They all look great to me, can not give advice on those kind of greenhouses. I have a 5'- 4 rack one and a shorter 2 rack that I use to start my plants inside the home. They have the plastic covers that zip up the sides and I use grow lights. Usually start my plants by early March, I get excited about just being in dirt!
Would love a greenhouse like those, but I hibernate in the winter!

Wanda

I hear ya! I so want to be able to garden all year round & start me seeds in like late December/early January! =)

where are you going to locate this greenhouse? If it will be in full sun you may not need the insulation but might need the heater to keep things above 40. Will you use botton heat coils in your planting beds - that would help some. You will certainly need to anchor it for windy weather. maybe some sort of spikes?? how does the price of these compare to something like the link below?
I've been reading a lot about small greenhouses lately. planning to have another one in a couple of years. Want a permanate one but can't decide if i will use a kit or build from scratch. Let us all know what you do and how it works.

Here is a link that might be useful: greenhouse

paperart: Those look much nicer, but they appear to be a ton more expensive! lol. $699 for one only about half the size of one i'm getting for $150 or so. I was originally worried about the quality of the ones i'm looking at above, whether they would withstand storms, etc., but after reading reviews on them & seeing that they have a 3 year warranty, I think with careful placement of it & good grounding (they come with spikes, like you mention), one of them will be fine. I did think about the bottom heating coil things & may still buy one or two for my early January seed starting. They're neat...kind of like a heating pad, but in wire form, that you can run through the soil. =)

Anyways, to answer your question, all of the choices I have for placement of this greenhouse would be in mostly full to full sun. So, would you say shade cloth or no shade cloth based on that? If that isn't a good placement option, I do have one area that gets about half sun I could put it in, but it's low lying & gets flooded when it rains, so I don't think that would be a very clean option...lol. I have two spots on my lawn & one corner of my deck that are my choices for the placement of it. I bet I can take the shade cloth off (??), so it may be better if I just buy the one that comes with it, just to be safe? I'm still a bit worried that the litttle $50 heater (linked above) won't be enough to keep my seeds around 68-70 degrees when I want to start them, on January 1st. So, maybe buy that heather & one of the heating coils also (for seed starting)? Anyways, must get to work...ttyl! Thanks for the input! Let me know what you think. =)

- Steve

Steve, have you considered the savings in heating the one that Paperart linked to? I'm not sure how many more times over it will last, but you should consider that too. The better one might pay for itself in one to two years.

Has anyone had one of the ones like in Paperart's link? How did it hold up over the years?

P.S. ....
Steve, Did you see the terms of the warranty? I saw the fact that there was some 3-year warranty, but no details. I think the one I got that didn't last a whole year had a warranty. But it only covered defects and not degradation due to exposure. You might want to ask about those warranties before counting on them. One reason I was curious is because the material looks very similar to the stuff used in the one I bought that didn't last a full year. It may be different, but the looks were a red flag to me.

brandon: I haven't read the full details of the warranty, but apparently I should! =) Thanks for the insight. Any opinions/pointers to help that kind of greenhouse last longer? What was it that made yours degregate (sp?)?

Also, I would love to get the one paperart suggested (cuz it's a beautiful greenhouse!), don't get me wrong, but like most other people, i'm on a tight budget & so can not afford $700.

See the edges of the greenhouse in your "First Choice" link. That green material started rotting. The clearish plastic also did just a little bit, but it was the skeleton (the green area) that really fell apart. I guess it was because of sun exposure. Plastic and plastic-like materials degrade fairly quickly out in the sun without UV protection (I think that's what the protection is called). Even though the clear plastic must have been treated, the skeleton wasn't. Another thing that started happening was the the reinforced eyelets turned out not to be all that reinforced. They seemed to be very sturdy, but started ripping out in the wind. BTW, mine looked about halfway in between "First Choice" and "Yet another choice". The clearish plastic was opaque like the "Yet another choice" one.

Let us know if you find out more about the warranties offered by that company. I'm also thinking about getting another small greenhouse one day. I'd really like to know about the durability of the double glazing panels in Paperart's example, if anyone knows.

