Selfsufficientish.com

I haven't been hanging around here lately, been rather busy with various things, but we have finally gone and done it. We moved to NZ 4 years ago with the dream of land, we got the land, but it was so poor (shingle) that nothing muh would grow. We have fantasti climate here, pretty well frost free even down here on the South Island, so we have put up a greenhouse (33m by 9m) and now have a hydroponic company in fitting it out. Our aim is to be self sufficient in gree vegetables and also supply the local asian market with bok choi and other greens.

Oooh that's a rather large greenhouse! I think that sounds like a glasshouse! Good luck with the venture Possum.

WOW, I'm jealous .. a hundred foot long greenhouse !! Makes mine a bit insignificant and I grow a lot in mine, I can't really imagine just how much you can grow in yours.
Good luck Possum and I hope it all works out for you.

Oh, well done. That's a fantastic greenhouse. Any chance of a piccy?

Cheers
Zoe

I will post a pic tomorrow when the final bit of the reskin is done - we bought it second hand and you have to have the plastic replaed when you move it (plus it was ripped anyway). It is not a glass house: the roof is double plastic with a fan blowing air between which acts as double glazing, he sides are wind cloth just to keep the birds out.
There are about 3500 holes for the plants and a seedling table to geminate more. I am also setting up an outside area the same dimensions to grow other stuff hydroponically but i havent quite worked it out yet.

Ah, sounds more suited to your summer climate - thought glass might be a bit hot - and a nightmare to work in! Look forward to seeing the photos.

this was this morning. The benches are almost finished, I finished the last off this afternoon. still waiting for a couple of 26 000 litre water tanks (we are on well water and need a reserve, one will contain water treated by a reserve osmosis system which will take the salt out of the water as we have slightly brackish water, the other is taken directly from the bore which will feed the other tank..)

I fall asleep to the nightmare of white plastic circles attacking me, it might have something to do with the 3500 or so we have drilled and they are everywhere. fortunately next week we have a WWOOFER arriving whose first job is going to pick them all up. (http://www.wwoof.co.nz/ in case you are wondering, but there are others in other countries)

Wow that is some green house Possum. Good luck with your venture.

Wow and double wow to the 26,000 litre water tanks - would love to see a photo of one of them! Did they cost you a fortune? Water storage tanks do cost a bomb when they start getting to big size (above IBC (1,000 litres) that is or anything for burial below ground) .

I have a 5.5 cubic metre water tank, which is the same as everyone elses around here, made of concrete blocks .. so not particularly expensive if you do it yourself.
Mind you 2 x 26,000 litres is a tad bigger than 5,500 litres.

this is the almost finished product
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b218/ ... nished.jpg
the tanks that will feed it

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b218/ ... rtanks.jpg
the benches now finished
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b218/ ... nished.jpg
the grey things on top of the first is the flood and drain seedling table we have yet to build the legs for.

I will post more as the crop grows. For those interested hydroponics does not have to be complicated or dificult. Our is commercial so we have invested in a computer thingy that monitors the nutrients and taks them up as needed so all we have to do it fill up the nutrient tanks once a week watch the veg grow and harvest them. No weeding required is the best bit.

Hard to tell the scale with those water tanks but I guess a human being standing beside them would look a bit antlike

Does the water heat up a lot in them though? IBC water gets quite warm here at the moment - though whether that's because the tanks are clearish white I don't know, as the green plastic water butts keep water much cooler and they hold much less water. Whenever I have to replace an IBC I'm getting black next, but ours were cheapish/2nd hand so I wasn't going to complain!

Your whole project is rather exciting though so look forward to hearing your progress.

Wve had lots of teething problems, but we now have three benches planted, I guess about a thousand plants. should habe another few hundred planted in the next couple of days.

Brilliant project Possum, all that hard work will be worth it. Keep us all informed as to how you get on please. Those water tanks sound amazing.

I think I really need to see a picture of the water tanks as I cannot picture how big this is... I would also need a human next to one to have an idea of size!
I can only say well done for going ahead with your project, it just sounds fab! I can't wait to hear more about it. You will have to keep us all informed or start a blog, so we can follow what you are doing.