Our country has different climatic zones, including those unsuitable for growing vegetables and berries. Under these conditions, to obtain a guaranteed yield on a small area, a greenhouse from a profile is simply necessary. It will not be difficult to build it with your own hands.
Advantages of greenhouses on the farm
- Extension of the growing season. The greenhouse allows seedlings to be planted at the beginning of the season, as they are already well established and developed by the time warm weather sets in. The DIY profile greenhouse also allows growers to extend late-season vegetable production and extend the harvest period.
- Provides fresh vegetables for a long period. In temperate climates without heating, the greenhouse allows the cultivation of warm-weather crops all year round.
- Protects germinating seeds and seedlings from adverse weather conditions. The greenhouse is able to protectfragile sprouts of new and young seedlings from weather events such as late frosts, cool spring weather, heavy rains, wind and hail.
- Protects seedlings from insect pests penetrating from soil and air. Hidden pests such as wireworms, slugs and woodlice can damage fragile new shoots and young seedlings at night. Pests such as cabbage borers can destroy cruciferous sprouts (broccoli, cauliflower, kale, kale, and Brussels sprouts).
- Protects shoots and seedlings from birds. Birds become more active in the spring, many bird species dig and scratch the top layer of the soil in search of worms, which harms seed germination.
- Greenhouse plants can be grown in containers or directly in the ground. Greenhouses are usually used for growing plants in pots for later transplanting, in containers or deep shelves. They can also be grown directly in the ground.
- Saves money on plants. In the controlled environment of a greenhouse, seeds 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. Helps avoid excessive moisture during the rainy season and ensures proper watering during the dry season.
- Plants can overheat and lose vigor if proper ventilation is not taken care of. Automatic 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, cover, ventilation and heating systems. For each of these parts, you can choose several acceptable options worthy of use in your household. For example, a greenhouse frame can be built from wood, metal pipes, drywall profiles, or plastic pipes. As a coating, polyethylene film, polycarbonate sheets or glass are most often used. 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 our own hands.
Why polycarbonate?
Covering is better to choose from transparent polycarbonate. It has two layers with an air cushion in the middle, with good thermal insulation qualities. This material combines the advantages of greenhouses, such 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.
Selecting a site for construction
When building such a greenhouse, first of all, you need to consider its location. The best option would be a site open to sunlight. If possible, it is desirable to orient the greenhouse from east to west, so that for most of the daylight hours it faces its extended sideSouth. Much depends on the purpose of the greenhouse. If it will not be used in winter, then you can get by with light materials, for example, a profile for drywall boards. This material is strong and very light, it allows to provide the utmost precision, 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.
Preparing the foundation
A do-it-yourself greenhouse from a profile is made simply, and besides, it turns out to be very light. Therefore, it does not require a heavy foundation for its stability during operation. At the selected location for the installation of the greenhouse, it is necessary to level the site, dig a trench for the foundation and fill it with cement mortar. After a week, you can proceed with the installation of the greenhouse frame, attaching the main logs of the greenhouse to the foundation with anchor bolts using specially drilled holes. Holes should be drilled along the entire foundation in increments of 0.5 to 0.7 m. Fastening in this way ensures the stability of the greenhouse and the ability to withstand winds.
Preparatory work
In advance, you should calculate the right amount of material to cover your greenhouse. Polycarbonate sheets are produced in two standard sizes - 2, 10 meters wide and 6 or 12 meters long. The most popular are 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 the roof of the greenhouse, if its height does not exceed 2.1 m, and the width is 3.5 m. Separately, you should calculate the number of sheets that will be required forfacades and doors.
We make the frame
Let's 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. You should also regularly maintain this protection during the operation of the greenhouse.
Frame design may vary. Considering that the frame for the greenhouse is covered with polycarbonate sheets with your own hands, it is advisable to make the frame from flat frames. They can be made from individual sections of the profile, fastened together with bolts and nuts. Frames for the walls and roof of the greenhouse are prepared separately. The frames are attached to each other with bolts and nuts, and to the foundation - with anchor bolts. Fasteners are reinforced in the nodes with special crab connectors for installation. Thus, a do-it-yourself frame is made from a profile. A greenhouse with such a frame turns out to be light, slender and beautiful, which is important for many gardeners.
Installation of polycarbonate
Correct installation of the covering material must take into account its thermal expansion. Therefore, it is necessary to drill holes in polycarbonate 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 space for doors and vents. By the way, the vents can not be made separately, but the upper part of the doors can be set aside for them, a little lesshalf their height. When installing polycarbonate with your own hands, it should be borne in mind that the sheets must be mounted vertically so that moisture can easily roll off them. Connection profiles can be installed at the joints of panels for sealing.
Installation of doors
A greenhouse from a profile (with your own hands if you make it) can also have doors from a profile. In them, it is imperative to make jibs for structural rigidity and attach polycarbonate sheets to them with self-tapping screws. Doors are attached to the frame with hinges. It is necessary to install the doors on the greenhouse, attach the handles and hooks to fix the doors in the open and closed state. The greenhouse is almost ready.
We carry out lighting
For the convenience of work, it is better to make a polycarbonate greenhouse illuminated from the inside. This is necessary in order to fully work in the greenhouse at night. In order to ensure rapid growth and development of seedlings, it needs good lighting. But for plants, the light that is visible to our eyes is not enough, they need light of a certain wavelength. Energy-saving light bulbs are suitable for lighting a greenhouse, besides, they consume less energy than conventional lamps. High-pressure sodium lamps are most useful, giving photosynthetic radiation that accelerates the growth of plants in a greenhouse.
Ventilating the greenhouse
To get a good harvest, prevent condensation and the spread of germs and insectsin the greenhouse it is necessary to carry out ventilation. It is also necessary for the hardening of plants in order to increase their resistance to diseases. For ventilation, it is necessary to provide vents on different sides of the greenhouse and on the roof. Their area should not exceed a fifth of the surface of the greenhouse. You can not place the windows closer than two meters to each other. Avoid drafts when ventilating. In addition, vents are necessary for insects to gain access to pollinate plants.
Automatic watering of the greenhouse - do it yourself?
The microclimate created in the greenhouse will not be comfortable for plants if timely and high-quality watering is not provided. Alas, none of the produced domestic irrigation systems is fully automatic. She either always waters as long as there is water, or she 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 heated by the sun.
Greenhouse accessories
It is desirable that your greenhouse from a drywall profile with your own hands be equipped with additional devices:
- tinted translucent curtains or bamboo blinds to avoid overheating of plants in hot weathersunny days;
- internal tables or racks, if seedlings from plant seeds will be grown in the greenhouse;
- additional greenhouse heating systems if it is planned to grow plants in it in the winter.
Conclusion
Thus, we examined how a greenhouse can be built on our own plot of land from a drywall profile with our own hands. We wish you successful work and good harvests!