Maybe I should downgrade somewhat to one of those SeedHouse's? Sucks though cuz the ones i'm looking at above are like 20 times the size of those and only about 2 times the price.:( I just don't know what to do anymore...

I'd call the company and ask about the warranty. If they can provide a 3-year comprehensive warranty, I'd see that as a positive sign. If they said it only covers defects, I'd be leery. Maybe they could even email you a copy of the warranty?

I wish I had a woodworking shop. I'd build a large coldframe like the one I saw on TV the other day. They had made the sides from concrete blocks and the top from one of those fiberglass roof panels, that lets a lot of light through, with a wooden frame. It looked real professional and I bet it would last for many many years.

Yea...a home-made one like Dave is doing would be ideal. I like these small ones for their portability, for one, as i'm only renting my townhome & could move sometime in the future. I will probably research the warranty a bit more before Christmas & if it makes me leery (not comp), will probably just go with the larger SeedHouse, I guess.

I have to agree with the others that sometimes it's worth waiting and saving your money for a better greenhouse. Could you have someone build you a small one? If you are only starting seeds and wintering over plants, you might find you could use a smaller, stronger house. Even with strong 5 year plastic and a white winter cover over that, it cost me a bunch to heat the one I had. I only heated it in Jan, Feb and part of march and I kept it right around 40. Used a gas jet blower and I was constantly filling that baby up! I feel your pain - I want another one sooooo bad! I'm saving and hope to have it in a year. I want a 12 X 16 in a permanant location. I want to grow and sell plants again.

Here is a link that might be useful: garden tips

With help & experience of my fellow GW friends, I have ruled out 2 of my three choices above. I am now thinking about either getting the SpringHouse model or one of the small PlantHouse, StarterHouse, SeedHouse or Plant Tower models on This Page. I would so so much rather have the SpringHouse & it appears to have great reviews compared to what were my other two choices above. No one on here, so far, has said anything bad about their experiences with it. It appears to be better constructed than the "First Choice" & "Yet Another Choice" linked ones above in my original post.

So, please let me know your final opinions on my newest choices. =) Keeping in mind, I not only want it for the early season seed starting (which is about all i'd be able to do in the smaller ones), but also for Winter tropicals storage, non-hardy plant storage & kind of a workshop of sorts for propagation, etc..

Thanks! - Steve

Steve,

Just a thought but have you considered using a PVC structure? You could do it fairly cheaply, take it down in spring and summer, take it with you when you go. I know they aren't as nice as the one's your looking at but they could save you quite a few dollars.

Yea...excellent idea! I already have some PVC & fittings. Putting it together is easy. What would I use for covering/windows though? Oooo...I could run the watering system through the PVC! muahaha...

You find cheap plastic at the home improvement stores, it won't last more than a season or two. Online greenhouse suppliers carry better stuff with UV protection.

The thin cheap plastic at home depot definitely won't last an entire season. Thicker stuff should, but may cost as much as the UV protected stuff (I don't know that, just a guess). Definitely check out a greenhouse supply company. I'm sure there are local places in Nashville. Knoxville has at least one big greenhouse supplier. They'll also have all kinds of other things like clips to hold the plastic, etc. They might even have a kit designed to work with PVC. I've seen a few small nurseries use PVC for a "hoop house", so it might be more standard than it sounds.

aight...will do...thanks brandon.

Steve do you have any Co-Op stores around where you live? Thats where I purchased my UV plastic. The stuff has lasted four or five years, maybe more. My two cents, you can build better and a lot cheaper than purchasing something. My heater and exhaust fan probably cost more than my greenhouse, as it was all made out of scrap materials, used door, windows etc.
Norm

Yea, this is Tennessee, there's a CO-OP on about every corner...lol...thanks for the suggestion. I will check prices out at one, then finalize what I think it would cost for the PVC home-made greenhouse, which i'm heavily leaning towards at the moment. =)

Sounds like you are on your way! post pictures of your project so we all can learn.

Here is a link that might be useful: garden blog