Light Diffusion for Greenhouse? | Construction and DIY projects | Forums

Thanks for the reply.

I'm am planning out a 6' by 10' greenhouse to extend the season (zone 5a), mainly for vegetables. The greenhouse will get 5 or 6 hours of direct sun from the south each day, starting in the mid to late morning.

Problem is that the 6' side is the south facing side and I have read that light diffusion is better for the plants. I want to try and get the max from my southern exposure.

I am looking to build something sturdy so I am hoping to avoid using sheet plastic. I am going to try and piece it together with materials from the Habitat for Humanity Restore as the prices are great for the materials you get.

I am going by what I have read during research but the reasons I have seen make sense to me. Here is what I have come across:

- Diffused light will ensure a greater coverage of light in the greenhouse. Instead of having a single beam (for lack of a batter word) coming from a single direction if you diffuse the light you will have smaller beams flying around at all kinds of angles. This will ensure all areas of the greenhouse and as much of each plant as possible gets light.

- Direct light creates a lot of heat and hot spots in the greenhouse. Excessive heat is damaging to the plants, so if it can be avoided you'll be better off. Diffused light will spread the light around and avoid overheating/stressing a single area in the greenhouse.

- Direct light creates shadows, which are basically dead space in the greenhouse. Diffused light will results in more usable space in the greenhouse.

- Plants in direct light tend to produce based on the efforts of only their top leaves as they will often shade their own lower leaves. Diffused light will put more of each plant to work.