Our country has various climatic zones, including those unsuitable for growing vegetable and berry crops. In these conditions, to obtain a guaranteed crop on a small area, a greenhouse from a profile is simply necessary. Do it yourself with your own hands is not difficult.
The benefits of greenhouses in the economy
- Extension of the growing season. The greenhouse allows you to plant seedlings at the beginning of the season, since it is already well rooted and developed by the time the weather is warm. A self-constructed greenhouse from the profile, also allows gardeners to extend the cultivation of vegetables at the end of the season and extend the harvest period.
- Provides fresh vegetables for a long period. In temperate climatic zones without heating, the greenhouse allows you to grow crops characteristic of warm weather all year round.
- Protects germinating seeds and seedlings from adverse weather conditions. The greenhouse is able to protect the fragile sprouts of new and young seedlings from such weather conditions as late frosts, cool spring weather, heavy rains, wind and hail.
- Protects seedlings from insect pests that penetrate from soil and air. Hidden pests, such as wireworms, slugs and wood lice, can damage fragile new shoots and young seedlings at night. Pests such as cabbage moths can destroy cruciferous sprouts (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, cabbage and Brussels sprouts).
- Protects seedlings and seedlings from birds. Birds increase activity in spring, many species of birds dig and scratch the topsoil in search of worms, which harms the germination of seeds.
- Plants in greenhouses can be grown in containers or directly in the ground. Greenhouses are usually used to grow plants in pots for further transplantation, in containers or deep shelves. They can also be grown directly in the ground.
- Saves money on plants. In a controlled environment, greenhouses seed germinate with a high degree of success. A greenhouse, built with your own hands from a profile or from drywall, allows you to grow many plants from seeds.
- Allows you to control watering. It will help to avoid excessive humidity during the period of seasonal rains and ensure normal watering in the dry period.
- Plants can overheat and lose vigor if you do not worry about the necessary ventilation. Automatic air vents can be a great solution.
How to make an inexpensive greenhouse with your own hands?
The main components of greenhouses are the base, frame, coating, ventilation and heating systems. For each of these parts, you can choose several acceptable options worthy of use in your household. For example, the frame of a greenhouse can be built of wood, metal pipes, a profile for drywall, or plastic pipes. The most commonly used coating is polyethylene film, polycarbonate sheets or glass. Therefore, you can consider many options for manufacturing a greenhouse, each of which will have its own advantages and disadvantages. In this article we will look at how a greenhouse can be made from a profile and polycarbonate with your own hands.
Why polycarbonate?
The coating is best chosen from transparent polycarbonate. It has two layers with an air cushion in the middle, with good thermal insulation qualities. This material allows you to combine such advantages of greenhouses as high strength and diffuse scattering of light passing through the panels. Among other things, it is more durable than plastic film, easy to process and reliable in operation.
Site selection for construction
When constructing such a greenhouse, first of all, it is necessary to take into account its location. The most successful option would be an area open to sunlight. If possible, it is advisable to orient the greenhouse from east to west, so that most of the daylight it faces its long side to the south. Much depends on the purpose of the greenhouse. If you will not use it in the winter, then you can get by with light materials, for example, a profile for gypsum boards. This material is durable and very light, it provides the highest accuracy, the necessary rigidity, as well as the ease and speed of assembly of the structure. How to make a greenhouse with your own hands from a profile? Let's start from the bottom.
Foundation preparation
Do-it-yourself greenhouse is easy to make from a profile, and it also turns out to be very light. Therefore, it does not require a heavy foundation for its stability during operation. In the selected installation site of the greenhouse, it is necessary to level the site, dig a trench for the foundation and pour it with cement mortar. After a week, you can proceed with the installation of the frame of the greenhouse by attaching the main logs of the greenhouse to the foundation with anchor bolts using specially drilled holes. The holes should be drilled along the entire foundation in increments of 0.5 to 0.7 m. The fastening thus ensures the stability of the greenhouse and the ability to withstand winds.
