Designing my first greenhouse

[kbishburg]

I am a newbie who has accumulated over 100 orchids in the last 18 months. Time to build a greenhouse. I don't have a lot of room (10X14 feet) and I want to make the most use of it. Almost everything except my vandas are in S/H.

Is there a way to install automatic watering suitable for S/H?

What's the most cost effective way to get hot water. My greenhouse will be about 50 yards from the house and we live in NJ. Sweating pipe deep enough to prevent freezing may be a costly thing but maybe once they have dug down for the cold water, the hot water is not that much incremental expense. Any experience?

I was thinking about gravel flooring with wooden planks to walk. If the gravel is a foot or so deep, will this provide adequate drainage?

I will need a hot house for my vandas at a high humidity.

Is there any way to have a cold area in a small greenhouse?

Any suggestions welcome. I really know nothing.

Thanks,

K

[dmacch]

I would not run a hot water line from the house. You will have to let the water run too long before it gets hot. It wastes alot of water and energy because when you turn the water off all that hot water is left in the pipe under ground. I put a small electric hot water, I think it is 10 gallons, heater in my GH. It works but it runs out of hot water too quickly. I would get a larger one the next time.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Yes, if you run your fans horizontally, you can get a little bit of a layering effect. I have a short and temporary 8X12' that has my pleurothalids on the floor, and many warm growers hanging, including my Phals under a section of added shade cloth to lower the light levels for these. Vandas hang at the south end where they get the most light and a lot of warmth during the day. You are going to need to do a very good job of insulating. I also made a coldframe running along the length of the GH, with a lid that automatically opens when it gets hot, which it will in winter, the only time I use the coldframe, and two small holes into the green house, one at each end to keep it from freezing, with a fan the runs the length plugged into the heater thermostat for the main GH, so a pressure differential exists to move the air out one hole and in the next to make sure the coldframe gets some warm air. We get down to 10F here, and the frame gets down to about 38F.
http://www.pbase.com/schnitz/temporary_greenhouse