Poly house for nature lovers

Poly houses also known as greenhouses are only options for urban nature lovers who live in high-rise buildings or no open spaces available for growing flowers or vegetables or even fruits. One can built such poly houses in one of the corners of their house or rooftop according to space available. Such green houses are available in selected places according to your demand of size and need or you can make them on your own as per your choice. I know you cannot do it easily but you certainly can make one for your own use provided it is not too big or you are not looking for an extra ordinary looking expert job. However, you can make one such green house for your own need as per your own requirement with little bit of effort. 

We should discuss the need of a poly house first

Poly house is a structure where you can grow different plants in any climate irrespective of thinking about weather conditions by controlling the light, temperature, moisture level etc artificially. As the poly house is a structure fully covered, therefore it is easy to keep control pests as well. In short, you can grow flowers and vegetables etc in any season according to your choice but it is possible in air-conditioned poly houses only. People in cities also make poly houses without air-conditioning facility to grow flowers and plants of their choice protecting and keeping their plants safe from outer conditions. 

Poly houses – materials and fabrication

I must tell you at this particular point that I am not an expert on poly house fabrication but some other engineering structures but as a nature lover, I know that your plants do not want your expertise but proper shelter. I have only studied the art of fabricating a poly house years before while living with my father who was an agricultural engineer and wish to share it with you. There are two basic types of poly houses built of steel, PVC or wooden structure. You will need the services of a welder in case of steel structure while wooden or PVC structures you can fabricate by your own efforts. Most domestic green houses built by users for their domestic use prefer wood as it is easy to construct and shape as per specific choice –

1- These are based on mechanical theories- Poly houses in this category are expert jobs, which need engineering designs with certain technical specifications. Either these houses are fitted with air-conditioners or cooling pads with holes in one side covered y pads and exhaust fan on other side to take the air out of poly house. To keep temperature down in summers you can make arrangements of keeping the pads wet through holed pipes fitted on top and the water filtering through the pads reaching to plants. To keep carbon dioxide under control, you need to provide separate equipment that is for bigger and for commercial use poly houses. In winters, the coolers are replaced by heaters to maintain required temperature. In poly houses used for commercial purposes, they provide water sprinklers and controlled drip systems. 

2- Ordinary green houses – These are the green houses for domestic purposes depending upon space, place and facilities available. These poly houses do not have mechanical facilities but holes on one side for airflow and shelter from harsh sunlight.  

Design of a poly house

Basically a green house is a square or rectangular construction having round roofs to prevent dust or leaves etc to collect there which block sunlight to reach to the plants properly. The height of a green house is ideal from 4.5 to 6.5 meters depending upon space available. 

As I mentioned earlier that wood or bamboo is most economical material and easy to construct for personal use, the other materials used are aluminum, iron bars, galvanized steel, toughened plastic pipes, etc but if you are planning to use bamboo or wood, you should treat it for termite or white ant, which is main enemy of wood or bamboo.

Once you have designed and made its structure, cover it with using 200 micron thick polythene sheets to allow enough sunlight needed for your plants. You should keep directions of airflow in mind to provide holes in walls accordingly helpful in control of temperature of the poly house. Please also note that if you will construct a poly house too lengthy with entrance in one side and windows in other side, such structure would not serve your purpose in every weather but suitable for winters only. To make your poly house useful for all weather make it in square shape and if you want to make proper passage to walk inside keep its width accordingly.

You must plan in advance

You should plan your vegetation in advance to make sure about certain necessities like what you have in your mind to plant, whether the plants you are planning are small or medium sized or tall because the height and design of a roof of poly hose depends entirely on these particular points. If you have taller plants in your mind, you should not opt for round or two sided slopped roofs for your poly house but simply flat one would be an ideal choice for you. You should also consider natural light and airflow direction as air always flows in east-west directions. You should also ensure easy water and electric supply to your poly house for smoother maintenance. It is better to use watering and pesticides through drip method or sprinkling system. 

Poly house is a good option for you to grow vegetables even in odd seasons – As all of us know that there are different seasons for different vegetables but poly house gives us a unique opportunity to grow vegetables in odd seasons creating atmosphere for particular produce. You can create n exact atmosphere for a particular product by regulating temperature, giving water as much required and conservation from insects present in outside environment. You can develop quality of produces as per your requirement or even increase the plucking time by regulating the atmosphere inside a poly house.

Precautions to keep your poly house free from problems

To protect your poly house from certain problems like insects-

1. You should keep the doors closed unless must. 
2. You should keep the holes of cooling pads covered by a thin plastic sheet to prevent entrance of undesired elements.
3. You should check humidity level and temperature of your poly house to prevent bad effects of atmosphere on your produce.
4. Use proper chemicals in proper quantity to wash seeds before sowing these. 

Other benefits of poly house 

1. There are certain flowers and vegetables which do not seed easily particularly in winters and remain in hibernation for longer time but if you try the process in your poly house before transferring them to other places, it must give you a wonderful result as the plants thus grown would be healthier and according to your required variety.
2. Certain flowers grown in poly houses grow beautifully, bigger, brighter and healthier. Few of such flowers include Anthurium, Dahlia, Gladiolus, Anemone, Nargis, Guldaudi, Carnation, Geranium and many such varieties.
3. Vegetables begin to grow in a ply house a few weeks earlier than outside. You can try vegetables like Beans, sweet pea, spinach, carrots, tomato, onions, broccoli, Brussels sprouts etc.
4. Please note that for getting the best results of your efforts you should select the seeds carefully from specific shops, which provide seeds especially for poly house purposes. It is better to use hybrid seeds for better results and disease free produce if you are willing to take full advantage of your poly house and time you spend for your wonderful hobby.

Conclusion

If you have a poly house of your own, no matter how small or big, take full advantage of the same by using best seeds, fertilizers, watering your plants properly, keeping temperature right and humidity as required. Happy gardening.

Photos from own source.