Polyhouse Production For Beginners

Polyhouse Production For Beginners

Polyhouse Production For Beginners:

Polyhouse Production Introduction:- Polyhouse Production practices could be characterized as a farming process wherein the microclimatic conditions around the plant body are regulated partially or entirely according to the prerequisite of plants grown amid their time of growth in their natural habitat. In temperate regions, it is not favorable to grow plants in winter as also to grow crops in summer in tropical regions. Polyhouse brought a revolution in the agriculture sector to produce vegetables, fruits, grains, herbs and flowers in the off-season. With the progression in agriculture, different kinds of in-house/Polyhouse Production practices suitable for a particular kind of agro-climatic zone have risen. Among these In-house farming practices includes, poly greenhouse, net house, shade house or shade net, plastic tunnels or tubes and mulching and so forth are exceptionally valuable for high yield.

What is a Polyhouse Production:- Polyhouse Production is a widely recognized farming method that is generally made of transparent polyethylene sheets which are thin, inexpensive, and flexible creating an indoor independently controlled environment. In polyhouse, a farmer could grow veggies and any other harvest in almost any given season in the year depending upon plant requirement as temperature and humidity can be controlled. Polyethylene durability is far superior to glass polyhouse and it conserves the thermal radiation also provides enough energy to help in photosynthesis.

Why Polyhouse Production:- The requirement to guarantee the harvests against unfriendly environmental conditions prompted the improvement of guaranteed agribusiness. Polyhouse is the simplest practical approach for accomplishing the aims of guaranteed horticulture, where frequent habitat conditions are changed by utilizing noise designing criteria to accomplish ideal plant growth and yield. After the strategy of the green revolution, more attempts are laid on quality in addition to quantity in the production of agricultural products. This could be achieved while the environment for your crop expansion is fairly controlled. India is self-reliant on food grain production and also stands second in vegetable production in the world. But we’re lacking behind in nutritional security and vegetable per capita. If the one-hectare property is cultivated under polyhouse conditions, the annual production will get an increase greater than 85 percent. Young farmers need to conform to new technologies and new farming techniques such as hydroponics, greenhouse Farming, along with other intensive Farming to improve the harvest productivity giving additional income each property unit area.

Difference Between Polyhouse Production and Greenhouse Production:- Well, polyhouse is one kind of greenhouses made from polyethylene on the other hand greenhouse is a wide term. With timber, it is called as Lath house and with Glass, it is known as a greenhouse.

Suitable Crops for Polyhouse Production:- Normally, veggies like Spinach, Green Chillies, Bottle gourd, Ridge gourd, Bitter Gourd, Sponge Gourd, Cucumber, Summer squash, Brinjal (Eggplant), Green beans or French Beans, Tomatoes, Bell peppers, Okra (ladies finger), and horticulture cut blossoms like Rose, Gerbera etc are all cultivated in polyhouse. The environment in polyhouse provides more secure and regulated or suitable conditions to grow plants when compared to open field harvest Farming.

Growing Bottle Gourd in Polyhouse.
Growing Bottle Gourd in Polyhouse.

Structural Design for Polyhouse Production:- When you construct a polyhouse, make sure the direction of the polyhouse has to be always east to west. This always plenty of sunshine come in and make sure no tree or building or any other kind of color cover the polyhouse. The basic construction should be prepared by using iron pipes for strength and durability, though its expensive in contrast with bamboos. One on an initial trial basis, a young farmer can opt for a 560 square meter polyhouse structure which is equivalent to 1/4th-acre land. Use ultraviolet polyethylene (UVLDPE, 200 microns) translucent sheets for covering the construction. Plastic sheet covering may be of materials such as 1501-micron thick plastic sheet or 1mm thick GI sheet or any other material that is durable and powerful having no joints. Covering materials which are reduced maintenance, more light transmission, less heat, and with a lifespan of 3 to five years works well economically. For Indian climatic conditions, Quonset type, multi-span polyhouse is suggested. Size of the polyhouse may be of any size depending upon the requirement however, the width should not be more than 28 meters. The basic polyhouse design structure requirements are as follows.

  1. The construction has to hold all permanent construction, covering/cladding, cooling, and heating equipment, solar arrays, water pipes, and other fixed miscellaneous kinds of equipment to the construction framework.
  2. The construction has to be strong enough to hold folks working on the roof.
  3. The roof construction of every member should encourage 45 kg focused load when applied at its centre.
  4. Construction should withstand wind speeds about 150 kilometers per hr and at least 50 kg/m2 wind pressure.

The temperature inside the polyhouse can be maintained cold or hot depending on the season. During daytime, the temperature inside polyhouse becomes increased by sunlight while little energy is lost from different opening elements. In winters, the temperature could be maintained by solar driven devices. Apart from this couple manual functions can also be undertaken, for example, covering the northern wall of the house with jute clothing and covering the entire polyhouse with jute fabric during nights. Running water-misting is one method to cool the inside temperature. By removing internal air and sucking outside air through installed fans. Or, by installing heaters at eastern or western side walls will lower temperatures and maintains humidity too.

