Greenhouse Orientation

[KentUB]

I wanted to throw this out there and get some discussion going.

Conventional wisdom says that a greenhouse should be oreinted North to South. I believe this is because most people are utilizing their greenhouses to extend the season a bit and winter over some plants.

USU Horticulture Department in Logan has been oreinting their greenhouses East to West to maximize sun exposure in very early and very late season crops. They have advised me that if I am going to grow crops year around that I opt to maximize winter growth by using the East to West oreintation. As summer time will take care of itself.

USU's Strawberry high tunnels that are unheated, produces a crop from May to December! During this period they never see temps in the high tunnel drop below 28 (no problem for the strawberries). They utilize a single layer of UV stabalized 6mm Poly to cover them.

My first greenhouse has a East to West orientation on advise of USU. The problem for me comes with the other ones. These will not have any wind block and if I do orient them East to West the ends will get the full brunt of the constant wind we have up here. Where if they are North to South the wind will flow over them.

Thoughts, strong opinions, etc?

[GoneFish'n]

I think I would consider either planting or building a wind break on the north side to divert the wind away from or around the green house. It would also reduce wear and tear on your greenhouse. I don't have the option of laying mine out east and west, but our prevailing wind usually comes from the east and I have a shed on that side. I know it helps because we are not too far from the mountain and often get an early frost with the cold air coming off the mountain. Since we put in the shed we have a near normal frost date for this area. We plan to build a hoop house this spring to extend the growing period even more. Lynn

[nwestwood]

In the traditional North-South arrangement, the North End is an end wall and fully insulated and structurally supported. With East to West you will have big heat loss out the long North side, but slightly increased exposure on the South. My own experience is that the light levels are so low that in the winter you need supplemental lighting anyway, which may offset the need to Orient East-West. Check back with the university and see what they say about extra lighting. If they stop growing in December then they miss the coldest month, and I bet the strawberries completely shut off in December. my crops do without lighting. For year round growing you may find the traditional North-South, with Insulated North end and protection from winds is the most economical and strongest.

[KentUB]

I had thought thet there wold be excess heat loss on the North wall as well, howwever I looked at the data on the various oreintations run at USU Logan this week. The most telling was the pictures of the Winter Greens growing well in the East-West Houses and frozon Winter Greens in the North-South houses. Dr Drost has been fiddling with all the different parameters for 18 years in Logan.