Greenhouse Design Research Articles

669 Greenhouse Vegetable Production in China

There was a remarkable growth in China's greenhouse horticulture during the past decade. In 1989, the greenhouse area in China was 22,000 ha, but this figure reached up to 350,000 ha in 1999, about 16 times as large as that in 1989. Currently, the main greenhouse design used for commercial production is the energy conservation type—solar greenhouse—and many growers use eco-organic soilless culture for production. The substrates used for vegetable production are perlite, vermiculite, peat, coal cinder, sand, coir, sunflower stem, and sugar cane stem. Dry solid organic manure is mixed into the substrates before conducting cultivation, and then only water is for irrigation. Growing vegetables in this way improved quality, increased market value, and decreased environmental pollution.

Review of Structural and Functional Characteristics of Greenhouses in European Union Countries: Part I, Design Requirements

The present work is an overview of the factors influencing the greenhouse design such as the climate, the local building regulations the indoor climate requirements and the necessary functional characteristics. The variations with respect to these factors observed throughout most of the European Union countries are described in detail and their influence to the greenhouse design is critically investigated. Such an analysis of the main factors influencing the greenhouse design is considered necessary before the most common greenhouse types used in Europe are presented (Part II). This systematic review is expected to support the effort for developing a common design methodology for greenhouses at European level.

The environment [1999 technology analysis and forecast

This article presents an environment technology analysis and forecast for 1999. The subjects covered include end-of-life draft legislation, water treatment options, outsourcing liabilities, greenhouse gas reduction and design for environment concepts.

The Greenhouse of the Future: Using a Sponsored Competition in a Capstone Course

Horticulture students often lack practical experience integrating information from diverse sources to solve complex real-life problems. Capstone courses seek to remedy this by giving students an opportunity to demonstrate a range of workplace skills such as teamwork, effective communication, and critical thinking. Sponsored competitions provide educators with an active-learning framework into which the goals of a capstone course can be developed. The Greenhouse of the Future competition allowed undergraduate students to conceptualize, develop, and prototype innovative greenhouse designs in a national competition venue. This article explains the guidelines of the Greenhouse of the Future competition and discusses how the competition was integrated into the capstone course Greenhouse Management.

Design and operation of a low energy consumption passive solar agricultural greenhouse

The design, construction, and operation of a prototype 1000 m 2 passive solar agricultural greenhouse are described. The greenhouse has been designed in order to reduce heat losses and increase useful solar gains on a daily and seasonal basis. The passive elements of the greenhouse are a mass storage wall located on the north side and a network of earth-to-air heat exchangers buried in the greenhouse. Monitoring of the greenhouse for a 2-year period has shown that the passive systems have offered energy equal to 35% of the heating requirements of an identical conventional greenhouse. Also, the cooling potential of the earth-to-air heat exchangers has been found to be very important. This project is a Solar Demonstration Programme of the European Communities.

Design of Greenhouses for the Manipulation of Temperature in Tundra Plant Communities

Passive greenhouses can be used to elevate the temperature of natural communities, but they also introduce other effects. We tested the effects of potential greenhouse materials-clear polyethylene plastic film, polyester fabric, and rigid fiberglass panels-on light transmission, photosynthesis of Salix planifolia, elevation of air and soil temperature, and thaw depth. Plastic had the greatest light transmittance and caused the least depression of photosynthesis (- 5%). Greenhouses covered with plastic elevated daily maximum and daily mean air temperatures by an average of 7.8 and 2.0?C and depressed daily minimum temperature by 1.1 C compared with the control. Plastic is impervious to gases and may alter CO2 concentration and humidity within greenhouses. Fiberglass had lower transmittance, especially of short wavelength radiation. Fabric had the lowest light transmission and reduced photosynthesis by 10%, but it has the advantage of permeability to CO2 and water vapor. Greenhouses covered with fabric, alone, produced only a small effect (daily mean temperature elevated 0.4?C above controls). A mixed greenhouse design (plastic and fabric) raised daily mean temperatures by 0.9?C and may minimize adverse effects on gas diffusion. Because of the effect of the materials on amount and spectral distribution of radiation and on photosynthesis, the appropriate treatment control for any greenhouse design is an open plot shaded with the same material. Soil temperature at 10 cm depth was elevated in all greenhouses, but no effect on depth of thaw was detected.

