Re: Strawbale Greenhouses? (Cal Poly Pomona)

[Michael <mjakubal@asis.com>]

At 08:05 AM 1/10/00 -0800, you wrote:

>  Plants need light -- lots of it, and allowing the passage
>of light from only one side rather than from many or all doesn't
>cut it horticulturally. (Think about indoor plants becoming leggy
>and constantly turning towards the
>window and you've got the problem visualized.) You may find that a row
>of plants right in front of the south-facing "greenhouse" window will do
>OK, but the rest of the "greenhouse" floorspace may be of little
>horticultural use?


I have a friend and straw bale builder who's first sb project was a 
greenhouse. It looks and works beautifully. It has a short bale wall in 
front (sun-side) and a full height, load-bearing wall back. If I remember 
correctly, the short front wall goes around both sides as well. It is 
glazed with used sliding glass door panels, two high; the lower one about 
60 degrees, the one above, about 30 degrees (something like that... the 
lower one is steep, but not vertical, the top one flatter). The sides are 
stick-framed and glazed. This configuration gives light from all but the 
back side. But there is no sun there to speak of between the fall and 
spring equinoxes anyway. In front is a large built-in planter bed. Along 
the back wall are shelves. The plants that I've seen look great and I know 
the owners get regular vegetable harvests from the greenhouse year 'round.

So, as to the concerns above, it is all a matter of design. It can be done, 
and it can work well.

I don't know if he's done any probing around to see if there have been any 
moisture problems in the walls. (I'm pretty sure he used a vapor barrier.) 
At any rate, the structure has been up for many years and shows no outward 
signs of the moisture related problems that might be expected from a 
greenhouse in a climate that gets 100 inches of rain each winter (NW 
California).

As soon as I can get a hold of the owner, I'll post more details and his 
number if he is willing to have people call him.

I'm so impressed with the greenhouse that I'm using the design as a 
starting point for the one I hope to build this summer.

Mikal