I was aiming for. My tomatoes, hot peppers and cucumbers did just fine.

Re a screen window, you can buy a screen kit for Home Depot and make a square one any size you want. I did that rather than try to make one with a peak. And I have my little solar fan mounted in the peak panel anyway. I cut a panel in 2, rounded upa piece of aluminum to use as a stiffener for the piece I left in place, and popped the screen in above it. I used the same clips for the screen as came with the greenhouse for the twinwall panels.

Have fun, I'm off to hook up my drip system for this year.

marbs

I have my first green house and am getting scared now..
I was going to put it in full sun but should I.
I can't afford drip systems and bubble contraptions. I thought I would get away with opening the window and watering everyday or maybe twice a day.
I could put I a hose in with holes in it for
drip irrigation(???) but i don't think the water would reach the plants underneath. It is a three teir GH and i ntend to FILL it.

Don't get scared mastiff!!!

For every problem there are solutions. The fun of a greenhouse out weighs any minor tweeking they may need. I have had mine a couple of months and it has been a learning experience.

It kind of depends on where you are located as to if you put it in full sun. My area is very hot, humid and did I say hot. LOL

I'm beginning to think that each greenhouse has to be fine tuned to fit your location and your needs. Even with the few problems we have had, I would not trade it for anything.

LOVE my greenhouse!

I agree with Patris! Consider it a worthy challenge, my first year with a GH too. When you get up in the morning and step into your greenhouse and smell the soil, feel the warm air and see your plants just rocking out of their pots, well there is nothing like it! I just love my greenhouse too and I don't know how I have lived without it. Keep us posted.

For those who are short on time or talent, you can order shade cloth in finished form (with grommets etc.) from Charley's Greenhouse. They also have good info on cooling and what grows with what light transmission, etc. Mine just came yesterday and will be installed today -- just in time since we will be in the 70s next week here. For the HFGH it cost about $75.

Drip irrigation systems can be inexpensive. Thmine frees me up for travel and leaving the house for the day in the summer.

Here are my costs.
2 drip kits from Harbor Freight $6 each
1 length of hose. $6
1 faucet splitter (2 to 1) (optional) $15
1 timer $30

The HF drip kits are a bit flimsy, so I had to do some hose anchoring to keep my main connections together. See my AddOns Page link in another reply above to see how I did that.

Last year I was away for 11 days in June and everything was just fine.

marbs

Marbs,

How did you get the HF drip kit to work???? We have tried 3 of them and they all have leaked around the faucet or have blown the hoses off.

Thanks
Patris

Hi Patris! I am in Zone 7 and our GH is positioned for optimum solar south. Our GH has stats running everything, including a mister to elevate GH humidity. Since our GH is still 'new', we are just now going through our first spring and summer. I have monitored everything, and even keep a remote thermometer in the house, to sound an alarm if low or high temps are hit.

For the past month, I have watched the seasonal change to Spring -- the sun's position, strength, temperature in and out, humidity, are all changing. Last Saturday, we added our 50% shade cloth. Up until that time, we had put off adding the shade cloth because the shade cloth does inhibit some sunlight from entering the GH.

We already had an automatic mister running to keep the GH humidity around 60%, and even with about 12-feet of vents fully opened, a large floor fan running, and an automatic exhaust fan, our internal GH temp was exceeding 90-degrees in mid-April!!

Without a shade cloth, most tender seedlings and most of the orchids that I have would not survive in the GH because we are positioned for full-sun w/ solar south at the length of our GH. Here, in mid-April, the sunlight is just too strong and intense to continue without providing shade. I had already noticed that a few of the seedlings were becoming scorched and the new growth on 2 miniature Roses became 'sunburnt' one day last week when the temperature was about 75-degrees. Not a hot day for springtime, but hot enough to 'fry' tender plants in a GH.

Before the shade cloth was added a few days ago, the inside temp was too hot and humid for human comfort. Once the shade cloth was placed on the GH, I was able to sit very comfortably in the GH and transplant seedlings (for hours!!). And Sunday, I was happily potting on seedlings for several hours.

The difference in the shade cloth alone, was immediately felt. The GH became "comfortable", and it dropped the internal GH temp more than 10-degrees. Already I have noticed that the plants are not as stressed as before, and of course, I now have no leaf scorching.

Thanks Lynn for your experience. I am looking for the shade cloth, but do not know what strength to get. A guy we met a few days ago lives 40 miles south of me and has been doing greenhouse veggies for re-sale for about 8 years.

He has 90% shade cloth on all of his and rolls the side up during the summer. says down here fans just will not cut it. The misting system I am finding will not work well because most days we are around 90% humidity. Been told with that and a misting system you will a fungus paradise.

What I'm not sure of is since I already have 25% coverage in my panels, what strength cloth do I get?????

Is my thought pattern correct in buying 50% cloth would then give me 75% shade or as my husbands thinking your cutting what you already have in half with 50% so that would make your shade around 63%.

Since it does not take much to fuzz this mind of mine lately, any ideas are again appreciated.

Here's what I have in mine....

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I have it set to come on at 80 degrees....

