Palram greenhouses

I'm a long-time Canadian guerrilla grower who happily finds himself able to legally grow 4 plants in my backyard next spring. I was thinking a small greenhouse was a good way to maintain a bit of discretion and a polycarbonate one offers a measure of security against casual rippers. So I googled it of course. One company, Palram, keeps coming up. Does anyone have any experience with them? Maybe this one, or any other small one around $1000 or less.

https://www.homedepot.ca/en/home/p.deluxe-6-ft-x-8-ft-twin-wall-silver-greenhouse.1000756732.html

Not sure of the rules but I think they can’t be visible..... I was thinking more of a roofless garden shed, it would also be easy to light dep it.

If you are in California I may know a guy who can help. Or if you are a do it yourselfer, many of the kits require assembly anyway. I want to say the material cost was around $500 but my notes aren't great. This one uses 24' wide plastic with 23' hoops and is 45' long with 1/2 a roll left. The Palram definitely looks sturdier (it doesn't snow here) but you could fit 11 of those in this one which is a little taller than a 1/2 sphere shape. Definitely cement the PVC joints possibly with industrial grade for stronger connections. The tap screws are great for quickly securing them and the formufit connectors just about all fit nice but the wind got the best of four where they cracked at the screw (plastic didn't rip as far as I can tell). I moved the shade cloth and made it into a privacy screen right about where the piles of dirt are.


https://imgur.com/a/PFLj8om
https://imgur.com/a/o6PpvS5
https://imgur.com/a/rzkhW7D

Bjorn to farm. said:

Not sure of the rules but I think they can’t be visible..... I was thinking more of a roofless garden shed, it would also be easy to light dep it.

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I kept hearing about this visibility proviso and I think I finally found the answer - it varies from province to province. B.C. and Yukon restrict visibility. I'm in Ontario so a locked, double wall polycarbonate greenhouse, which diffuses light a tiny bit should be considered safe and discrete enough for my neighbours, who I don't want to alienate.

A roofless garden shed would do nicely as well. I should price that out. I do like the extended season a greenhouse gives so I'd probably want removable polycarbonate roof panels anyway.

Here's what I found about provincial differences:
https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/a-look-at-each-province-s-rules-for-marijuana-legalization-1.3894944

Mengsk said:

If you are in California I may know a guy who can help. Or if you are a do it yourselfer, many of the kits require assembly anyway. I want to say the material cost was around $500 but my notes aren't great. This one uses 24' wide plastic with 23' hoops and is 45' long with 1/2 a roll left. The Palram definitely looks sturdier (it doesn't snow here) but you could fit 11 of those in this one which is a little taller than a 1/2 sphere shape. Definitely cement the PVC joints possibly with industrial grade for stronger connections. The tap screws are great for quickly securing them and the formufit connectors just about all fit nice but the wind got the best of four where they cracked at the screw (plastic didn't rip as far as I can tell). I moved the shade cloth and made it into a privacy screen right about where the piles of dirt are.

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Ontario, Canada, not Ontario, California as you probably guessed. I thought about DIY options but it's a quiet family neighbourhood and legalization is brand new. I still want to grow outdoors but I want to find a palatable way to do it. A tidy little greenhouse neighbourhood kids can't get into seems like a good way to go.

Normally I'm a swamp grower and, though growing in my yard is going to be amazing, I may just keep my swamp site going as well for old time's sake.

I did finally find another source in Canada, other than Palram. This looks like a great deal but I'm waiting to hear back from them regarding shipping.
https://unclewiener.com/product/new-8x10-polycarbonate-greenhouse-green-house-gh810/

This is the Palram 6x8 at Home Depot for $750:


...and this is 8x10 at Uncle Wiener's (I know, that name!) for $800. It's bigger all 'round and uses 6mm polycarbonate instead of the 4mm on the Palram.

I have seen palrams. Most i have seen are only like 6x8 or 8x10. They are made for starting veggie seeds for home gardens on shelves. Not for growing ANYTHING to completition. People start seeds in the early spring and then plant them in the ground when it warms up. They are tiny and hard to ventilate. You definitely can't fit 4 healthy mature outdoor plants in it. You would go through hell trying to grow one plant in there. That plant is going to cook.

