Winter greenhouse as a business idea

Disadvantages and advantages of the idea

Since growing vegetables in greenhouses requires special endurance and the right conditions, it is necessary to spend a lot of effort and material resources to succeed. Just like any business idea, a winter greenhouse has its own advantages and disadvantages. The benefits include:

1. Low cost in the early stages of construction. A huge advantage is the fact that you can start a greenhouse business even from scratch, with the smallest budget. This makes it possible for almost everyone to create their own business out of nothing.
2. Fast payback. In less than one year, all the costs of building a winter greenhouse have paid off. Of course, if you sell your products correctly.
3. Constant demand for grown products. In the cold season, homemade vegetables are very popular not only among shops and commercial outlets, but also among ordinary people - buyers. Therefore, growing vegetables year-round is a very profitable and win-win option.
4. In addition to the fact that you can sell the products that you will grow, you can consume them yourself. This will allow you to save a decent amount on the purchase of expensive vegetables and herbs, as well as be confident in the quality of the products.

Unfortunately, no matter how rosy this business idea sounds, building a greenhouse for the winter has its drawbacks that are worth remembering. These include:

1. Material costs that go to constant lighting and heating. It is necessary to finance the lighting of the greenhouse all year round, and in winter, in addition to electricity, heating.
2. Sale season. Since in the summer everyone can grow vegetables in their own garden, and shops and retail chains can purchase goods from larger enterprises, in the warm season, the demand for products grown in the greenhouse will fall significantly. However, when selling to any buyers or retail chains, you can agree on constant year-round purchases.
3. Independence. Since growing vegetables in winter is a private business, all organizational issues must be resolved independently. These include: looking for buyers, delivery of vegetables, accounting and many other economic issues.

Despite the fact that the greenhouse business has a number of disadvantages, as practice shows, this is a very profitable option for beginners and just people who want to earn a decent amount of money on a simple occupation.

Greenhouse material

The choice of material is the most important issue in the construction of a greenhouse with your own hands. Do not forget that the greenhouse is designed for doing business in winter, so you should choose the appropriate material for construction. The most popular options are:

1. Glass greenhouse. Glass is one of the most durable materials, which, by the way, is the best in light transmission. You need to choose tempered glass, with a thickness of at least 6 mm.It is worth considering that this option is the most expensive, especially because the construction of frames is necessary. In addition, it will take more time and effort to create a greenhouse made of glass. It is impossible to leave aside the fact that glass does not hold heat well, as a result of which it is necessary to decide in advance the issue of additional heating.

   

2. Greenhouse made of polyethylene. The first thing worth noting is that polyethylene is the cheapest material, so those who start a greenhouse business from scratch often choose polyethylene. The average shelf life of high-quality plastic wrap is 3 years. If you want to use the greenhouse in winter, then you must lay at least two balls of film, between which an air gap forms, which acts as a heat insulator.

   

3. Polycarbonate. This material has excellent thermal insulation properties, as well as its advantage is the fact that the polycarbonate greenhouse is easy to handle and install. Polycarbonate has its drawback - it is easily exposed to ultraviolet rays. As a result, the material turns yellow and allows less light to pass through. Another disadvantage can be attributed to such a property as expansion at high air temperatures.

   

Of course, everyone must look at their own budget, soberly assess the situation and conclude from what material it is better to build a greenhouse for the winter. Start from how long you want to build a greenhouse and what size, because the larger the greenhouse, the more material will be required for construction, and, accordingly, more funds.

Heating

Heating is an equally important issue in building a greenhouse with your own hands. Since in winter in many territories the temperature drops to rather low rates, it is worth thinking about heating a greenhouse very seriously. Indeed, as a result of shortcomings, you can lose not only the harvest, but also the money invested.

There are two types of greenhouse heating:

• technical;
• biological.

The technical type includes the use of various techniques:

• a boiler, which can be fired with coals, wood or even fuel oil;
• gas heating, which includes heating vessels in its system;
• potbelly stove;
• heater.

Still, as one of the options, you can connect the greenhouse to home steam heating, but this method has an oversight - an uneven distribution of heat over the area of ​​the greenhouse. Some gardeners heat their greenhouses with heating or infrared cables, and sometimes solid fuel stoves are installed.

