How to Design & Build a Tropical Green House
- 1). Buy fifteen 10 foot sections of rebar and cut them into three equal sections of 40 inches, using a disk grinder with cut-off wheel or diamond blade (available for rental from your local home improvement center).
- 2). Measure out the foundation of the greenhouse as 8 feet by 12 feet. Dig up the ground inside the area for the foundation to a depth of two feet. Put the soil you removed from the foundation in a pile to be used later. Use a sledge hammer to pound the soil where the foundation will rest.
- 3). Lay down a layer of thick mil plastic on the ground and place straw bales end to end around the outer edge of the hole (in a straight line). Drive the re-bar sections through the straw into the ground until the top is flush with the top of the straw bale.
- 4). Lay a garden hose on the ground and keep both ends above the straw bales at the end of the greenhouse near where the entrance to the greenhouse will be. Fill in the ground under the straw bales with cow manure to a depth of one foot. Add another hose with one end of the hose connected to the first hose. Add another one-foot layer of manure.
- 5). Slide the end of PVC pipes onto the rebar that is embedded into the straw on one of the long sides of the greenhouse. Bend the pipes carefully to the other side of the greenhouse and place the other end of the pipe onto the re-bar on the other side of the greenhouse directly across from the place where the pipe is located. Add a 12 foot pipe at the apex of the roof and use zip ties to connect the pipe down the center.
- 6). Place the plastic (thick mil plastic) over the greenhouse so that it overlaps the ground on all sides of the greenhouse by two feet. Lay down a pipe along the base at the sides of the greenhouse. Roll the pipes at the sides of the greenhouse in the plastic until it just barely reaches the ground.
- 7). Cut small holes into the plastic at places where the pipes are on the rebar and cross the two pipes that are on the ground at either side of the greenhouse. Use zip ties to connect these pipes at the holes and to clamp down the plastic.
- 8). Lay two eight-foot lengths of pipe across the entrance at the end of the plastic at either end of the greenhouse tunnel. Roll the plastic up over the pipes at the ends of the greenhouse until the plastic is just long enough to reach the straw bales. Cut small holes into the plastic and use zip ties to hold the plastic in place on the pipes. Rip tie these two pipes to other pipes in the frame. Cut a small doorway in the plastic at one end. Save the plastic from that hole.
- 9). Attach a wooden door that is the size of the hole. Make a 2x4 frame that is slightly larger than the door you cut. The bottom board should stick out four feet on either side of the door. Attach a 2x4 on the frame and down to the ends of the bottom board. Place the door frame just inside the plastic doorway. Cut the last 10 foot section of rebar in half and drive it into the ground two feet at the frame of the door. Attach the frame to the rebar using zip ties every five inches.
- 10
Drill two holes in a five-gallon bucket that are 1/2 inch in diameter. Use a garden hose to flush the hose in the greenhouse and allow the water to flow out on the ground. Cut the ends of the hose and flay them out into four parts that are one inch long. - 11
Drill a 1/4 inch hole in the flayed parts of the hose and into the five-gallon bucket. Use bolts and nuts to lock these flayed ends onto the bucket over these two holes. Use shoe goo to seal up any cracks. Fill the hose and the bucket with water and keep it filled. Spray water over the manure floor to start the decomposition process and add moisture to the air. Place your plants into the greenhouse and allow the decomposing manure to heat the hothouse (tropical greenhouse). Water the manure occasionally and make sure that the water bucket stays full.