In the House

• By CHAD HEBERT
• Advocate marketing writer
• Published: Mar 6, 2008

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PLAQUEMINE – Most mornings you’ll find Bobby Dupont wandering “K” House at Dupont Nursery, his family’s plant nursery just outside Plaquemine. There, the former flower shop and garden-center owner keeps up with the 50 to 60 different types of Hibiscus plants and hanging baskets growing inside.

“This house is almost like being outside,” he said of the 24,000 square-foot greenhouse.

“K” House is just part of the 300,000 square-feet of greenhouse space that makes up Dupont Nursery, started in 1985, by Bobby Dupont’s son, Robbie, and other family members. Bobby joined the family business in the mid-1990s.

While 300,000 square feet of greenhouse space that covers the length of a football field is a bit much for a plant hobbyist, smaller options are available for those who want to cultivate just a few plants in their backyard.

Bob Souvestre, an instructor at the LSU School of Plant, Environmental and Soil Sciences, said there are two main reasons hobbyists set up greenhouses in their backyards.

One is to protect plants during the winter months. He calls those hobbyists “those just looking for survival.” This, he said, is the most common reason for hobby greenhouses.

Proper use of a greenhouse during the coldest times of the year will help plants that usually end up casualties of winter survive.

The other reason is out of plant necessity.

Some plants require a greenhouse treatment in order to be cultivated.

The orchid is one example, Souvestre said.

When building a hobby greenhouse, several things have to be considered. The LSU AgCenter has a guide available called “Building Hobby Greenhouses” that has just about all you need to know before getting started. The guide is available by typing “Building Hobby Greenhouses” in the Search box of http://www.lsuagcenter.com.

Not the best builder on the block? Have no fear, because prefabricated greenhouse kits are available. They can be ordered online and shipped to your home. But the kits can be expensive.

A more cost-effective way to build a greenhouse is by doing it yourself, using something simple as wood and polyethylene plastic, Souvestre said. Those simple materials can be used whether a gardener wants to build a free-standing greenhouse or one that’s attached to another building such as a home.