Paul D's Greenhouse

[Paul D]

Here's mine, hopefully all ready for the winter.

Firstly, lots of one year seedlings and some two years.



On the opposite side a few "rescue" plants collected over the last 3 years:



On the top shelf lithops:

[Paul D]

And then underneath is the propagator:



Next to them a few Conos, with a mixture of others:



In the middle is the workbench, with a few Hoodias on at the moment:

[Paul D]

Lots of Mamms and a few other bits and pieces:



Then through in the back room, top shelf filled with Crassulas, bottom with Asclepiads among others:



A mixture of stuff with more Asclepiads along the top, and the cuttings box in the background:

[Paul D]

And then the corner filled with Echeverias, Aeoniums, larger Mesembs, Gasterias:



The other corner is the Haworthia corner:



A few more Ascleps, Crassulas:

[Jens]

Hello Paul that´s a very nice looking setup.
I was still reluctant to fit in the bubble film in mine, but northern Scttland might be a little harsher temperatures. This is how it looked this January.

Not very many people I know have wooden greenhouse constructions. How does it work in winter? Do you have any condensation apearing on the static construction during the cold season?
Regards , Jens

[Peter]

I have a large (13m x 7m) wooden greenhouse, Jens. I bought it nearly 4 years ago. It was cheaper than aluminium but that was not the major factor - I prefer the warmth and atmosphere of a timber structure. There is no condensation on the wood in winter. I have some bubble insulation along the roof (mainly to stop my Copiapoas from burning in the summer!) but I have found that the great volume of warm air in the greenhouse combined with the staging and floor being warmed during the daytime means that the heaters only come on occasionally. Not very expensive to keep at 5°C for my cacti.

[Jens]

I prefer the warmth and atmosphere of a timber structure. There is no condensation on the wood in winter.

Hello Peter,
that what I thought when I first saw the pictures of Pauls nice wooden Greenhouse. Aluminum is a great bridge for cold to come in and there always is condensation on the inside when its not covered by bubble film. And it should be quite easy to fix things to the wooden construction, which can be tricky with alu.
How are the windows /panes fixed to the wooden structure ?
Jens

[Peter]

Very simply, Jens. The main elements of the timber have rebates onto which the glass is laid. A timber batten is then nailed in place to retain the glass. If some glass gets broken, it's easy to remove the timber batten (a strip of wood), lift off the broken glass and replace it.

The timber in my greenhouse should be OK for 30 years. I reckon that should be quite enough!

[Cactus Jack]

Go on Peter give us a photo tour

[Aiko]

Looking at most of the pictures of collections, I always notice one thing in particular besides drooling about certain plants I'd like to have too: there hardly seems a system of the placement of name tags. I mean, I (hardly) never notice that all name tags are on the north side of the plant, for instance. As my plants have. So you always know which side of the plant is facing the sun (value information if you drag your plants about every now and then, what I do before and after each winter, back and forth to their winter shelter). It always looks 'just random'. Is it random, or does the system only looks that way in most collections?