Awesome: $300 Underground Greenhouse Wake Up World

[Pogue_Mahone]

http://wakeup-world.com/2014/02/13/...s-produce-year-round-even-in-severe-climates/
This is awesome. I totally want to build one. Of course mine is going to cost more than $300, but I don't live in a Peruvian hut. I want cinder block walls and a roof that can withstand snow and such. Plexiglass? Lexan?

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[Certaindeaf]

you gotta be punking me..

"The Walipini, in simplest terms, is a rectangular hole in the ground 6′ to 8′ deep covered by plastic sheeting"

not awesome

 

[Pogue_Mahone]

I actually read the construction pdf. Not just the article. The ability to grow your own food is pretty important to me.

 

[BillM]

Should work. Might be a little iffy on hot peppers and tomatoes, but cool weather and root
crops should do well.

One thing you might want to consider. If you dig a 8 ft deep rectangular hole in western
Oregon, there is a fair chance that what you will get is not "greenhouse" but
"covered swimming pool"

 

[Pogue_Mahone]

Yeah. You gotta know where the water table is. My current house is a swamp in the winter.

 

[erudne]

in western OR a typical green house will stretch your growing season by two months, maybe more. If you run a wood stove on cold nights even better. Before I excavated I would build a green house with passive solar heat sinks (50 gallon drums of water painted black). Also the compost you use has a lot to do with food production, you'd be shocked at the production per sq foot when you optimize sun, heat, water and soil.

 

[erudne]

http://wakeup-world.com/2014/02/13/...s-produce-year-round-even-in-severe-climates/
This is awesome. I totally want to build one. Of course mine is going to cost more than $300, but I don't live in a Peruvian hut. I want cinder block walls and a roof that can withstand snow and such. Plexiglass? Lexan?

build a steep roofed 'A-Frame' to shed snow. or even a south oriented 12' wall shed building with a metal roof if snow is a big problem. Line interior north wall with heat absorbing water drums painted black, south, west and east wall with clear lexan

 

[Pogue_Mahone]

The instructions describe specific slopes for the roof based on the latitude of the location. This is done to maximize absorption of the sun's heat at the winter solstice and maximize reflection during the summer solstice. There is a fair amount of brilliance in the simplicity of the design.

 

[erudne]

I installed sliding glass door on east and west side of my GH to allow for ventilation, I cut down a few trees to increase sun light, I have a space that I might build another GH, it will be a shed roof w/ raised beds

 

[mjbskwim]

Great idea .....IF you have the equipment to dig the hole. That's another $300 easily. Then do you have a place for the dirt?
You can use the dirt so you down have to dig it as deep but otherwise you need a place to put any dirt left over or pay to have it hauled off. Could be another $300 unless you have the truck or are friends with Mark W? on here
Then how stable is the soil? Wet or not if it's just rocks you have to concrete it.
Most Pierce and Thurston counties in Washington would definitely need shoring
And the "WET side of the cascades,as stated above, would need drainage of some kind
Now building the thing and materials shouldn't cost too much. If you use lexan the cost would rise. And who will be trying to shoot your veggies?lol
I would use the better corrugated plastic sheets at HD and re enforce it good
In the perfect environment this is a killer idea.

 

[DuneHopper]

My water table here is about 4feet ish so this would be a no for me. Its great for growing plants top side that have deep roots. But even in summer 4ft down is moist wet dirt that seeps.

 

[mjbskwim]

My water table here is about 4feet ish so this would be a no for me. Its great for growing plants top side that have deep roots. But even in summer 4ft down is moist wet dirt that seeps.

Now if you had some extra dirt you could do the same thing above ground.
Just make the sides as thick as the average frost goes deep.

 

[powersbj]

That design doesn't work very well, pit style green houses need a way for the cold air to escape or settle lower than the plants. There is a book on the subject "the earth-sheltered solar greenhouse book" by Mike Oehler. He's been doing this in Montana for 40 years now.

 

[BoonDocks36]

Much difference in N. America. (Especially PNWest Coast) Than S. America, in the elevations of their Mountain Regions...

Heh, was building a swimming pool in Puyalup WA, we just reached the "break" depth for the deeper end... Had to get TWO 4" gas mud/water Pumps to keep up with the ground water....

I never could understand Boss Man thinking he could out do the water table with the Puyallup River only 1/2 mile away, and the ground being based on what we called "Glacial Potatoes" you throw them out and littler ones start growing to take their big brothers Place!

To the OP: get a Map of your area, How Far from ANY River are you, Check that, HOW far from Any Creek are you!!!!

Then decide on that dig!

Me, in the valley you live in: I would go no deeper than Two/Three feet, use that dirt for a Rammed wall to North, add in as many 58 gallon PVC containers fro Glory Bee off 99 N.

Then frame sides with lexan, etc. and 2X6 try for a South Wall of 4 feet, giving Approx 6 feet of head room....

Yes, there is an Angular Relationship for your ~Roof~ if your working towards. A Solar Photaic Power Source... But Much less needed for a simple green house light comes into the growing area: TWO ENTIRELY DIFFERENT concepts.

And due to that... Some what questionable Incoming Info from Website... They are doing well in S. America... But we are two different regions:

Equivalent to saying Eastern Oregon should have Rain, because Western Oregon does

philip, Residing in the PNW for 65 years, from near the 48th on the Canadian Boarder to the lower edge in Baja Oregon!