There is allot you can do that would protect your plants from elements, rippers, and view for 1000$ that would be way better.

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Most parts of Canada have humid summer/fall which is bound to have a lot of budrot. If you are doing a gh you better check your humidity at night.. might look easier when you see all these Cali grows but our climate is shit compare to them.

Palram is an Israeli company.

CrushnYuba said:

I have seen palrams. Most i have seen are only like 6x8 or 8x10. They are made for starting veggie seeds for home gardens on shelves. Not for growing ANYTHING to completition. People start seeds in the early spring and then plant them in the ground when it warms up. They are tiny and hard to ventilate. You definitely can't fit 4 healthy mature outdoor plants in it. You would go through hell trying to grow one plant in there. That plant is going to cook.

There is allot you can do that would protect your plants from elements, rippers, and view for 1000$ that would be way better.

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Thanks for the heads up CrushnYuba. I have no greenhouse experience and assumed I could grow right to the limits of the space if I kept the roof vent open. Are you thinking a roofless shed like Bjorn to farm suggested?

If it were me, i would want a hoop house with roll up sidewalls. If you are worried about being able to see in the sidewall vents, you could put fencing around it.

You could Also build a shed with polycarbonate panels for the walls. Make the roof roll back poly or something, so you can close it if it rains. You could put a hand crank or motor on it. You have to have big vents or you are going to have to put some really big noisy greenhouse fans in.

Those little roof vents won't do much unless the door is open. I know your climate is colder and you have less sun, but i still think you are going to have a problem.

Thanks, fortunately I have some time so I'll consider this carefully before spending the dough. It gets plenty hot and humid here in the summer.

Yes, happy days are upon us with legalization


This is a great bang for your buck. I've got one of these 10x20ft, but it only has 8ft of clearance at the center purlin (meaning the side/shoulders have about 6ft clearance). So if you plan to put plants in their the entire summer, you'll either have to train them like crazy or just put them in there beginning of July so they never get more than 5-6ft tall.

https://www.amazon.ca/ShelterLogic-...8&qid=1541953265&sr=1-3&keywords=shelterlogic


Also comes in 10x10ft if that fits your space better:
https://www.amazon.ca/ShelterLogic-...8&qid=1541953265&sr=1-2&keywords=shelterlogic


Canadian Tire has the 10x20ft on sales every 2-3 months sometimes as low as $300. I don't see them on CT website, but I got 2 in stores a year apart for that price.


The plastic is opaque, but last only about 3-4 years before the edges start to wear (I recommend taking it off in the winter for sure). The bottoms roll-up and has front and back peak vents, which provide great air flow on hot days. I would recommend putting 2 circulation fans in each opposite corners and hang box fans in the peak vents for even better venting (https://www.homedepot.ca/en/home/p.20-inch-box-fan.1000682449.html)


You'll probably need 30-50% shade cloth to get through July-Aug if you want the temps below 30C (with shade cloth and box fans, you should be able to keep it slightly cooler than outdoor temp). I use to live in Ontario/Quebec and now farm in coastal BC, so I can promise you that Ontario has substantially HOTTER and more humid summers than Cali or BC, and obviously way more humid. I've used the 10x20ft for seedlings and use 70% shade cloth in BC to keep it below 26C, but we don't have more than 10-20% humidity until mid- to late-Sept.


If you were going to go the DIY route, I recommend buying a tempo/car garage from Costco, they are only $250 for a powdered steel 10x20ft (the model I got was in-stores only). Use that steel frame rather than PVC or bending EMT yourself because it's designed for snow loads and cold temps. You can build your own shed base or cinder blocks perimeter to give it extra heights. You'd have to source your own diffuse greenhouse plastic, which could be tricky if you're not a farmer willing to buy +150ft of it. Lots of youtube videos on how to build your own roll-up sides too (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GyYAnsyuLc). And if you want to go crazy, you can get vents like this for your peaks: http://www.johnnyseeds.com/search/?q=vent&lang=en_US
The money you save on poly-carbonate would certainly be better spend on automatic peak vents. You can also use 90% privacy screen/shade cloth along the sides, so you can roll-up the sides completely and still nobody would be able to see into the inside, while keeping great airflow.

