Surthrival Trailer Mark 1 Update #32 Caterpillar Style Greenhouse Part 2
Hello Everyone!
This is part 2 of the caterpillar greenhouse build. This type of greenhouse is an easily transportable greenhouse system that many market gardeners use to move from place to place.
I started by getting a hand from my father who came over to help me drape the plastic. Having another person there to help made this operation go smoothly and took about 30 mins to complete.
We both grabbed a free side of the 20'x50' section of 6mil clear plastic and lifted it over the greenhouse frame.
Here is the view after draping the plastic. We left approx. 15' of plastic at both ends that will be twisted to seal up the greenhouse.
I used a 2' horseshoe steak I had lying around to secure one of the twisted ends of the greenhouse. Using a hatchet I hammered the steak into the ground at an angle facing away from the greenhouse.
Using paracord I made 2 wraps around the plastic and tied it to the steak that was just hammered in.
Here is another view, the next step will be to repeat this process on the other end of the greenhouse.
Here is the wrapped plastic on the opposite end with the steak ready to be tied to.
Using around a 3' length of paracord I tied a two half hitches knot to both the plastic and the steak.
I used a couple wraps on both the plastic and the steak to ensure better security.
Here is the view after both ends were wrapped up and secured.
Starting from one end of the greenhouse I tied a two half hitches knot to the lowest part of the frame of the greenhouse to begin cris-crossing paracord over the top of the plastic.
The paracord will be tied to a steak on the opposite side of the greenhouse that was placed in the center of the ribs.
The paracord was wrapped one time on the adjacent steak.
The paracord was passed back to the other side of the greenhouse and this process was repeated cris-crossing down the length of the greenhouse.
Here is the view of how the paracord was cris-crossed down the length of the greenhouse. Steaks were placed in between each rib and the paracord was attached to each steak.
Here is the overview of the completed greenhouse!
Thank you for your time if you gave this a read!
Nice green house @makinstuff, the Wife want's one of these. How many years do you think you can get out of the 6 mil. plastic? Do you get any wind or snow where you are????
resteemed!!! :)
Awesomeness! I very much fell in love with this concept for a greenhouse as it could be picked up and moved rapidly for season extension. It snows here on occasions and can get pretty windy. I believe I can get several seasons out of the plastic. Not certain on ultimately how long it will last however. I originally learned about this style greenhouse from Curtis Stone who is a market gardener in Canada so I believe it works well even in places with lots of snow. Thank you for sharing!
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If the better half reads this post I will be building one too! LOL...
Our off-grid neighbors up the road have one..... I have been checking it out!
I found a good resource from someone that built a similar type quonset hut greenhouse in a high wind area of Wyoming that is a good read I really like how they set it up with an inground heating system. http://www.frugal-living-freedom.com/build-a-greenhouse.html
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Impressive stuff @makinstuff was that 30 minutes to set up completly or just the plastic? Thanks for sharing
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Thank you so much @digitaldan, the 30 mins was just to get the plastic set up. The entire build assembly including putting up the ribs and top stabilizer pole takes about 3hrs with how I have this one set up.
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I've thought about setting up one of these in my main garden in the spring to help warm up the garden soil a bit sooner.
The big part is getting the ribs bent. I think I will be setting up some kits and fixtures/tutorials for making tube bending equipment. A 20'x10' tunnel like mine could be built for around $320 using the materials from local big box stores. This company sells kits for tunnels for a decent cost as well as tons of great accessories for market gardeners as well. https://farmersfriendllc.com/products/season-extension/caterpillar-tunnel
Thanks for the link, I'll check it out.
My sister and her husband have a bunch of big greenhouses made this way. I like going in them on a freezing cold day and feeling the warmth and moisture.
I'm loving it man
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Wow, this came out great! Im going to save this in my 'cool ideas to do someday'...
We built a large greenhouse and I know how annoying it can be to put the plastic on! My husband and I did it, but it was a struggle. Ours is about 10ft tall and 12 feet wide though.
Id love to have a smaller greenhouse like this! I like the whole paracord idea!
Thank you @squishysquid! It worked out well and is a real straightforward way to put up a greenhouse quickly if you have the bent top rail.
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