Tell us about your past greenhouses \n<\/strong>Our first greenhouse was a double poly greenhouse and we weren’t impressed with the double poly. It was what we had on our property. It was available and we needed to get moving.<\/p>\nFor our next greenhouse, we went to check out the corrugated clear polycarbonate and we weren’t impressed with that either. It was really hot in the greenhouse. When the sun came out — it was just really too hot. And when it was rainy or cold out, it was just nasty cold in there. \nWe had investigated greenhouses for a long time. We actually went to Holland. The average glass greenhouse loses a BTU per square foot per hour per degree differential for outside and inside temperatures. So if you’re 20 outside and you want to be 40 inside, you’re going to lose 20 BTUs per square foot per hour.<\/p>\n
In this greenhouse (the new one with Solexx), we’re less than a half a BTU for that same range. We’re probably closer to a little over a third of a BTU per hour. We know this because we paid for the propane, and we can calculate exactly how many BTUs we used the year before. \u00a0We know what our outside and inside temperatures were, so we know that we’re somewhere net third of a BTU. And it’s very important today to be watching your energy costs.<\/p>\n
When you’re we’re dealing with a corrugated greenhouse roof, it looks great and it seems great because it’s got all those different angles that the lights supposed to bounce in at, but when you figure out your BTU costs you, have to figure out your surface area. Solexx is flat so a square foot is a square foot. But in a corrugated structure, you\u2019ve got 1.4 square feet for every one square foot out there because of the extra surface area caused by that corrugation. That’s going to increase your heat loss in in the wintertime, so that’s going to cost you more propane which means you have to grow more crops (to pay for it).<\/p>\n
This past winter it was down into the single digits, and we were able to keep about 20 degrees above the outside temperature in the greenhouse without heat. If you have three really cold days in a row it progressively gets colder in the greenhouse or if a cloud deck comes and we don\u2019t get any sunshine. However, the minute the sun comes out we’re up to sixty degrees in here — even if it’s 20 degrees outside. And we’re not measuring temperatures from up there at the 19-foot level we’re measuring temperatures at the plant level.<\/p>\n
Do you ever worry about snow load? \n<\/strong>No, we stopped worrying about the snow load when the snow started sliding off. \u00a0The only thing we worry about in regards to snow is when you walk out the door that it doesn’t slide and land on your head (chuckle).<\/p>\nHow is Solexx in the summer? \n<\/strong>Summer heat doesn’t bother the plants the way you’d think. When it gets as hot as 120 degrees in the greenhouse, we want to quickly get out of there because it’s too hot. The plants (on the otherhand) just live right through it, and temperature isn’t really the determining factor whether plants grow well – it’s how intense the sunshine is. And outside in the wind (or in the fast-moving air as we call it here), they (plants) dry so fast that the sunshine is really hard on them, but in here they don’t dry very fast.<\/p>\nYou haven’t found anything that’s burned? \n<\/strong>Our south wall is a polycarbonate and yes, we\u2019ve burned the first six feet of our plants over there on that edge because of it (the old polycarbonate endwall). We did a growth test on the tomatoes. Tomatoes in the first bench over there don’t grow as well as the center two benches because it’s too close to those extreme temperatures – too hot and too cold.<\/p>\nWithout cooling it, you find that the plants haven’t ever been stressed except where they are close to polycarbonate or the clear material?<\/strong> \nYes, isn\u2019t that amazing! That’s part of what you do to grow crops well is to keep the extremes away from them. That’s what Solexx does so well — it’s all indirect lighting. We have A LOT of indirect, really bright light in July, but since it’s all indirect, it doesn’t burn the crops. We don’t have holes in our leaves, dried plants or burnt leaves. Consequently, we don’t have stress! (chuckle)<\/p>\nSo, would you purchase Solexx again for your other greenhouses? \n<\/strong>We have no use for any other product!<\/p>\nWould you recommend Solexx to other growers?<\/strong> \nAnybody who’s thinking the ahead, yes. You\u2019ve got a look at Solexx because it’s just a different way to grow things. Your roses are probably better, you probably have less disease problems, you need to try it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In this greenhouse covering review, Growers Karen and Jeff of J&K Growers in Dallesport, Washington share there experience with different greenhouse plastic coverings and why they swear by Solexx greenhouse covering. “Solexx keeps the extremes away from your plants – consequently we don’t have stress (laughter)” “Would you use Solexx again?” “We have no use … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,97],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-solexx","category-solexx-reviews"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSolexx Greenhouse Covering Review: Growers in Dallesport, WA<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n