Hi patris, I have been enjoying following your story. My first GH was a cute little 6x8 from Sunshine put up in our former home in Dallas (zone 8a). We put it up in November and immediately figured out we needed to shade it, as the leaves dropped off the trees and exposed my husband's orchids to death rays. We got our shade cloth at Home Depot. Unfortunately, I don't remember what percentage shading it was, but I think we got the maximum. Since the Sunshine GH's are redwood frames I was able to staple the shade cloth directly to the wood. Immediately the temp dropped 20 degrees or more. I think having that bit of airspace between the cloth and the polycarb because of the frame also helped. We have now moved to south central Texas and are in the planning stages for a much more formal, and of course larger, GH. I am trying to figure out how to do it right the first time, as far as shading goes. Also, since our GH is mainly for orchids, we will be doing a swamp cooler or water wall rather than misting system. Melinda

Patris you said:
The misting system I am finding will not work well because most days we are around 90% humidity. Been told with that and a misting system you will a fungus paradise.
There are several different misting systems.
The best for you sitution would be a Aquafog. They are rather expensive so you can make you own that works really well by running Toro misters on a water timer.
These work by caputuring the hot air in the mist and exhausting it out through your exhaust fan.
Read the link below for more information.
The one that might cause a problem for you is a swap cooler or evaporative cooler. The pads can stay wet too long and grow algae. But that is usually because the fan is not sized right or the water flow is too fast.
With the Toro misters the timer is set to come on for only a min. or two every hour. (can be adjusted to more). The water and hot air goes out with your exhausted air and evaporates.
This is what I use and several others also and I don't have a problem. Mainly because I have excellent air movement. I use 50% shade cloth and sometimes lay an extra layer over certain areas.
I think you need at least 50% shade cloth. I recommend Aluminet. You get the shade and heat reduction without loss of light. The light reflects back into the greenhouse.
I see you are using box fans. These do not really have enough force. Also take them out of the windows and hang them from the ceiling so the air goes in a circular pattern. The best thing would be HAF (horizonial airflow fans). These are made to MOVE the air and not just for a gentle breeze.
(Refer back to the sketches I posted earlier.)
You greenhouse is much larger than the HF and your equipment needs to be sized accordingly.
Look at my page at my list of equipment.
Your only other choice is to take the plants out for the summer.

Here is a link that might be useful: Aquafog

I use the Aquafog 400 and it does disperse the fine 'mist' provided the elements are not clogged. We use well-water and the water supply to the Mister has sediment (calcium) which will clog the Aquafog. (Our water would clog most any mister, I am sure!)

We have had to dismantle the Aquafog suspended unit several times to clean, as the tiny nozzle distributes the water into the individual fan blades, where the clogging occurs. If the unit clogs, it will remain on but the water coming out is a mere drip to the ground, not aerially dispursed.

We use a humidistat and I have it currently set bet. 50%-60% humidity. I love the mist but then I'm also a whitewater kayaker and love a good facial hose-down....

Do circulate your internal GH air more than you currently are. Your square footage needs better coverage than you are giving it, I think. If you can take the fans out of the windows and place them in the GH for circulation, along with a shade-cloth, your internal GH temp will decrease. Doing this, the GH air will be less than your external temp and your circulating air in the GH will be a cooler air.

Be sure to check that Aluminet cover that cactusfreak mentions. I looked into it when she mentioned it a few months back. You are in an area that would greatly benefit from the heat reduction the Aluminet cover provides.

Lynn, have you thought about putting a water filter on the hose before it attaches to the Aquafog?

Thanks so much Cactus and Lynn,

I'm going out right now and change those fans around!

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Hi all,

Changed the fans around as advised and do have a lot more air moving. This has got to be a good thing! and I'm sure it will help with pollination of my tomatoes.

Ordered the shade cloth (70%) and it should be here in 2 or 3 weeks. Had to special order size. Till then I will have to keep a close eye on the temp. We are fast approaching the hot and dry days for our area.

Thanks again for everyone's help, it's sure been a wonderful learning experience!!!
Patris

Cactusfreak asked: "Lynn, have you thought about putting a water filter on the hose before it attaches to the Aquafog?"

We have a water filter off of the faucet that does attach to the Aquafog unit. Yup....

AND, the water used in the GH is coming from our residence so the water has already been through our home system for sediment treatment and removal. (We really have hard water!!) We have a well that has good water flow due to the spring-head underground. The home system includes a pressurizer and a water softener unit. Most units run with salt in the brine tank but we use potassium instead. It's more than twice the cost, but is a healthier 'alternative', from what we have researched. (If anyone has more to shed on the potassium pre-treatment, please post!)

So the 'softened' water gets additional filtering before it's sent to the Aquafog, and we still have clogged openings. No wonder this entire region is labeled "the kidney stone belt".....

At the risk of getting off the topic...I've been told be several that the potassium softener system is clearly better than the usual NaCl for the plants.

Lynn, you have a potassium softener system and you're still getting clogged nozzles. My understanding is that the best pure water system for a GH is a combination of potassium water softener and RO. I use an RO system alone to get all that calcium out of the water to the mist system, but it has it's problems without a softener, namely you might have to replace the membrane every 4-6 months.

Yes, we are going to head into the RO system after this spring's "projects" are finished....I raise enough orchids that I want the best water for them.

Our project-- We have excavated a sloped area next to our property's service-road that takes vehicles (or a trailer or tractor) to the GH and beyond, into the woods behind the home. The area next to this service road is elevated by about 2 feet and the slope downwards to the road was not to our liking. So...the area is being landscaped. We have laid 4 pallets of a sand-colored landscaping brick there. We almost finished with the main area which involved a curve and straight section....Next is the slope and landscaping in the GH-area, which will require alot more fill. We have a Bobcat and the property to scoop our own fill, luckily, but it does take time and energy.....Hubby is doing most of the work (but I did learn how to operate the Bobcat last weekend....that machine is soo much fun!).

Once the project is finished, I'll take photos because it will show how our GH was integrated into our property by 'landscaping' with a garden on one side (shady northern area) and foundation planting next to the GH.

After that, we will get involved in a better water system. Chores are never finished around our place....

Hey Guys, I discovered this site couple weeks ago and I found out they are very good on Aquafog.

Here is a link that might be useful: Aquafog