About GreenhouseSetup.com
Free calculators, reference charts and complete greenhouse builds. Guidance is researched from USDA and extension publications, manufacturer specifications and verified owner reports rather than from personal growing, and every page says so.
GreenhouseSetup.com exists to answer two questions properly. What size and type of greenhouse do I actually need, and what do I put in it so plants grow rather than merely survive.
What is here
- Complete builds at three budgets, every line item priced and linked with a stated total.
- Calculators for heater output, exhaust airflow, shade percentage, daily light integral, soil volume, water use and frost-date planning.
- Guides covering siting and glazing, heating and insulation, ventilation and cooling, irrigation and season extension.
- Crop pages with temperature ranges, light targets and spacing for each plant.
- Gear roundups organised by what the equipment does.
- Reference charts for R-values, BTU and CFM sizing, germination temperatures and frost dates.
How the guidance is made
Researched, not grown in person. USDA and cooperative extension publications, manufacturer specifications, published horticultural data and verified owner reports. Every page states this, because implying a decade of greenhouse growing the site does not have would be obvious to anyone who has actually done it.
In practice that means leaning on things you can verify: a germination soil temperature, a daily light integral target, an R-value at a stated panel thickness, a published snow load rating. Where something is a judgement call it is written as one.
The two things the whole site is built around
Orientation and glazing. They decide how much winter light reaches your beds and how much heat escapes overnight, they are effectively permanent, and no equipment bought afterwards fully compensates for getting either wrong. If you read nothing else here, read those two guides before you buy a structure.
The corollary, which surprises people: an automatic vent opener is the best value item in a greenhouse. It costs very little and it works on the days you are not there, and a sealed greenhouse in summer sun can cook a crop in a single afternoon.
Scope
Food crops and ornamental plants. That is the whole remit, and it is deliberate.
Corrections
If something here is wrong, especially a temperature, a light figure, a load rating or anything in a calculator, please say so through the contact page. Technical corrections are made quickly, because a wrong number in a sizing tool is worse than no tool.
How the site earns
Affiliate commissions on qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you. That never decides what gets recommended, and the site regularly names the cheaper option. Full detail on the affiliate disclosure page, and the limits of the advice are set out on the disclaimer.