Preparatory work
You should calculate in advance the right amount of material to cover your greenhouse. Polycarbonate sheets are available in two sizes - a width of 2.10 meters and a length of 6 or 12 meters. The most popular 6-meter sheets, as they are more convenient to use. If the length of the greenhouse is divided by 2 m, then we get the required number of sheets for the side walls and roof of the greenhouse, if its height does not exceed 2.1 m and the width is 3.5 m. Separately, calculate the number of sheets that will be required for facades and doors .
We make a frame
Consider how to build a frame from a profile with your own hands. The greenhouse should have a humid and very warm atmosphere. Therefore, the profile from which the frame will be made must be well protected from corrosion. This protection should also be regularly maintained during the operation of the greenhouse.
The design of the frame may be different. Given that the frame for the greenhouse is covered with polycarbonate sheets with its own hands, it is advisable to make the frame out of flat frames. They can be made of individual sections of the profile, fastened together by bolts and nuts. Separately prepared frames for the walls and roof of the greenhouse. Frames are attached to each other with bolts and nuts, and to the foundation with anchor bolts. Fasteners are reinforced in nodes with special crab connectors for installation. Thus, the frame is made from the profile with your own hands. A greenhouse with such a frame is light, slender and beautiful, which is important for many gardeners.
Polycarbonate Installation
Proper installation of the coating material should take into account its thermal expansion. Therefore, in polycarbonate, it is necessary to drill holes and screw these sheets to the planes of the frame with self-tapping screws, using wide transparent washers so as not to damage the surface of the sheets. Polycarbonate should be attached over the entire surface of the greenhouse, leaving only room for doors and windows. By the way, the vents can not be performed separately, but to divert the upper part of the doors for them, a little less than half their height. Carrying out the installation of polycarbonate with your own hands, it should be borne in mind that the sheets must be mounted vertically so that moisture easily rolls off them. At the joints of the panels for sealing, connection profiles can be installed.
Door installation
A greenhouse from a profile (with your own hands if you make it) can have doors from a profile too. In them, it is absolutely necessary to perform jibs for structural rigidity and to attach polycarbonate sheets to them with self-tapping screws. The door frame is hinged. You need to install the doors in the greenhouse, attach handles and hooks to fix the doors in the open and closed state. The greenhouse is almost ready.
We carry out lighting
For convenience, it is better to make a polycarbonate greenhouse illuminated from the inside. This is necessary to fully work in the greenhouse in the dark. In order to ensure the rapid growth and development of seedlings, she needs good lighting. But for the plants that light that is visible to our eyes is not enough, they need light of a certain wavelength. Energy-saving bulbs are suitable for lighting a greenhouse, and they also consume less energy than conventional bulbs. The most useful sodium lamps are high pressure, giving photosynthetic radiation, accelerating plant growth in the greenhouse.
Greenhouse ventilation
To obtain a good crop, to prevent the formation of condensation and the spread of germs and insects in the greenhouse, it is imperative to carry out ventilation. It is also necessary for hardening plants in order to increase their resistance to diseases. For ventilation, it is necessary to provide vents on both sides of the greenhouse and on the roof. Their area should not exceed a fifth of the surface of the greenhouse. Do not place the vents closer than two meters to each other. Drafts should be avoided when ventilating. In addition, air vents are required for insect access for pollination of plants.
Do you need to do automatic watering of a greenhouse?
The microclimate created in the greenhouse will not be comfortable for plants unless timely and quality watering is provided. Alas, none of the domestic irrigation systems produced is fully automatic. It either watered always while there is water, or does not work. Foreign-made automatic irrigation systems also have a drawback - they work from tap water, and you need to water with warm, settled water, otherwise the plants may die. Therefore, your greenhouse, made from a profile with your own hands, should, if possible, be equipped with a drip irrigation system from pre-prepared containers that are heated in the sun.
Additional equipment of the greenhouse
It is advisable that your greenhouse from the profile for drywall with your own hands be equipped with additional devices:
- tinted translucent curtains or bamboo blinds to avoid overheating of plants on hot sunny days;
- indoor tables or racks if seedlings from plant seeds are grown in the greenhouse;
- additional heating systems for the greenhouse, if it is planned to grow plants in it in winter.
Conclusion
Thus, we examined how a greenhouse can be built on its own plot of land from a drywall profile for do-it-yourselfers. We wish you successful work and good harvests!