underground greenhouse

[rstevewarmorycom]

The battens

can be hinged to the cleerstory overhang and counterweighted with

lever arms on the hinges for easy opening and closing. If you do these

things you may find it to be so comfortable that you'll want to live down

there.

[rstevewarmorycom]

Sheet plastic gets too diffuse and doesn't insulate

well enough, you probably should go with glass, doublepaned. And also

if you bury horizontal insulation around the house for about a yard, six

inches under the soil, you'll have a chance to store a lot of heat in the

earth for some earth-tempered heating. Ideally you should have insulated

inward-reflective battens over the windows at night to retain day-heat,

or it will go right back out the windows into the night sky.

[rstevewarmorycom]

That stairwell is a MAJOR heat-loss, it needs to be covered or eliminated.

The walls should be painted black, the basement windows should be covered

in with earth, and if possible, dig down around the outside and put foam

insulation sheet down at least 24 inches against the outer concrete wall.

The roof/windows are at too shallow an angle, they need to be a couple

of cleerstory angled windows with reflectors in back at the

minimum angle of sun, in SW Missouri that's 32 degrees from level.

[cofiuhmn]

WD-40 works well for squeeky trikes. 

[BabyShowerStuffcom]

great job. I also just built an earth sheltered greenhouse. You might want to google walipini and see how those systems work.

[yourroaddog]

you could paint the area the sun hits sorta like a solar oven to raise the temperature a bit

[RimstarOrg]

You could try adding some reflectors at the peak of the roof to reflect some of the low winter sun down in to the greenhouse.

[Lushhdog11]

If your windows were longer and wider you could have a vertical window farm. You could grow strawberries and cherry tomatoes in winter. Still looks like your making a good use of available space!

[1krr]

So how well did it work?

[dbhill2005]

REDRUM!

[onpointhydroponics]

your going to want to create co2 thats what controlled green houses are for. To maximize your yields by increasing co2 to its max, along with increasing your fertilizer intake. getting back to your heat problem the co2 generates massive amounts of heat look in to them on this will heat your room all winter long !!!

[augustBody]

i'm pretty sure that kids bike could use some grease.

[ittibittirainbow]

this looks like a great place to try aquaponics! have you seen TheGardenPool? Look it up I'm sure you will get plenty of good ideas!

[bill65761]

A working compost pile is a good source of heat ... oh, and compost!

[Jeremysezsmile]

Charcoaling or painting your walls a dark color might give you some solar thermal gain....get some more heat out of that winter sun... Check out Earthships... its similar concept maybe there's more to learn there...

[man4cannabis]

just get a better wood stove see rocket mass heather there nice for greenhouse

[ccccarla]

Posted last winter ... now it's mid-May, and I suspect this greenhouse has been real busy for the past couple months.

I'm afraid I have no suggestions to make. In fact, Google sent me here for an example of how in the world plants can be raised underground. The comments preceding mine suggest I'm surrounded by geniuses.

"You alright buddy?" at :42 was touching. It appears Son is thriving well. That's a badass tricycle.

[Soldier957]

Thought of another tip :P

You could line the walls with reflective mylar to spread the light around. And put in black plastic barrels filled with water which will absorb heat during the day and release it during the colder nights. Those will double as water reservoirs for your plants also.

[ozarkgrower]

@Soldier957 the wall idea i like, but wandered how costly it might would be. definetly a thought for the future. as well as the barrells, but my stove seems to be doing a good job. i do plan to move the stove. not drafting well with the bends in order to get out the wall. also taking up valuable growing space under the glazing

[farinasa]

@Soldier957 I really like your barrel idea. Although a (much) cheaper route for the walls is to just paint them white. You lose a little reflectivity but save possibly hundreds. Additionally, mylar needs replaced occasionally and is FLAMMABLE.

[Gunnarsguns]

This looks like a great place to use earthboxes.You will need some ventilation to keep diseases down

[ozarkgrower]

@Gunnarsguns tell me about the earthboxes...... thinking about some solar panels to run fans. it has 3 windows, but needs fans i think. i dont have power out ther now. aphids are already bothering my broccoli

[Gunnarsguns]

@ozarkgrower ....just look up earthbox here on y tube. Ive been using them for 10 years now and they will do everything they say they will do. The only negative is their cost....but...once you buy one and see how they work you can make your own.Ventilation is key or diseases will eat you up....might sound stupid but could you possibly let a chicken loose down there?....they love bugs!

[itsback420]

@Gunnarsguns venting is required for plant health CO2 is needed

[centervilletn]

paint the floor black so it will absorb more radiation...that will help...build a simple water heater using a copper coil and 55 gallon drum of water...it will retain heat at night and help warm the building.

you can also line the interior walls with 2 in foam insulation and aluminum foil bubble paper to reflect the heat inward instead of letting it be absorbed by the concrete walls.

i wish i had a similar structure on my property.

[ozarkgrower]

thank you, i appreciate all the imput and will cont. to work on it. thanks

[john2knj]

Interesting. How are things coming along with your underground greenhouse?

[ozarkgrower]

i have a wood burning stove down there now and have added another layer of plastic on the interior rafters. it isnt holding the temps like i thought it would, but i think with practice and perfection it is going to be a good thing. i am going to try and post another video to show what little progress i have made.

thanks for the interest

[OrganicVeganicFarm]

Hi, Google "Walipini". Do line the Northern wall with black-painted drums full of water (catch/store heat for PM use) Also use raised beds (use ergonomic 36" height) or do some vertical gardening , use gutters and pipe the rainwater inside into a water tote.Irrigate via drip irrigation into your raised beds. For a kit , dvds and seminars demonstrating the best of underground greenhouse ideas... watch my channel in future.

Your friend from NC,

Johnny Gregory

Organic Veganic Farm