FARM SHOW - "Underground" Greenhouse Grows Citrus In The Snow

FARM SHOW - "Underground" Greenhouse Grows Citrus In The Snow
Growing lemons and oranges in Nebraska? Impossible, would be the first word most people would think of, but not Russell Finch. He bills himself as the largest citrus grower in all of Nebraska. Besides citrus he also grows pears, avocados, figs, roses, yucca, agave, hibiscus, and hundreds of other types of flowers, fruits, vegetables, trees and plants. His secret? A home-built “underground” greenhouse.
Finch first developed an interest in using earth heat in 1979, when he was planning the heating system for a new house. He wanted to use a heat pump as the only source of heating and cooling, but was told it would have to be supplemented with electric heat during the coldest days in winter. Knowing that the temperature is stable at 52 to 57 degrees F at 8 to 10 ft. below ground, he reasoned that if he could extract air at that temperature the heat pump would function as if it were in a southern climate. Russell contacted scientists at the University of Nebraska to evaluate his idea but was told it wasn’t feasible.
Ignoring what he had been told, he pressed on. Next, he phoned the heating division of the Coleman Company in Kansas. After speaking with one of their engineers, who encouraged him to pursue his idea and agreed it could work, he was furnished with a heat pump at dealer cost. It was installed and has been functioning as predicted for over 22 years.
The system uses a 1/3 hp blower to pull air through 1,100 ft. of 6-in. dia. solid plastic pipe, buried along one side of his house.
The underground-heated air is blown into the greenhouse before it’s channeled to a room that houses the heat pump. Then the air is pushed out again by the blower to the underground tubes. An additional tube heats and cools the garage area.
The greenhouse is buried 5 ft. below ground and has an overall height of 14 ft. The trees inside are not in pots but actually planted in the ground.
Nebraska winters average low temperatures of 10 degrees. Typically, 20 days per year are below zero. The temperature in the greenhouse, even during the coldest weather, has never fallen below 35 degrees even when the outside temperature has plummeted to minus 40 degrees. Plant loss due to frost is zero.
In a region where homeowners frequently spend over $200 per month to heat their homes, Russel estimates that it costs about $450 per year to keep air circulating in the greenhouse and to keep the plants watered. His total energy costs per year, including a substantial amount of energy used to water over an acre of grass, plants and trees surrounding the home, is about $2,400. The size of the house is over 5,500 sq. ft.
To be able to grow both heat-loving plants and plants that need cold weather to go into dormancy, he had to divide the greenhouse into a tropical section and a cold weather section. By diverting the heating pipes to the tropical room, and opening a door at one end of the cold room, he was able to drop the temperatures enough to force dormancy.
The greenhouse measures 80 ft. long by 16 ft. wide. Finch says the only thing he would change about his design is to use a metal frame instead of wood for the greenhouse, even though the redwood frame has held up for over 20 years.
The benefits have far outweighed the costs to build the system. “Our cost for the greenhouse was around $7,500 for the material and excavation work,” says Finch. “I did all of the building and only needed help from my wife handing me the 6 by 12-ft. Lexan panels. Included in the cost was lumber, 6-in. tubing, Lexan panels, foam insulation, metal roofing, the blower motor, electric wiring, and other miscellaneous parts. These are 1992 prices so the cost could be higher now.”
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[@JDBrown4peace]

This really works. Russ is contributing a huge service to people by pioneering this model. I walked into his greenhouse just day before yesterday, and he is not exaggerating what is possible in cold climates! You and your community can do it too! Especially if you live in a food dessert.

[@Xxvzqx999]

he says we keep it above 28 degrees in the winter, if he means ferignheight thats -2 celcius??

[@gabrielschroll3824]

@@Xxvzqx999 I Googled how cold before citrus dies, and here is the first result: Generally, most citrus fruits will be damaged from temperatures colder than 27 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the University of California Cooperative Extension for Sacramento County. So keeping it above 28 degrees would make sense.

[@aron8949]

Down in san diego the valley we live in gets below 20 degrees f at night on occasion with no damage to citrus and avocado.

[@MsPaulaElandt]

Maybe I missed it but where can one get plans for this greenhouse?

[@JDBrown4peace]

@@MsPaulaElandt Hi Paula, here is the website to get the information. Amazing guy! greenhouseinthesnow.com/

[@JupiterSun-888]

I would LOVE to see a series all about this building, how it works, plants, soils, winter etc This is amazing!

[@NoticeMeSenpaiii]

There are a bunch of videos about building these. Look up "walipini." I would really love to see a series from Russ explaining his process though! I feel like he would have a lot more insight than we can find on KZbin.

