Function - The Plains Indian tipi structure is ideally suited for the solar heating and convection cooling requirements of a greenhouse. Our GreenHouse Tipis stands alone in its ability to control overheating through the use of "cyclonic cooling", retain heat with its innovative double-wall construction and heat-cap, withstand high winds due to its proven circular structure, maintain portability while retaining its natural aesthetic beauty. All these features combine to create the perfect mobile greenhouse - The GreenHouse Tipi!
"No tent is so sturdy against wind and weather as a good tip[-the tilted cone with its back toward the prevailing storm winds, braced by the long slope of the forward poles; the weight of the poles themselves with their butts piercing the earth; the taut conical cover offering no hold to the wind, no pockets or folds to catch water; the anchor rope taut from the apex to the ground Inside the tent; the pegs pinning the cover firmly to the ground-all these things make the tipi a strong, dependable protection."
THE INDIAN TIPI
The Laubins
Appearance - The GreenHouse Tipi maintains all of the pleasing lines and classic appearance of the traditional Indian Tipi. The translucent cover appears much like a canvas cover form a distance and presents a pleasing glow when illuminated at night.
Sales - Increase Produce Sales by attracting customers to your market - The timeless beauty of a tipi is not lost on our GreenHouse Tipi. Move your GreenHouse Tipi from the field to the market and be the draw of the market.
Cost Effective - GreenHouse Tipis are Cost Effective. With a square foot price lower than most other framed polyethylene greenhouses, combined with the ability to operate without external cooling fans, result in competitive initial startup cost and very low operating costs.
Ease of Assembly - The GreenHouse tipi is one of the simplest garden greenhouses to assemble. All that is required is a tape measure, hammer, and a marker and the ability to tie a few simple knots - which we illustrate in our book and online at Tipi Knots. Typically, a new customer can set their first tipi within a three to five hours - with experience, a Tipi Greenhouse owner can set up a medium-sized garden Greenhouse Tipi within two hours.
Transportable - The ability to transport your GreenHouse Tipi adds to its value. Relocate your GreenHouse Tipi to protect your spring starters and fall crops. Take your it to the market during the summer and use it as your sales tent. Purchase a cotton tipi cover and use it for camping or just plain family fun.
"We could not only move our houses but could move entire villages, and we often did. In this respect we were better off than the white man is. We moved to suit the seasons, in summer or in winter; we moved to be near a good supply of wood and water, or for fresh pasture for our ponies."
THE ARAPAHO WAY
Althea Bass
Extended Growing Season - Reese Tipis GreenHouse Tipi will extend your growing season in any climate. The inherent design of the Indian Tipi combined with our proprietary modifications, lets you use our GreenHouse Tipi as a garden greenhouse, hotbed or cold frame depending on your needs and budget. GreenHouse Tipis are available in sizes from 13.5' to 26' diameter.
Multi Function - Use it as a Cold Frame, Hotbeds or Greenhouse - The Reese Tipis GreenHouse tipi can fill any of the conventional garden greenhouse rolls. Or order a traditional tipi cover and use it in the summer as a traditional tipi.
Cold frames and hotbeds are small greenhouses that utilize the sun's energy for heat. They are useful as season extenders, for propagating cuttings, for starting vegetable and flower transplants, etc.
Hotbeds use the same basic construction as a cold frame but the sun's energy is supplemented by, heating cables, fresh manure or other organic compost.
Greenhouses have supplemental heating (and possibly cooling) systems so that they can be used year-long. Our GreenHouse Tipi can be used as a cold frame, hotbed or greenhouse. We offer a complete line of greenhouse furnaces for your conventional greenhouse and your GreenHouse Tipi.
A cold frame tipi is simply setup over a cleared area of soil. Soil or straw can be mounded against the base of the structure to prevent heat loss and winds from entering. During mid-day heat, uncover a section of the bottom to allow air into the Greenhouse Tipi.
An organic hotbed, on the other hand, will be located over a bed of fresh manure (or other organic compost) and soil. Usually a hole slightly wider and longer than the dimensions of the frame is dug to a depth of approximately 3 feet. Fill the hole with 24-30 inches of fresh manure and top this with 6-12" of topsoil. The GreenHouse Tipi is then setup over this manure bed. We have seen as much as 10 degree increase in temperature form our organic hotbed GreenHouse Tipis.
A heated greenhouse can be heated with any thermostatically controlled heat source. We recommend either a catalytic unit or a forced air furnace to heat the greenhouse
Sized to meet your needs. - The GreenHouse Tipi is available in 6 sizes to meet the various needs of gardeners and farmers.
- 13.5' - 130 sq ft
- 15.75' - 177 sq ft
- 17.5' - 219 sq ft
- 19.5' - 272 sq ft
- 22.5' - 362 sq ft
- 24' - 411 sq ft
- 26' - 483 sq ft
Choosing the right size: Consider the purpose of the structure, is it to be a full-time production greenhouse or do you plan on just a small garden greenhouse. Also consider how much space you have. You will need a 2 ft. free-zone around the GreenHouse tipi in order to open and close the ventilation flaps properly. Thus plan a 23.4 ft. area for your 19.5 GreenHouse Tipi.
Our smallest GreenHouse Tipi (13.5 ft) is generally intended for hobby use and has a lower heat-cap height and smaller door than our larger GreenHouse Tipis. Its 116 sq. feet of useable interior space is ideal for home gardening projects.
Our 15.75 ft. GreenHouse Tipi is great for the home garden and for the small specialty grower. It has a usable interior space of 161 sq. feet. The smaller GreenHouse tipis work great when used with electric hotbeds and as cold-frames to extend your growing season with minimal costs.
Our 17.5 and 19.5 ft. GreenHouse Tipis are ideal for serious home gardeners and commercial growers alike. They have 200 and 250 sq. feet of interior space respectively. Both work very well with organic hotbeds set under the tipi.
Our 22.5' GreenHouse Tipi is one of our favorite configurations to use as a heated greenhouse. It's ample interior ground area of 338 sq. feet make it large enough to work in comfortably and it's low square foot cost makes it great for gardeners and producers alike.
Our 24' GreenHouse Tipi has an ample 386 sq feet of interior space. This impressive structure provides room for a variety of crops and adds a stately appearance to any farm.
Poles for the 24 and 26 ft. GreenHouse Tipi are spliced above the apex point and must be assembled and glued when they arrive.
Tipi sizes are determined by the distance from the center of the door to the back of the GreenHouse Tipi at ground level when the it is properly assembled. Properly made tipis are not round but have a slightly oval or "egg shape" at the base. Many manufactures compute the area of their tipis using the formula for the area of a circle with no consideration for the actual footprint of the tipi. All of our area measurements are made in the computer assisted drawing (CAD) program that we use to pattern our tipis. All measurements shown are at ground level. Interior measurements allow for the thickness of the poles and properly installed liner. Remember that the walls of a tipi slope and raised planters will require a larger tipi for the same number of plants. Hanging plants can be easily added by using pole hooks to suspend the planters.