Components in Polyhouse Production:- The following are polyhouse basic components.

  1. Roof: Transparent top cover of a Polyhouse.
  2. Gable: Transparent walls of a Polyhouse.
  3. Cladding Material: Material that is used for walls and roof of a Polyhouse.
  4. Gutter: Rainwater that is gathered to drain at an elevated level between two spans.
  5. Column: The main vertical structures carrying the Polyhouse structure.
  6. Purlin: Parts which connects cladding supporting bars to the columns.
  7. Ridge: Highest horizontal section on top of the roof.
  8. Girder: A horizontal arrangement that connects columns on gutter height.
  9. Bracings: They encourage the structure against the wind.
  10. Arches: That supports covering materials.
  11. Foundation Pipe: Connection between the construction and ground.
  12. Span Width: Center to center distance of the gutters in multi-span houses.
  13. Polyhouse Length: Length of the curtain wall on the east-west side.
  14. Polyhouse Width: Length of the gable in the north-south side.

Classification of Designs for Polyhouse Production:- The following are types of polyhouses.

  1. Low-Cost Polyhouse Production: These constructions are best suitable for temperate regions. As its name implies that thepolyhouseconstruction uses locally available cheap materials like timber, bamboos, and UV polythene sheets for covering. No significant devices for temperature controlling or environmental parameters are all available. A lot of the fever is controlled with simple guide techniques as removing side walls or by covering the sheets with jute fabric.
  2. Medium Cost Polyhouse Production: In this kind of construction, galvanized iron pipes, screw fittings, guide and semi-automatic control structures are provided. The strength of this structure is fantastic to withstand strong winds. Inside the home, misting, cooling pads, enthusiasts,thermostat and additional devices have been fixed to the construction and the majority of the devices are semi-automatic, thus requires more maintenance and care. Thispolyhouseis suitable for tropical and subtropical arid- regions.
  3. Advanced Polyhouse Production: As its name implies, thispolyhouseas most of the features and equipment available in medium costpolyhousehowever, the entire environment controlling parameters and devices functions entirely automatically. Some of the devices are run by solar power.

Construction Expenses for Polyhouse Production:- Polyhouse cost depends on many factors like the current material price in the market, Local labour cost.etc. . However, the below listed can be assumed as average price and this can be changed over the time.

  1. Low-cost polyhouse without fan and pad: 360 Rs to 610 Rs/m2
  2. Medium cost polyhouse with pad and fan system without automation: 760 Rs to 1850 Rs/square meter.
  3. Advanced Polyhouse with fully automatic control system costs about 2000 to 3800 Rs/ sq.meter.

Growing Plants of Polyhouse Production:- The grower has to have a definite polyhouse flooring space dimensions and specifications to plan a strategy of things to grow, in which to develop, and the amount of to grow. Prepare a location for toddlers for seed germination, ideally should be warmer space that will be bright or a heated propagator unit in the polyhouse. This helps seeds to germinate well especially in winters. Use clean seedbeds and trays with new multipurpose compost. Young seedlings that are grown sturdy and well-rooted must be transplanted to the prepared soil beds for their final positions. The distance between plants to plant must be optimum, must not be too densely planting and not too much to squander the floor area. Water will hit directly to the root zone without much water wastage. Provide aid or trellis if vine plants are planted for proper growth. Pruning activities have to be carried at the right time such as pinching of side-shoots will encourage the growth of side branches and leading to additional fruits.

Floor area could be designed to get greater varieties of plants growing simultaneously or may have single crop inside the polyhouse. Depending upon the local market requirement, a farmer could select what kind of crops to be cultivated and the number of crops is to be grown.

Soil Preparation and Fertigation in Polyhouse Production:- In Polyhouse Production, top-soil is not given much preference for crop production. Soil mixes that are highly modified mixtures of soil, organic and inorganic materials mixed in particular ratios are used for Farming. Farmers that include top-soil as a portion of the mixture must mix with different materials like compost, or potting mix which helps to improve water holding capacity along with soil aeration to result in the maximum yield of crops.

Soil Importance in Polyhouse Production:- The soil used in polyhouse ought to be well-drained and retain soil moisture. Soils physical and chemical properties are unique and peculiar from field soils. The physical properties of soil must be porous for exceptional root system development. Salinity levels should be less than 1 MS/cm and pH ought to be maintained in between 5.5 to 6.5.

Below table lists the soil bed material composition:

Materials In case of clay soils In case of loamy soils
Well decomposed farmyard manure (FYM) 30% 30%
Sand 15% 10%
Red Soil 55% 60%
Peat and bark 1 kg/m2 0.5 kg/m2

Soil Pasteurization in Polyhouse Production:- The soil inside polyhouse has to be decontaminated since the soil contains nematodes, insects, weed seeds and other disease-causing organisms. It may be controlled either by treating the soil with heat therapy or with volatile chemical therapy using methyl bromide, tear gas etc.. The following lists the soil pasteurization recommendations.