Design of Greenhouses for the Manipulation of Temperature in Tundra Plant Communities

Design of Greenhouses for the Manipulation of Temperature in Tundra Plant Communities

Flowering of Anthurium following Treatment with Gibberellic Acid

Table 1. Effect of light levels and GA3 concentrations (applied as a single foliar spray) on the mean number of inflorescences produced by two Anthurium scherzeranum cultivars. The data presented are from two separate experiments. Anthuriums are becoming popular “flowering” foliage plants as growers look for new crops to expand their markets. Advantages of anthurium are that they can be grown in environments similar to many other foliage plants, liners from tissue culture are available year round, attractive inflorescences can be produced continually under greenhouse conditions, and new cultivars developed for pot culture are becoming available. Anthurium inflorescences are normally produced by a dominant central stem initially and later by lateral stems, if produced. Cultivars with many lateral shoots, while desirable for pot culture, tend to flower later than those with strong apical dominance. Stimulating earlier flowering of lateral shoots could result in shorter production time and higher flower counts. Therefore, the following experiments were conducted using gibberellic acid (GA3) in an attempt to increase flower production of anthuriums. GA3 was chosen because it has been used previously to stimulate flowering of several other ornamental aroids (Henny, 1980, 1981, 1983). The first experiment was conducted using 105 plants of A. scherzeranum ‘Amazone’, 28 weeks from tissue culture, ≈ 10 cm high, and growing in 10-cm-diameter (0.45-liter) pots filled with a 1 pine bark : 1 Vergro Container Mix A (v/v) (Verlite Co., Tampa, Fla.). Plants were placed in a randomized block design in a shaded greenhouse with a temperature range of 18 to 32C and 110 umol·m -2·s-1 maximum light intensity under natural photoperiod in Apopka, Fla. Plants were fertilized with 2.5 g of 19-6-12 (NP2O5-K2O) Osmocote per pot applied on the soil surface. Gibberellic acid (ProGibb, Abbott Laboratories, North Chicago) was applied at 0, 12.5, 250, 375, or 500 mg a.i./

Control of the Greenhouse Whitefly on Selected Ornamentals Under Greenhouse Conditions, Summer 1990

Abstract Gerbera and lantana provided in 1 gal pots were arranged in a randomized block design (12 plants/treatment) in a commercial greenhouse in Orange County, Calif. Treatments were made using a 3 gal hydraulic sprayer at 150 psi at weekly intervals for a period of 3 wk beginning on 20 Jul. A pretreatment sample of one fully expanded leaf/plant was taken followed by weekly post-treatment samples. The total no. of greenhouse whitefly nymphs/leaf were recorded.

ESTIMATION OF DYNAMIC WIND PRESSURE FOR GREENHOUSE STRUCTURAL DESIGN

In countries where there is a greenhouse tradition, concerning both manufacturing and cultivations, it is widely accepted that the greenhouse is a construction much more complicated than initially thought and that the safety of the structure should be an object of continuous research. This paper studies the dynamic pressure of wind that is defined in the greenhouse standards of Greece, U.S.A., The Netherlands, France, W. Germany, Italy. It aims a) to compare these standards and to make known the wind loads which are taken into account in the structural design of greenhouses, b) to compare these standards with the Greek draft standard ELOT T.E. 32 on wind loads and make proposals so that it can be applicable to greenhouses, c) to assist in the development of an International greenhouse standard.

An efficient greenhouse design for hot climates

Greenhouses are needed in hot climates to protect plants from excessive heat, which limits productivity, and to reduce the excessive energy and water requirements associated with controlled environment agriculture under such conditions. In Kuwait, where ambient air temperature can reach 50°C during the summer and where fresh water is scarce, a new approach to greenhouse design was used. This approach included passive, as well as active, energy conservation measures, which made the utilization of such a greenhouse economically feasible. A computer program is proposed here for greenhouse design in Kuwait, aimed mainly at reducing the cooling load in an arid climate. It takes into consideration the climate, the material and the geometry of the greenhouse. The concept is to reduce the amount of intense solar radiation received in Kuwait (infrared radiation) but to maximize the amount of the solar spectrum needed for plants, as well as control the other environmental factors.

Computer simulation of heating requirement and evaluation of the effects of permanent and movable external thermal insulations on energy conservation in greenhouses

The accurate determination of greenhouse heating requirements under varied weather and operating conditions is an important management problem. To minimize heat losses during heating and heat gain during cooling, and also to enhance solar energy utilization in greenhouses, various energy conservation measures are currently being applied in greenhouse construction and operation. In this study, a method of simulating heating requirements in greenhouses is presented, and the method was used to evaluate the effects of permanent and movable external thermal insulations on heating requirements on energy conservation in ten new and conventional greenhouse designs. A greenhouse heating requirement (heat loss) computer simulation model was developed by using basic energy conservation and heat transfer principles. The computer model was used to simulate energy consumption in the ten greenhouses and a test greenhouse designed and built at the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Sask., Canada. The effectiveness of applied thermal insulations was found to be a strong function of outdoor temperatures and day-length for a given location. The computer model can be used to estimate greenhouse heating requirements under varied operating and weather conditions in any given location.