These 2 hoops were built with 16ga top rail that i bent. The first is 12x40ft. I use it for year round vedging. The second is a 20x60ft auto depp. It's half blacked out in the picture. These are pretty damn solid and i imagine they will last for 20 or so years. Definitely stronger then a garage in a box or shelter logic. They both have motorized roll up side wall vents on thermostats, and the big one has a second set of motors for light depp black out. These are in the norcal mountains. It gets to be 110f regularly in the summer and snows in the winter. Very strong wind.
I build the endwalls like homes are built. Lumber studs, covered with siding, steel prehung exterior door.
You could build a little 12x16 frame for 120$ of steel if you want. Trick it out however you want.
The only way mother nature could take one down is by dropping a tree on it

I'm glad I asked. Thanks for the great feedback. I'm realizing that an 8x10 greenhouse is too much of a hothouse for 4 hearty plants - and I don't have room to commit to a larger one. Security and discretion were my main reasons for the interest in a polycarbonate greenhouse and I think I can get meet those goals with fencing, and maybe shade cloth, instead - and not have the concerns about humidity and venting.

I'm thinking I'll fence off a section of our existing back garden, giving each plant 4'x4'. Fencing like this will look nice in the yard (keeping everyone in the household happy is important) and offer good resistance to casual rippers, as well as satisfying any neighbours' concerns about access to their kids.
https://www.ace-canada.ca/en/product/knocked-down-steel-fence-92-x-60-black-03225026

Deer fencing with cedar posts might work too, and offer a bit more height. Either way, the cost and footprint are about the same with greenhouse or fencing but fencing won't stress the plants the way greenhouse walls would.

So maybe I'm not moving from the world of guerrilla growing to greenhouse growing. Not yet anyway. Thanks for helping me sort it out. That's always been the greatest strength of forums like this, especially when/where growing herb is illegal and there is a dearth of information.

By the way, those DIY hoop houses are really nicely made CrushnYuba. Maybe if I had a bit of land somewhere...

I have seen really nice plant cages for a few plants made from lumber and chainlink.

Hey CrushnYuba,

i'm interested in your view about these small greenhouses as you stated that they're not ment for "growing ANYTHING to completition".

Until now i was growing basically out in the open but i want to figure out what would be a sensible option for a greenhouse. If i'd like to grow about 6 sativa hybrids...what would be a minimum size growing area in your opinion? I usually manage to keep them around 6ft. tall with LST etc.

I'm looking at 10ft wide, 14-20ft. long and 7ft. tall polycarbonate greenhouses. Those plants would probably be cooked inside or what? Our main concern here is mold/rain/humidity in fall...so the GH would have to be heated to fight RH i suppose. The height of these greenhouses seems a bit to low to finish plants in them right? Am i better of just growing out in the open?

Those palram types are 6x8 to 12x12. They are really for starts. The vents on them are tiny and they are tough to run in summer. Hoop houses have the entire sidewalls roll up. You could run anything with big enough fans and light depp to keep them from getting too big.

Why don't you just build a 10x16x7 steel hoop house like the one i posted above? Why polycarbonate? If it auto depps you could just flip it when the plants fill out the space. Then do another run or even 2. A 10 x 16 would allow 6 4x4 plants in a screen with a little space for walkway and stuff. Double layer poly will insulate just as well as twin wall polycarbonate.

Well i picked polycarbonate because it seemed like a good decision- i had the option to import it from Russia so it would be cheaper then prefabricated poly greenhouses here!


Bending my own steel tubes is certainly cheaper- just got a price. Too bad your thread is missing a lot of pictures i have to see if i manage to find a step by step guide about how to fit the double polly, mount the blowers and also how to make the entire sidewalls go up! I'm a bit lost!


Thanks for the reply, means a lot!


EDIT:
P.S. would it be possible to mount the light dep tarp under the poly so it wouldn't be visible to neighbours? Gotta keep it stealth!