food for a family
I have never in all my readings or visits to other green houses ever met a person that had seen proof of what it takes to grow enough food for a family of a certain size.
There have been several authors and web page builders that have quoted numbers but not a single one of them had shown long term system with facts and proof. Mostly guess's.
I built as big as i could for the space i have. 25x 25 11ft to the bottom of the trusses and 17ft at the peak. To truly grow food of any volume you have to decide on if you will can food and dry food. or grow all year around and probably some drying and canning? to grow all year around and to extend the grow periods to allow for some volume of food. lighting has to be added to extend growing periods as well to create flowering periods out side the norms.
I am adding a back up power generator for the green house and also using the exhaust for co2 manipulation in the winter when its not venting from warmer temps and the grow period would naturally be slowed. I'm hoping the co2 will help to increase the yield as well as each planter will have its own light.
Then of course to optimize growth and to have the easiest most adjustable feeding over the course of different seasons I'm using 3 part GH since i think it is the easiest feed for adjusting.
after you get all this up and running you still have to use plants that will produce individual yields that will produce enough food to actually feed your family. for example cherry tomatoes take as much space and feed as a larger beef steak which will yield much more over all weight of food. But then when you decide on that beef steak you now have to choose which one for your green house and not just for a summer plant but a all season plant. remember what you plant in a green house will become a perinatal and can be flowered and fruited all year around and some plants are going to do better growing and fruiting year around.
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