Solar photosynthetically active radiation transmission through greenhouse glazings

One critical factor for crop energy conversion for plant growth is photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) received by the plant. While it is important to know their total solar radiation transmission characteristics in the design of greenhouse for thermal environment management, it is also essential to understand their PAR transmission capability, especially over the winter period for high-latitude regions. This paper presents the results of PAR transmission of four different greenhouse glazings, measured at both the glazing and crop canopy levels. The glazings studied were single glass, double glass, twin-walled acrylic and air-inflated double polyethylene. The first three materials were tested at a commercial rose greenhouse range (gable type) in Connecticut and the double polyethylene greenhouse (bow type) was located at Cook College, Rutgers University. Also reported is the comparison between total solar radiation transmission and PAR transmission in the double polyethylene greenhouse. The glazing level PAR transmission showed mainly the effects of glazing materials, sky clearness and solar angle of incidence, whereas PAR received at the canopy level was strongly influenced by the greenhouse geometric configuration and internal structures. It was found that air-inflated double polyethylene transmitted a higher percentage when measured in the total solar radiation range than in the PAR range.

Availability of Solar Photosynthetically Active Radiation

ABSTRACT THE ability to predict the amount of photosyntheti-cally active radiation (PAR) from the sun for field crops or within a particular greenhouse design is useful. PAR is a portion (0.4-0.7 micrometer wavelength) of the total radiation spectrum directly related to plant photosynthetic productivity. While total solar radiation data are readily available for many locations around the world, the published information on PAR is lacking. Experiments have been conducted to determine the correlations between the available hourly and daily PAR and total solar radiation. PAR was measured in the photon flux density unit of mol s^ m^ and total radiation was in the radiant flux density of W m^. Regression equations are presented in this paper for two purposes: (a) to show the predictability of PAR using available total solar radiation data, and (b) to provide empirical equations for estimating direct and diffuse PAR based on total radiation values.

Thermal analysis and computer control of hybrid greenhouses with subsurface heat storage

This paper discusses the design of hybrid solar greenhouses with subsurface heat storage. The thermal analysis is presented followed by a description of the flow of the control operations. Finally, a microcomputer controller is designed which is capable of implementing the necessarily fairly complex control strategy.

Production of a special bent section to clamp sheets in a greenhouse

To implement the Food Program decided upon by the May (1982) Plenum of the Party central committee, provision has been made for the further expansion of greenhouse construction. This construction is to be carried out with the smallest possible expenditure of labor and materials. All of the standard greenhouse designs have been developed with allowance for madd construction methods and the use of bent sections as the most economical type of rolled product.

Design and optimization of a winter greenhouse for the Leh-type climate

This communication presents a design and mathematical model for a winter greenhouse at Leh, Jammu and Kashmir in India. In this part of the country, the ambient air temperature, in winter, dips down to −30°C and goes up to a maximum of about 25°C in summer. Growing vegetation is difficult in this climate. Since the transportation of vegetables and other articles, to this place, is a problem, greenhouses are essential for the growth of vegetables. Here greenhouses are possible because solar insolation is available for almost 11 months of the year. Numerical calculations show that a glass wall on the south side and an insulated wall and roof on the north side give good results.

Twospotted Spider Mite Control, 1984

Abstract MF-710, a combination wettable powder miticide containing 20% dienochlor, 10% fenbutatin-oxide, and 15% tetradifon, was compared with Pentac 4F for control of twospotted spider mite on roses. Foliar sprays were applied to all leaf surfaces until run-off with a CO2 pressurized sprayer (40 psi). Three single-plant replicates were arranged in a completely randomized design in a glass greenhouse. Mortality was evaluated 7 days after treatment using a Llanfair Orchard Leaf Brushing Machine and stereoscopic microscope.

Yellow Rose Aphid Control, 1984

Abstract Materials were applied to runoff to all leaf surfaces on heavily infested container-grown roses with a hand-pumped, compressed air sprayer. Four single-plant replicates were arranged in a completely randomized design in a glass greenhouse. Treatments were evaluated by counting numbers of living aphids per plant sample. Each sample contained 3 subsamples of 3 terminal leafle.

Leaf Beetle Control on Azaleas, Alabama, 1983

Abstract Nine insecticides were evaluated for control of leaf beetle on azaleas growing in 1-gal plastic pots containing an amended pine bark-peat moss medium, 3:1 vol/vol. Treatments were applied on 5 Nov (temperature, 80°F) with a hand-pump, compressed air sprayer to all leaf surfaces until runoff. Four single-plant replicates were arranged in a randomized design in an unshaded glass greenhouse. Plants were treated and individually caged with paper cylinders and cheesecloth to eliminate beetle movement between plants. Treatments were evaluated 72 h after application by counting numbers of dead/live beetles in and under plant canopies.