Tropical climate greenhouse/screenhouse

[Gfruge]

So, as mentioned in the introduction section, I’m starting from scratch and looking to get some great advice. I live in the mountains of Nicaragua. Tropical climate, but high up in the mountains where it can cool off. There is the rainy season for almost half the year. Weather usually ranges between 65-75 deg f. But can get down to mid 50’s and as high as mid 80’s.

I’m looking to build a pvc structure for now to see how things go instead of investing more.

I’ve been looking at the sawtooth greenhouse design. But the more I think about it, would I do better with a simple high ceiling tunnel designed greenhouse screened instead of wrapped with plastic? Or do screen for half of the sides and do plastic at the top to protect from the great amount of rainfall and UV?

The ventilation issues is what I’ve been looking into and of course wanting to keep the bugs and animals out.

opinions?

 

[Marck]

I think building a sturdy square or half-circle frame is a good idea. You can design it so that you can easily drape the roof in shade cloth and/or clear plastic depending on whether you want to keep out excessive sunlight or excessive rain. Keep the sides open for ventilation. You can also cover the walls and/or ceiling with chicken wire to keep out larger animals, or even with fine screening if you want to attempt to exclude insects. Of course, fine screening may also act as barrier to some of the sunlight and rain as well.

A few more thoughts on the matter:
Screening out insects completely will be a futile task, but if it did reduce your pest load it might be worth it. However, there is the possibility that you will be more successful in screening out pollinators and other beneficial ones, than the pests.

Of course firmly anchoring all components together and to the ground will be a challenge. At the same time, you might want to design a structure that could be intentionally collapsed or dismantled prior to the arrival of high winds or storms.