There was a dealer traveling through town selling fiberglass
greenhouses. The brand is "Solar Optic Greenhouse", by Imperial Systems
Inc, in Summerland, BC.

The building seems well made and it comes with a 20 year warranty (if
they are still around in 20 years). For the 8 X 11 ft model it has two
automatic roof vents (they work on heat expanding oil in a cylinder) and
a manual window in the door and back wall. They say it's good for 100
mph winds.

If you get in on the truck load price, it's $2445.00 assembled on your
lot. You would have to grow a fair amount of plants to make it pay, but
I'm not sure if that price is very high or about normal.

Here in south central New Mexico water is getting to be a real problem.
I assume that the humidity inside one of these goes up from the
evaporation, then water loss is much less than out in the open.

According to the brochure (and they wouldn't lie, would they?) even in
hot climates the plants will be better off inside this building with the
vents open than out in the sun. When the days get over 90, and we have
a lot of those days, most of the plants just stop doing anything. All
this sounds too good to be true, and my experience is that if it sounds
too good to be true, it probably is.

Does any one have any experience with this brand of greenhouse? Does any
one have experience with fiberglass greenhouses in the summer in the
desert?

Thank you for your opinions.

John

John Worman wrote:

There was a dealer traveling through town selling fiberglass
greenhouses. The brand is "Solar Optic Greenhouse", by Imperial Systems
Inc, in Summerland, BC.

...If you get in on the truck load price, it's $2445.00 assembled on your
lot...


It sounds like a home-style greenhouse rather than a commercial one (the
size, for one thing, assembly included for another). You could put up a
plastic film hoop house, 17 x 48, by yourself for about $1200-1500 plus
ventilation (roll-up sides work well in moderate climates for
ventilation and are cheap). Not including labor, which is fairly easy.
On the other hand, an 8 x 11 greenhouse is probably designed for
homeowners and will look better than the film covered bows of the hoop
house. In part, you will be paying for style (and it sounds like labor
also). Since 17 x 48 (hoops every 4') is larger than you probably want,
you could share some of the hoops and plastic with someone else and
split the cost. You will have to do some of your own design to put end
walls on if you want to close it up.






Here in south central New Mexico water is getting to be a real problem.
I assume that the humidity inside one of these goes up from the
evaporation, then water loss is much less than out in the open...

According to the brochure (and they wouldn't lie, would they?) even in
hot climates the plants will be better off inside this building with the
vents open than out in the sun. When the days get over 90, and we have
a lot of those days, most of the plants just stop doing anything. All
this sounds too good to be true, and my experience is that if it sounds
too good to be true, it probably is.


In my experience, the plants need more water at higher temperatures.
Outside is better in that case. Those plants that I've seen stop doing
anything in really hot weather were dead. (I do not grow desert plants,
however). You might have problems trying to grow desert plants in a
humid environment. High humidity can lead to fungus problems. Since I
don't have much experience with desert plants, you might want to check
with your local extension service.







Does any one have any experience with this brand of greenhouse? Does any
one have experience with fiberglass greenhouses in the summer in the
desert?

Fiberglass or polycarbonate coverings will last longer than the plastic
film. However, it is subject to yellowing (loss of transparency) due to
UV. I suspect that would be accelerated in a desert climate with lots of
sunny days. I wouldn't count on it lasting more than 8-10 years. Also,
the hard coverings take more labor to install, particularly since the
supports have to be spaced exactly right, where the plastic film just
covers everything.

look in the yellow pages or on the web for greenhouse supply places and
inquire about their prices.