PALRAM 6ft x 4ft Polycarb Green House
THE CHALLENGE
The initial aims for this project was to successfully produce as many crops as possible in a confined space. The 6ft x 4ft greenhouse seemed appropriate for the challenge, as a fairly compact space it could fit in most urban gardens, and to prove the point further we don’t even have a garden so our 6ft x 4ft greenhouse is taking pride of place within the lab. So if you to are a garden-less reader then fear not, we’ve proved you can put one inside.
To produce the maximum amount of crop we chose to use a hydroponic system as apposed to an aquaponics – this is because to feed the number of plants we wanted to grow via aquaponics we would need a lot more water tanks for the fish to be happy.
We chose to build in Deep Water Culture (DWC) media beds to grow in using clay pebbles and raft board and an NFT tower system (Nutrient Film Technique)
We also have added a feed of CO2 from our mushroom growing tent into the greenhouse.
THE MATERIALS
PALRAM 6ft x 4ft Polycarbonate Greenhouse – £50 second hand from gumtree
Reclaimed wood – to make the media beds
145 litre tank
Piping – from the Plastic Pipe Shop
Gulleys – for the tower systems
45w Immersible pump – Hailea
Tarpaulin – to waterproof the media beds
Clay pebbles – for one of the media beds
Raft board – for the other media bed
THE EQUIPMENT
We love a bit of tech in the lab and our greenhouse is no exception. Seeing as the greenhouse is inside and we wanted to produce a bountiful crop we have added our own lighting.
We have a lab built LED sunlight (we can build these for your project too if you want, just drop us an email at hello@greenlab.org )
& we have 2 200w Maxibright bulbs from Maxigrow Ltd
We also have:
1 Smart Citizen – Arduino based sensor recording all the data from the greenhouse and shared online here.
A Zensie 30MHz sensor measuring: Temperature, Humidity, Leaf surface temperature, CO2 levels, PAR (photosynthetic active radiation), Dewpoint, Occupied vibrations & the water pump.
THE OUTCOME
With the combination of water, nutrients, light and a trusty pump our greenhouse is now in full flourish and we are growing the following plants:
Genovese Basil
Purple Basil
Chard
Indigo Rose Tomato available from Suttons & Scotch Bonnet Chilli from South Devon Chilli Farm.