[@maryann2970]

There is one, on Kirsten Dirksen's YT channel. He also sells plans on his website.

[@theuglykwan]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/kHXCZJKdqMympM0

[@martinsr5536]

Type Ljudmila greenhouse and see what a woman in Kazakhstan is doing for underground greenhouse.

[@zzzz1192]

this dude has inspired me so much. much love

[@rockhillfarmsllc]

I thought I was listening to Johnny Cash talk for a minute.

[@RossLambert801]

Nailed it.

[@mariuscg]

Congrats, all the best stay healthy and keep doing what you are doing 👍💪👏

[@briananderson2219]

This is the coolest video ever! I now know I want an underground greenhouse for a living room/Food production system combo

[@plantingthenorth7225]

AMAZING NEEDS MORE VIEWS LIKED

[@nicolaforrest6384]

Thank you!

[@High-Tech-Redneck]

I believe Russ has one of the best designs I have ever seen. It's a shame I followed LDSPrepper for so long, and spent so much time and money trying to duplicate what he did. Now I am headed in a new direction, with so much to look forward to

[@Badboyifier]

did you create something in the meantime?

[@kylethompson4714]

What a wise man I want to build one of these myself

[@basedbear1605]

They are not cheap... but they are not nearly as expensive as a traditional greenhouse. Mine is 60' long and after all is said and done, I will have spent about $35k total. That is INCLUDING both solar power/battery backups ($5k) and a separate well ($3k). I also installed a cinder block retaining wall, which is more expensive and labor intensive than the wood/siding retaining wall he suggests. But mine retains heat much better and can deal with water intrusion when it rains much better. I plan on building 6-10 more of them, full 100' length, once I start making a profit. The cost of the longer units is not much different than the 60' unit, as the bulk of the cost is in the peripherals like tubing and the digging of the pipe works. Since I will already have a well installed, I would expect the longer units to only cost about $30k total. About 2-3k of that will be solar panel and battery bank expansions. I will be running aquaponics so I cannot lose power.

[@temitopeoshokoya4906]

Amazing! I am copying all these notes and saving them-who knows?

[@rocketrobot2781]

Nice cat at 1:14

[@TimGGleason]

It was apparently the cat witching hour

[@StrikeforceJedi]

See if you are doing this in Nebraska with Citrus, I bet I can do this down here in Arizona with Mangos and other more sensitive tropicals. Lots of people do have above ground tropicals here (we have a whole community of tropical growers), but I'm trying to think of a more efficient way to protect them, from our slight cold snap in winter. Building a walipini has been on my mind lately.

[@antoinettejones5556]

This is incredible!!!

[@kainenmattison3665]

To spend a month with this man and learn

[@natemurphy4367]

Amazing

[@gewtube3794]

This guy is a badass

[@antoniorsoftware]

Simple and genius.

[@martinsr5536]

This guy is also on Abby Elder. “Greenhouse in the snow tour.” From 3years back.

[@markmarsh27]

EVERYTHING should be grown EVERYWHERE this way for a healthier planet and fresher, cheaper, locally-grown FOOD! ... IMAGINE picking oranges when it's snowing ... it's dream-like!

[@thecatsbackyard4833]

This is glorious. You only have to plant a tree once.

[@ricoroho]

Would it be possible to do a live stream interview with you, or someone on your green house after the first of the year? BTW I'm from Omaha. Go Big Red.

[@thehazelnutspread]

What is the entrance like? Are there stairs or a slope? Any problems with flooding?

[@africanative986]

Can you have soil on the poly film like that?

[@daviddejong779]

Hello. I’m looking into orchard production in upper Maine which is hardiness zone 3. It sounds like geothermal system keeps the temp constant. That makes sense. My question is on the roof for sunlight while also managing the snow load in the winter. How much snow are you dealing with and any suggestions or things to avoid?

[@codynoahconn]

I believe this greenhouse just collapsed last year under 12ft of snow.

[@kaveslo]

What about a calcium to citrus pleas?

[@High-Tech-Redneck]

there are many of these designs. Not all are the same, however they all use the earth as a temperature battery. LDSprepper has a really good design, and make sure to route the tubes out away from your greenhouse, not directly under it, LOL

[@temitopeoshokoya4906]

Watching his now-Thanks!

[@basedbear1605]

Yeah LDSprepper's greenhouse is not nearly as efficient as Russ's. Terrible idea to put the tubes underneath your greenhouse as you lower the temperature when you blow the cold air through the tubes... viscous circle. The amount of ceiling space he has also increases the amount of heat needed to keep the whole place warm. He also loses a TON of heat by not having the north wall insulated like in Russ's design. Also, his greenhouses are above ground, not using the natural heat of the earth by digging down.