W E A T H E R F O R D F A R M S

Weatherford Farms and Greenhouses in Stafford, Texas, built new glass houses and painted all but the south walls white.

Back to glass

Jack Weatherford, president of Weatherford Farms and Greenhouses Inc. in Stafford, Texas, looked to the past for ideas for his new greenhouses. His grandfather founded the business in 1927 and used glass houses, Weatherford said.

"We eventually switched to fiberglass, then to double poly, and now the new houses are glass," he said. "Glass makes more sense for us. Double poly only lasts two years in Houston. It's more labor intensive and it's hard to recycle."

With an additional 122,880 square feet of production space, Weatherford's new Rough Brothers glass houses are being used for short-day crops, including chrysanthemums, kalanchoes and Hiemalis begonias.

The glass walls of the houses were painted white with latex exterior-grade paint except on the south side, because it would have created a 20-foot shadow, Weatherford said. "We have a 14-foot gutter height, so we put up a drop curtain to seal the light off, which is rolled up during the day."

The new houses are equipped with wooden benches and under-the-bench steam heat much like baseboard heat used in houses in the north -- another blast from the past. "Before I was born, my grandfather ran steam under the benches," Weatherford said. Under each bench is two 3-by-3-inch-square aluminum fin tubes.

Just in case

Weatherford installed a Wadsworth EnviroStep for environmental control. The two ranges are divided in half and use four EnviroStep systems. It's extra equipment, but Weatherford prefers redundancy to loss.

He also uses two boilers instead of one in case of equipment failure.

"I'd rather have two boilers instead of one big one. If you lose a big one, you're shutting down a lot of heat to the ranges," Weatherford said.

The energy savings in the new houses are significant compared to the rest of the operation, where he grows primarily foliage and poinsettias.

"Last winter, it cost a third less to heat the new houses. The new range is separate in every way with its own gas and water," Weatherford said.

Water is supplied by wells, although Weatherford can switch to city water in an emergency.

He installed a double-head injection system, and he uses lead weights instead of clips to keep irrigation tubing in place. A 12-ounce plastic drinking cup at the front of each bench helps workers keep up with water use.

"Showing my employees a cup of water works better than telling them, 'just use one cup,'" he said. "It's cheap and it's simple."

Weatherford added a screened area between the greenhouses, which cuts down on 65 percent of pests entering the greenhouse and eliminates the need for some insecticides.

The new houses have fans -- some with hoods and some without. The fans without hoods are closed to simulate short-day conditions. He painted some of the fan hoods black to keep out light.

"Our fans without hoods turn off automatically. Hoods painted black keep the light out so the plants near the fans won't think it's daytime," he said.

A 12-ounce plastic cup shows employees the correct amount of water to use.

Weatherford screened the area between the greenhouses that keeps out pests.

For more: Weatherford Farms and Greenhouses, 13223 Murphy Road, Stafford, TX 77477; (281) 498-7261; fax (281) 498-4749; jack@weatherfordfarms.com.

. © 2002 Branch-Smith Publishing