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After the construction of the greenhouse is completed, it is still impossible to talk about its readiness for growing vegetables. The building must be equipped inside, and the convenience of working on growing crops, as well as the yield indicator, depends on how this is done. Now we will look at how to equip a polycarbonate greenhouse inside in order to rationally use the space and at the same time get a good harvest.
Important nuances of the internal arrangement of the greenhouse
When the question of how to properly equip the internal greenhouse space becomes relevant, you immediately need to decide on the method of growing crops. The layout of the entire room depends on where the plants will grow in the garden or shelving.
There are several main points that require attention at the initial stage of arranging a greenhouse:
- Watering – this is the first thing that plants cannot do without. It is necessary to start doing internal watering even at the initial stage of arrangement. First of all, prepare the points of water intake. Usually 1 point is enough, but if the area of the greenhouse is large, it is reasonable to make several of them. It is important to immediately decide on the future irrigation system. Drip irrigation is considered the most effective.
- When equipping a greenhouse, it is important to take care of ventilation. Without access to fresh air, no plant is able to develop normally. In a polycarbonate greenhouse, it is very easy to make sections that open for ventilation. The location of the vents is provided even before the sheathing of the greenhouse frame with polycarbonate.
- The next attention should be paid heating. Polycarbonate greenhouses can be used for winter vegetable growing. You can equip the heating system in different ways: from the simplest installation of a potbelly stove, heat gun, infrared heater to the complex installation of water heating or underfloor heating. When choosing one of the heating systems, it should be taken into account that almost all of them are aimed at heating the air, and only a warm floor is able to warm the greenhouse soil. Underfloor heating is laid under all beds and drainage. Under the thermal circuit, it is necessary to put thermal insulation. It is better if it is with a foil reflector. Such a layer prevents the passage of heat into the soil and directs it upwards to heat the soil in the garden.
- A greenhouse with lighting from ordinary incandescent lamps is an ordinary equipped barn. Plants in this light will develop poorly due to the absence of blue light in the spectrum. It is optimal to use LED, gas discharge or fluorescent lamps for lighting polycarbonate greenhouses.
The video talks about lamps for lighting greenhouses:
When all these important points are thought out, you can proceed to the next stage of arrangement. This includes the manufacture of shelves, racks, partitions and other structures.
Greenhouse insulation methods
It is very good to make heating in a greenhouse, but its effectiveness depends on how well the building itself is insulated. After all, a large loss of heat will cost the owner a penny, plus during severe frosts the heating system may not be able to cope with the heating of the greenhouse and the plants will simply die.
Since polycarbonate sheathing has been chosen for the greenhouse, this is already the first step in keeping warm. Transparent plastic sheet with a honeycomb structure has minimal heat loss compared to polyethylene film. However, during the fastening of polycarbonate, you cannot save on rubber seals. Thanks to them, the possibility of heat escaping through the gaps of the joints is excluded.
It is necessary to take care of the preservation of heat even at the initial stage of the construction of the greenhouse. First of all, you need to insulate the foundation itself. The laying of the foundation is carried out no shallower than the depth of freezing of the soil. For the construction of the foundation, adobe blocks treated with concrete mortar and polymer mastic have proven themselves to be excellent. The upper part of the foundation is covered with roofing material, and on the inside it is insulated with foam plastic and a 400 mm layer of sand.
Heat in the soil itself can be kept only in a properly made bed. It must be raised by at least 400 mm. An electric heating cable buried along the rows gives a good effect.
The video tells about the insulation of a polycarbonate greenhouse:
Arrangement of the greenhouse racks
A polycarbonate greenhouse allows you to grow some crops on racks. This is very convenient, as the double space saving allows you to get more crops. Racks, regardless of the material from which they are made, have an impressive weight. After all, there are many containers with soil on the shelves. Only a concrete floor can provide structural stability. Under small racks for growing seedlings, it will be enough to lay out the floor with old bricks or slabs.
For the manufacture of the racks themselves, wooden blanks treated with an antiseptic, as well as metal pipes, profiles, corners, are suitable. Dimensions of the structure are determined individually according to needs. It is reasonable to select the height of the rack relative to the height of the owner. The top shelf should be at eye level so that the grower can reach the plant without a stand. It is allowed to manufacture high shelves for storing various inventory.
The number of shelves on a rack in a standard greenhouse with a height of 2 m depends on its purpose. For growing crops, 3 or 4 shelves are usually left. Here it is necessary to be guided by the height of the plants so that their top does not rest against the higher shelf. A rack equipped for growing seedlings can consist of 6 shelves.
Plants growing on shelves should receive maximum light; for this, racks are placed along the walls. If they stand in rows, then it is necessary to maintain a minimum passage width of 500 mm. The racks on wheels work well. They allow you to periodically turn the plants on different sides to the transparent wall of the greenhouse.
Installation of partitions in the greenhouse
The partition is not an essential construction, but its use is justified when growing poorly adjacent crops. For the manufacture of partitions, they usually take the same material that was used to sheath the frame of the greenhouse – polycarbonate. In order to have access to both parts of the greenhouse and to ventilate it, a door is made in the partition. If the building is a walk-through, that is, with doors at both ends, the partition can be made deaf. In this case, you can simply stretch the PET film.
Arrangement of the pantry
If the dimensions of the greenhouse allow you to take a small room under the pantry, do not neglect this. After all, you need a tool to get the job done. It is not very convenient to carry shovels, choppers, watering cans from the barn every time, and by placing them in the pantry, the right tool will always be at hand. It is enough to fence off a small room to install a wooden rack with shelves and cells in it.
Beds and paths in the greenhouse
To access the ridges, you need to take care of the paths. Their number and layout depend on the shape and dimensions of the greenhouse. For example, for a rectangular building measuring 2X6 m, it is enough in the center between the beds of 1 track 400 mm wide. Then the width of the beds on both sides of the track will be 800 mm. Such dimensions make it convenient to care for plants.
In large greenhouses, there may be 2, 3 or more paths between the beds. Usually the paths are paved with any solid material: brick, gravel, tile, etc. The hard surface will not sag from moisture and slip.
The standard height of the beds from the level of the path is 300–400 mm. To keep the edges of the beds from spilling the soil onto the path will help fences made of boards fixed with wooden stakes. Instead of boards, the beds are fenced with curbs, bricks or any other material at hand.
The arrangement of the beds begins with the laying of the film. It will serve as a hydrobarrier, save heat and retain moisture in the soil. A drainage layer is poured on top of the film, and only then the turn comes to the soil. The soil is chosen fertile, suitable in composition for growing a particular crop. In the future, the soil will have to be fed with mineral and organic fertilizers.
The video tells about the arrangement of the greenhouse:
Here, in general, are all the main stages of arranging a polycarbonate greenhouse. Each grower has the right to equip the building at his own discretion, the main thing is that the cultivation of crops is comfortable and gives a positive result.