they even paid for plants that were destroyed & i forgot some of them
plus some died before we got a new greenhouse back up

I'd love to know who you have for your insurance! I might need to switch!

see post 15

Sorry, I missed that. We used to have them and weren't impressed, but your experience was pretty impressive.

My insurance company has pictures of my greenhouse. They come around every few years and take pictures of my house and 4 outbuildings. If I make any improvements, I always send my agent pictures to keep them up to date.

Karen
i figure i owe them my business til i leave
because of the replacement cost type i have with them
it has cost them over 350K for me and at 1k per year
they will never recover costs

Thonyc1968: I have an exceptional polycarbonate, single layer greenhouse, measuring 8' w by 12' long, tons of headroom. It has a door, and two adjustable, manually operated vent windows in the top. It was bought through a box store, all in for about $1800. made in Israel. It must be about eight years old now, and although I have had to jury-rig the vent windows twice, (unbelievable winds up here) the main thing with any greenhouse, is that you have to anchor it securely to "the ground"! In my case, I made a frame of 2' x 10" reclaimed lumber, all bolted together, infilled with soil, and then the greenhouse was screwed tightly into same with the included straps. Just perfect! I noticed this year, that several box stores sell the same product for almost the same price-less than $2,000. COSTCO for one. I would look around before I forked out $12,000. Cheers!

@fwmosher Sounds like you have a Palram or Rion Greenhouse if it is from Israel. Poly-Tex is the US Distributor for them, and they are a very popular hobby Greenhouse here in the US. They are reasonably priced, and if you install them well (like you seem to have done with a solid base) and maintain them well, it will last for years. I think an 8 x 12 is smaller than @thonyc1968, but Poly-Tex does offer larger ones, too. It won't last as long as a small commercial greenhouse, which will last for decades, and might not be able to be equipped with what is needed for year-round commercial growing, but it certainly is an alternative.

Moonshadows, it was indeed a "Palram" now that you have reminded me. I am still extremely pleased with same, but it is a stretch to regard my greenhouse as a "commercial" greenhouse, etc.

We live in Oklahoma, "where the wind comes sweeping over the plains". I'm looking at green houses wondering what will hold best with the 60 mph winds we often get. I've been eyeing the Palram but I was concerned the frame might not be sturdy enough, not being able to put my hands on it. We also get hail storms in the spring.

Thoughts on this greenhouse as a possibility for us?

I live on top of a hill where it's very windy all year. We got a dome greenhouse for that reason and it's survived an 80 mph gust at least twice. They are pricey, but have given very good service. You can see them here. I got the smallest one.
https://geodesic-greenhouse-ki...

Karen, I love your greenhouse!!

Now in the nineties we spent some time at this Falkland Island and this local Naturalist named Ian Strange had a house with an imported conifer and a small geodesic greenhouse. I thought that greenhouse was awesome. Now if you look at the permanent shape of the tree, if the greenhouse can stand up to that kind of wind it will surely hold up in windy Oklahoma?

A lot of our trees here are permanently bent toward the North because of the strong South wind. However, that North wind is nothing to be trifled with.

We have a lack of trees or hills to break the wind. We usually only take note when it's actually a calm day. Then of course there's always the months of April, May, and June when tornadic weather pays us a visit.

I did look into those geodesic greenhouses. It's outside of my price range as the moment. I'm wondering about the Palmar or something similar. My concern lies with the aluminum frame.

I think you mean the Palram greenhouses. My daughter just got one but she hasn't put it up yet. I imagine if you had it bolted down very well it might work. Maybe someone else here has experience with them. We only have rare days without wind, and they are so nice!

I would not recommend one of the lower end Palram's...and, I sell them. You will get what you pay for, and they will not hold up real well in the wind. Cheaper greenhouses with high wind don't mix well. If you can't go for a geodesic frame, look at "Onion" shaped greenhouses. They tend to hold up well in the wind because of their design profile. Palram has one called "Bella, but the smallest one (8 x 8) starts at about $1400. Riga's are onion shaped and known for their strength, but once again pricey. Cedar or redwood are alternatives. One small "traditional" greenhouse you might want to look at is the Hall's Popular Greenhouse (seriously "popular" is the name). They have been selling these for decades. It is very popular in Europe. They start at about $800 for the 4 x 6 up to about $1550 for the 10 x 6.

If the right greenhouse for your weather conditions is out of your range right now, don't waste your money on something that won't hold up. You would be better off saving up for the right greenhouse for your area. I've seen more greenhouses wrecked by wind than any other hazard.

Keep us up to speed on your plans.

EDIT: Another thing you might want to consider, although I don't know how feasible it would be for you, is an artificial wind block. There are wind block materials you can buy, or you could even make it for free out of pallets with some good posts in the ground.

thonyc1968 said:Hi,
we are a small farm about 2 acres located on east Long Island and have decided to invest in having our own greenhouse.
We're looking into a gable style structure in the range of about 200 SF and 250 SF.
I've attached here the ones I narrowed down.
They all start at around $10.000 except for the last one listed here, which is less than $5000 sold by ACF.
They say it's supposed to be even better than one of the Cross Country and justifying the low price with the fact that is mass produced in China. The price is tempting me but I don't know if I should trust something made in China.

Hello there,
I hope you are having a lovely Friday.
I just recently joined the forum and saw you are interested in purchasing a greenhouse. I would suggest you check out our website at Climapod greenhouses. You may find better prices and a variety of models and sizes.

I appreciate the value of the information in this thread!

I enjoyed looking a the Growing Spaces domes; thanks Karen. The brutal spring winds plus storms and summer dust devils (mini tornadoes) here in my 5600 ft elevation high desert climate make them appealing. I was impressed that they used 5 wall, 16mm polycarbonate. It's spendy but a good choice for high desert in fall through spring night time insulation. The sun reduction is no problem at all.

I've always wondered about the panel polycarbonate joints of these dome designs; some rely entirely on tape for weather seal; I wonder how well that holds up over the years, and if replacement is relatively painless???

Our dome is now about 5 years old and we haven't had to replace any of the tape or do anything to it. It's gone through winds up to 60 mph without a problem and some bad hail didn't do any damage. We love it. The only thing we wish is that we had gotten a larger one. There is never enough room! They are pricey but worth it in my opinion. I really enjoy it every day.