New greenhouses, fishing for ideas.

[Kada]

Bought new land, building a house and after that i have the go ahead for 2 new greenhouses (50x20) for now. They will be hoop, screen and plastic build like my other. Looking for ideas on teh floor/inside though. designs you guys liked.

One big problem i am having is my old benches are too short and my back hurts a lot now. for a tall guy over 6' what would be the ideal height of the bench you think?

[CoronaCactus]

For the floor, i like a good quality weed cloth and a 3" thick layer of 3/4" gravel. Concrete with drains would be nice, but very expensive!

For bench height, i used 32" and 28". I'm 6'1" and have no problems. I actually prefer the 28".

[Kada]

thanks. I am amazed how vague i can be. First climate is tropical with very heavy rains in summer, in Taiwan.

Here is run down of what is planned so far. A simple hoop structure with end door and fans or vents. 20x50'. i am guessing at 15' at the peak.

Floor will be concrete and raised. it is expensive, but cheaper than loosing what i am in current non concrete situation. i will also likely be building a small moat around the outside perimeter to avoid african land snails. they are a massive pest here and wiped out a large enough % of my previous collection last year to take them a bit more serious now. Due to screen/plastic material in greenhouse, savannah monitors are out, moat is next best thing.

do you think drains are very useful if we flood and water comes up and floods the whole thing? I can put them in easy enough, i just cant think how useful they really are though.

wow, really? i know this may sound weird, but its a serious question. how do you bend yourself when moving heavy pots over the bench so that you dont end up hurting your back long term? my back is fairly sore now, and my benches are 36" high. i am only a couple inches taller. my first greenhouse i actually dug the ground down along the benches to lower myself about 1 extra foot to make it roughly 4' high but still seemed too low. maybe should make a dummy bench and test moving things at different heights. just want to get it right cause i have to have them fabricated myself, greenhouse guys only have set sizes for benches and wont do custom. so benches are going to be expensive and want them done well.

I also like the idea of table tops for flood irrigation. i only worry about pests, anyone have thoughts on that? would sure save time and prevent weeds below.

thanks

[cactushobbyman]

I'm a 6 footer and my benches are 35 inches high. Works for me and I use a bar stool to sit on when working the greenhouse to avoid back pain. Now moving large pots, if they are on the bench I would build a dolly to work on top of your benches. You might be able to find something close at an office supply store; i.e. like dolly for luggage. I have one from an office supply store without extending it about 36 inches tall. From Office Depot: Safco® Stow & Go Cart™ Lightweight Hand Truck, 110 Lb. Capacity, 5" Wheels, Gray Just an idea.

[Kada]

Yes, a trolly for the bench. my pots are not massive, but i use 100% rock based soils here in the wet so 20kg is probably my max. it hurts after a while though bending down and stretching to the back with that size of pot. that's a fantastic idea, i am going to get on that tonight. trolly built off the side of the greenhouse. love it.

[DaveW]

I am 5'-11" and my benches are 3ft high, the standard worktop height for UK kitchen units, but 3ft wide. I drew my greenhouse out to scale, including a figure of myself and where I bent from the waist and arm length showing how far I could reach to the back of the benching's before I ever built them. Bench width really depends on what the width of the greenhouse is in order to utilise maximum plant space. Commercial benching's are usually too narrow to use greenhouse space effectively, leaving over wide paths. I can get away with 18 inch paths, but obviously for say somebody who was disabled and wanted to get a wheelchair in they would need to be wider and the benching's lower.

It depends if you want to grow out of the ground with a centre bed, but if an all benching greenhouse I would go for something like 3'-0" wide benching's at the sides and two approx 4'-6" island benches in the centre, since unlike side benches you can reach island benches from both sides with regards placing plants on, thereby leaving roughly 5'-0" to split between the three paths in between the benches. If you want more room narrow the staging's slightly and if a centre bed modify the layout to suit.

Anyway measure up the internal width of your new greenhouse and draw yourself out a plan to scale since it is far easier to get the best benching set up on paper first than have to modify ones you have made, or waste greenhouse space on unnecessarily wide paths.

Also for cacti I would recommend a 6" ply or timber up stand on the edge of the staging's to avoid clothes getting hooked up on the plants as you walk by, or knocking pots off. Benches strong enough to stand on are also a godsend since if you want to pull a heavy pot from the back you can clear a few plants out of the way and using a pair of steps stand one foot on the staging to pull it forward from the back then climb down and lift it off.

[oldcat61]

Ah Dave - you're so practical! I measured mine out too but I'm short & wide. Plus I had to factor in the space for my comfy twig rocker & tiny cocktail table. Two glass candle holders on the house-side wall. We all have our priorities -cheers! Sue

[Sharpy]

Hey K, Glad you got the new property!

Do you think this land is going to have the same flooding issues as the last one? Or is it all about the same no matter where you are located there?

Still going to use copper on the table legs, along with the moat? Might not hurt just in case a few make there way in. Don't want to see you lose as many plants as last year

Best of luck on the house and GHs. Please share some pics when you can.

Hope all is well there and talk with you soon, take care