Elongating Growing Mid Summer

[arvanlaar]

Hey All,

New here with a few questions that I will be spreading around the various sub forums.

Last year my wife got me an inexpensive, 5'x5' plastic covered greenhouse so that I could start and extend some of my plantings. It keeps the heat in AMAZING. I mean, its -20 celsius here in Canada and inside during a sunny day, its +20. Crazy! I go out and sit in there and enjoy my winter wonderland while sweating in my snow gear haha.

The issue in the summer though is, well it gets too hot. To put it simply, I accidentally left a rose plant in there early summer on a sunny day and the door was closed and the rose literally boiled and the the leaves completely burned. It can get up to 50+ degrees in there easily.

This year I wanted to plant my peppers in the greenhouse and grow them through the year. I think they will grow great for the early season and be extended into the fall. What I would love to do though is make some sort of vent for the top of the greenhouse to vent out the extremely hot air. Currently the only venting can be done with the door open but even then, it still gets too hot mid summer. With the wrapping being a solid sheet of plastic, has anyone every attempted something like this? Where the vent can be opened in the summer but in the spring and fall stay closed to keep in the hot air?

I would love to hear any and all ideas you all might have Thanks!

 

[Logan]

Hello and welcome to GF
I don't think that you'll be able to put a vent in your greenhouse, you could put some shading on it. But tomatoes should grow well, I don't know about peppers it might be too hot. But they might be alright with shading.

 

[arvanlaar]

Thanks Logan I appreciate your advice I think I may have figured out a way to solve the issue but I need to ponder it a bit more before making any cuts on the membrane lol.

You mentioned that tomatoes would survive better than peppers there. I always thought it was the other way around that peppers liked it hotter than tomatoes. Is my understanding of that incorrect?

 

[Logan]

You mentioned that tomatoes would survive better than peppers there. I always thought it was the other way around that peppers liked it hotter than tomatoes. Is my understanding of that incorrect?

I grow peppers in my conservatory and it gets very hot in summer and they can wilt a bit, but the tomatoes love it.

 

[arvanlaar]

Interesting. I don't think my tomatoes would fit in there unless I got a new strain. I generally grow those just fine in the garden and thought maybe the peppers would do fine if I rolled up the sides and made a vent so air didn't get trapped in the top 6-12" or so.

 

[Logan]

If you can roll up the sides yes you could grow peppers.

 

[Tetters]

If I were you @arvanlaar I wouldn`t attempt to cut that greenhouse, I would use a good shade netting. I would also pay attention to making sure that it was very well secured to the ground as you could lose it in windy weather.
If you use and enjoy this growing area, I would make a suggestion that you consider building yourself a frame out of timber - second hand is good as it doesn`t warp so much and can be less expensive. With a timber frame, it is relatively easy to fix vents and windows in there. It also gives somewhere to nail up shelves, sky hooks for hanging baskets and racks to hang your tools on. This is what I`ve had for the past 30 years. You can also make it twinwalled with bubble wrap insulation when it`s really cold .

 

[arvanlaar]

Thanks @Tetters Unfortunately I do not have the funds to build a new greenhouse or I most definitely wood. Wood is very hard to come by second hand right now and new lumber is just out of the question (lumber has increased in cost 300% since I last bought a 2x4 last year. Insane and I live in Canada!). That being said, I think I will forgo the vent and roll up the sides when the weather starts hitting the mid 20s and higher in the summer. I just need to figure out how to do that effectively now since the sides are all connected together. We shall see how it goes

 

[Tetters]

In that case, can I make another suggestion? You don`t want that cover cut, it won`t last 5 minutes if you do that, so how about taking it right off, fold it up and store it when the weather warms up and make a shade over the frame for warm weather (which will also deflect any wind). Then your polythene will still be in one piece when it gets cold again and you can replace it .

 

[arvanlaar]

I think you are right Tetters. That is probably the easiest thing to do. Thanks for your help

 

[Tetters]

You are very welcome - two heads are better than one (sometimes)