Treatment Dosage Recommendations
Heat Steam 3 to 4 minutes at 80° to 85° C
Chloropicrin 3 to 5 ml/cubic feet of soil Sprinkle the soil with water and cover the soil for 1 to 3 days with gas proof. Aerate the soil for 15 days or until no odor is detected before using the soil.
Basamid 8 grams/cubic feet of soil Cover the soil for 7 days with gas proof cover and aerate the soil for at least a week before using in polyhouse.
Formalin 20 ml/liter Apply 2 l/cu.ft. Cover the soil for 15 to 36 hr and aerate the soil for at least  2 weeks.
Methyl Bromide 10 ml/cubic feet of soil Cover the soil with gas proof cover for 1 to 2 days. Aerate the soil for 24 to 30 hrs before using it.

Soil Disinfection in Polyhouse Production:- This aids soil out of fungicides and dangerous bacteria. Spray the soil with two g of Captan in one liter of water to prevent plants from root rot, stem rot, white mold, black rot, crown rot, pythium, fusarium, rhizoctonia, and damping off.

It is advised to spray the soil with 1 gram of Metalaxyl and Mancozeb in 1 liter of water to prevent crops from soil-borne pathogens, pythium, phytophthora, fusarium.

Treat the soil at temperatures from 45°C to 90°C. This will help in destroying soil pests such as water molds, nematodes, worms, slugs, weed seeds, and plant viruses, centipedes, plant pathogenic bacteria, and soil insects.

Fumigation in Polyhouse Production:- Tools that will be used for Farming inside the polyhouse has to be completely disinfected. Prepare one part of formalin in fifty parts of water or one piece of sodium hypochlorite in nine parts of water to disinfecting propagation space, agriculture tools, trays, knives, working surface and others. Spray dichlorvos against inside walls to destroy insects. Trisodium phosphate or potassium permanganate will help get rid of the pathogens from workers entering in when putting in the polyhouse entrance.

Problem Management in Polyhouse Production:- In Polyhouse Production, you can face problems while cultivating crops. You must work with horticulture officer to overcome these problems. The following are some of the causes affect the crops in Polyhouse Production.

Environmental Factors: Light, Moisture, Heat and Carbon dioxide.

Infestation by: Animals, Pests, and Insects.

Diseases: Fungal, Bacterial, and Viral.

Fertilizer Deficiencies: Chlorosis, Necrosis, Macro Nutrient Deficiency, and Excesse Fertilizers.

Government Subsidies to Set Up Polyhouse Production:- To create young farmers in utilizing and implement modern agriculture farming techniques, the government of India in 1984 set up National Horticulture Board (NHB) for promoting integrated development of horticulture. Different countries have different subsidy constructions such as establishing Polyhouse Production but generally, subsidies may be availed by 50 percent to 80 percent. Prepare a detailed project report, filled in application form, farmer details, and land documents need to be submitted to the closest or local horticulture section for permission. An individual farmer can use up to 4000 sq/m under horticulture and 1000 sq/m under the agricultural department. A government official inspects the site to see the property, infrastructure, water resources, and climatic conditions. Based on the feasibility report, the government department sanctions to build polyhouse along with subsidy. More details can be acquired in the government website www.nhb.gov.in.

Bottom Line of Polyhouse Production:- Polyhouse Production has an excellent scope and one can get decent profits as crops can be grown throughout the year.

Read here about Greenhouse Cucumber Production.

Read here about Goat Farming Project Report.

Last Updated: April 7, 2018
Author: Jagdish

13 COMMENTS




  1. Hi, I have 4 ha land and would like to set up a low cost polyhouse in Dinajpur, Bangladesh. How much does the equipment cost including greenhouse/polyhouse consultants?





    • Well, we are based out of India. The set up cost of polyhouse and consulting charges depends on your country. You may get some subsidies in establishing a controlled environments such as greenhouse/polyhouse cultivation.





  2. Hi


    I have 20 acre land in Karnataka and I want to set up poly house, please tell me how much price per Acre for construction of polyhouse and how much Subsidy given by the Karnataka government

    Thanks and regards


    Gopal





  3. Hi,I live in BANKURA, west Bengal, I want to GREEN house farming, in 1 bigha(14400sq foot) Katha land,I have 1 daughter & 1 son,they are both 12 the pass,they have voter I’d,pan card,aadhar card,& Bob savings account. They both are and also I too much interested in greenhouse farming business, I am also service man in eastern coalfields limited up to 25.12.2025. So which is the prosidior ,where is success our dream, plz tell the process, thanks sir.. BAIDYANATH BHATTACHARYA.BANKURA, WEST BENGAL,









  4. Sir i have plan to construct polyhouse in my land located at tamilnadu how much cost for the project in 1 acre or 4000 square meter house in low cost house





  5. Hi sir

    Basically I am into steel business ,interested to develop poly house vegetation in 1 acre land


    I am from Karnataka india




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