Secrets to a Successful Greenhouse Business

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Shade cloths, which can be applied over the house or within the house on a trellis system, will help you regulate how much light your plant receives. The cloth costs about 10 cents per square foot and lasts about 10 years. While it comes in degrees ranging from 10 percent to 100 percent blockout, I recommend 65 percent to 73 percent for top-quality foliage plants. Many people use 73 percent in hot summer months, and then switch to 55 percent in cooler months.

If not enough shade cloth is used, plants will get sunburned or dry out; too much shade will keep plants from drying out enough. How much shade you will need depends on the types of plants you're growing: Many flowers and vegetable plants do better in the summer under a light shade cloth, but don't need shade during other seasons. Several landscape plants grow well under a light shade cloth. If you have 300 or more hanging plants (hanging two to three feet apart), you can use a 55 percent to 75 percent shading effect. Many people don't know that shade-grown foliage plants may not require shade over the winter.

Shading paint is another option. These white shading compounds, most of which are applied to the outside of the poly-greenhouse cover, rum clear during rains and then back to shade during sunny weather. There are several good paints on the market.

By growing your plants (or at least finishing them off) under a shade house, made of 4 x 4s and 2 x 4s, your plants will be of higher quality. You can use wood slats, log trims, and old lumber as a lathing (narrow strips of wood nailed to rafters, joists, or studs as a groundwork) to make one. Most large buyers seek out local growers who use this operation, and it may be the only advertisement you need. The least expensive one I've ever seen was made of 12-foot pressure-treated poles, aircraft cable and clamps, mobile-home anchors, and the appropriate-size shade cloth to cover the top and sides. Poles were set about 20 feet apart at the corners, middle, and anywhere else needed. For strength, the aircraft cable was stretched over the top and fastened to the ground with the mobile home anchors. The whole structure was covered with cloth and stitched at the corners and sides.

Environmental Control

You simply canot overestimate the importance of a controlled environment in your greenhouse. Fresh, moving air is as necessary to your plants as are light and water. Whether you are growing plants in containers or growing them hydroponically, you must pay attention to the temperature. The temperature should usually remain at 70° to 75°, and the humidity, should remain at about 50 percent. If you maintain these levels consistently, your plants will grow a lot faster, with better color and higher quality.

When climate factors are properly managed (a good climate-control computer can be a great help you when your business gets larger), production in the double-poly greenhouses will usually surpass that of a single-glazed or fiberglass greenhouse.

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