When using a biological type of heating, natural materials are used. In this case, the greenhouse can be heated using a mixture of manure and straw. It is worth noting that the biological type of heating requires more time and effort, but it has a beneficial effect on the soil and future yield.

Nevertheless, as practice shows, often biological heating alone is not enough for winter greenhouses. Therefore, it is most often used as additional heating for special heating devices.

What and how to grow

In order to grow a rich harvest, you need to study all the subtleties and features of plant growth that you have chosen for planting. However, vegetables, herbs or even flowers have general growing rules that need to be remembered. These include:

• landing feature;
• air temperature and light regime, which are necessary for plants at different periods of their growth;
• feeding with ecological and chemical fertilizers;
• the necessary transplant, UV protection, and the required collection time, and so on.

An important point in growing vegetables in a winter greenhouse is the selection of the right soil and top dressing.Since plants need additional vitamins and elements that help combat pests and improve yields, it is necessary to constantly fertilize vegetables, regardless of the season.

Constant care is another criterion without which plants will disappear at lightning speed. For example, you decided to plant cucumbers in your greenhouse. Since they will not grow in the garden, but in a greenhouse, their stems will stretch towards the ceiling. Therefore, in order for the yield to be at the highest level, and the fruits to be easier to collect, it is necessary to constantly tie up the stems, as well as remove excess processes.

Temperature and lighting are the key to the desired yield. To avoid frost or, conversely, too high a temperature in your greenhouse, you must constantly monitor the temperature regime. Do not forget that the daylight hours are much shorter in winter than in summer, so take care of the lighting.

Regardless of what vegetables you grow, cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini or even greens, constantly monitor the ventilation, temperature and humidity. For ease of watering, it is recommended to carry out a drip irrigation system or purchase, do it yourself, an irrigation system.

Video "Growing greenery in a greenhouse in winter: secrets for beginners"

A video on how to organize the cultivation of greenery in the winter.

Sales

Depending on which plants you have chosen for growing in a winter greenhouse, the methods of selling the goods can be very different:

1. Greens and vegetables can be sold not only to individual buyers, but also to carry out wholesales in retail chains.
2. Flowers are most often supplied to flower shops as well as florist shops. In addition, you can open your own flower shop.
3. Fruits can be delivered not only to shops, but also to cafes, restaurants that decorate desserts with them or use them for other purposes.

Remember one thing, the more you advertise your own product, the more sales opportunities you will get. You can advertise a product on the Internet, now it is very practical and effective, or you can just go to retail chains and offer your services. Do not forget to take care of the delivery of the goods.

Cost and income

To accurately calculate the costs and benefits of the greenhouse business, you need to create a business plan. On average, most of the material funds are spent on heating systems, lighting and the purchase of seeds or seedlings. The greenhouse itself can be built from polyethylene and save a decent amount on construction.

As practice shows, the average rate of the first investment for the greenhouse business is approximately 600-700 thousand rubles. If you decide to hire workers (gardeners, accountants, drivers to deliver goods and movers), then it is worth considering their salaries. On average, it takes about 50 thousand rubles a month.

You can build a greenhouse with your own hands or hire builders to build it. However, believe me, it is quite simple to build a greenhouse, so it is better not to waste money once again. The main thing is to correctly calculate the amount of required materials.

In addition to the initial costs for the construction and planting of plants, do not forget about the monthly payment for electricity and heating, feeding and inventory, which, on average, takes about 40 thousand rubles a month. However, a winter greenhouse is a very quickly recouped business and in the first month you can fully recoup its cost, especially if you do everything yourself. In addition, the greenhouse business is absolutely stable and makes it possible to expand the business in the future.

If you draw up a work plan correctly, then in the future you will be able to increase the volume of greenhouses, as well as open your own points of sale. For example, when growing flowers, you can open your own flower shop or even a floristry center. And when growing vegetables - a vegetable kiosk or a shop.

Video “Floriculture. Greenhouse flower home business ”

The author of the video shows and talks about the organization of his own greenhouse flower business.