Houseplants
HOW TO BUILD AN IKEA GLASS GREENHOUSE CABINET
LEARN HOW TO MAKE YOUR VERY OWN IKEA GLASS GREENHOUSE CABINET! A GREAT WAY TO GROW AND DISPLAY HUMIDITY LOVING HOUSEPLANTS.
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In this post, learn how to build an IKEA glass greenhouse cabinet for your home! Let’s learn about how houseplants can thrive in an indoor greenhouse. We also discuss what modifications need to be made to the cabinet!
WHAT IS AN IKEA GLASS GREENHOUSE CABINET?
In a nutshell, a greenhouse cabinet is a dream come true for us crazy plant people! DIY IKEA glass greenhouse cabinets provide a moist environment that’s perfect for harder to grow or humidity loving tropical plants. Greenhouse cabinets are not truly necessary for every plant. It’s possible to keep a wide variety of houseplants alive happily without one.
New to houseplants? Check out our post specifically for beginner indoor-gardeners HOUSEPLANT CARE: A BEGINNER’S GUIDE.
Some folks like to make terrariums, others treat their cabinets more like display cases for their rare plant collections. No matter how you choose to set up your greenhouse cabinet, some modifications need to be made. These modifications will ensure happy, healthy plants.
In this post, I will share our DIY IKEA glass greenhouse cabinet transformation!
WHAT TYPES OF PLANTS THRIVE IN A GREENHOUSE CABINET?
Humidity loving tropical plants will thrive in a greenhouse cabinet. Here is a list of some of the plants that I currently keep in our greenhouse cabinet:
- Phalaenopsis Orchids (miniature and full-sized)
- Jewel Orchid
- Philodendrons: camposportoanum, gloriosum, burle Marx, brandi, Xanadu, verrucosum, cebu blue
- Monstera siltepecana
The above listed plants I have had for quite some time before we had a greenhouse cabinet. Because some of these are true humidity lovers, we decided it was time for a cabinet. Some other humidity loving plants are some varieties of alocasia, ferns, calathea, etc.
IKEA glass greenhouse cabinets are also perfect for propagating plants. Learn all about water propagation HERE.
Speaking of orchids, I share a whole post about orchid care HERE.
DOES THE CABINET HAVE TO COME FROM IKEA?
Of course not! The cabinet should be constructed primarily of glass and metal as wood will likely rot with all of the humidity. Our greenhouse cabinet is originally from IKEA, but we purchased it from Craigslist for about $100 off normal price!
Places like Facebook Marketplace or other websites that sell used goods are perfect too. Often times any glass cabinet can be modified to do the trick.
MODIFICATIONS
For the purpose of this post, I will be discussing specifically IKEA glass greenhouse cabinets (although the same will hold true for most other cabinets turned into greenhouses). There are several aspects of the cabinet that need to be considered and modified in order to better suit the needs of your houseplants. Lighting, humidity and air circulation are the three main factors that we will be discussing in this post.
The temperature of your greenhouse cabinet is important. If this cabinet is being kept in your home, it is not likely that supplemental heat will be needed. Most tropical houseplants thrive in temperatures above 50-60 degrees Fahrenheit. Be sure to research the specific requirements of the houseplants that you’re growing.
AIR CIRCULATION
Air circulation is important for growing healthy plants. When plants are enclosed in a humid, semi-sealed environment such as an IKEA glass greenhouse cabinet, proper ventilation is key. Air flow prevents fungal infections on plants, ensuring plants photosynthesize properly, allowing water to evaporate from the leaves and more!
Good air flow will also help to ensure the temperature is the same throughout the whole cabinet.
Most IKEA cabinets are made with glass shelves. These glass shelves are gorgeous, but do not allow for proper air circulation throughout the cabinet. Shelves are a simple modification that can be swapped with wire shelving (similar to a closet organizer), egg crate material, or other strong materials that have holes. Some sellers on the internet make clear acrylic shelves with holes drilled in them for ventilation.
Clear shelves are the most gorgeous option, but can also be a little more expensive. We had some left over wire shelving in our shed, so we repurposed it to build the shelf in our DIY IKEA greenhouse cabinet. The material we had was a little too large so it was trimmed. We used a piece of scrap metal as a reinforcement to strengthen the wire rack at the front and back after trimming it.
The metal reinforcement piece was attached to the shelf using epoxy.
SO, HOW DO I CIRCULATE AIR IN MY GREENHOUSE CABINET?
Now that we have established it’s important to circulate the air in our cabinets, we have to figure out how to do so. The doors to the DIY IKEA greenhouse cabinet should remain closed to maintain humidity for the plants inside. We chose to purchase a small desk fan to fit inside the bottom of the greenhouse cabinet.
The mini-fan has four different speeds and works perfectly for us on it’s lowest setting. If we left the fan on high, I’m sure it would blow the plants right out of the greenhouse.
The reason I chose this fan was because of it’s ability to flex. Point the fan forward, backward or straight up in the air! The different position options allow for more flexibility when designing the layout of the greenhouse cabinet.
I actually purchased two of these fans, but one was plenty for our size greenhouse cabinet.
IKEA GREENHOUSE CABINET LIGHTS
Depending on where the IKEA greenhouse cabinet will fit in your home, it may be necessary to consider adding some grow lights. Equipping your IKEA greenhouse cabinet with grow lights allows the cabinet to be placed virtually anywhere in the home. Our cabinet happens to be about 3 feet away from an East facing window, but we decided to add grow lights anyway.
Grow lights are complicated, and the more we researched them, the more our heads spun. A dear plant-friend recommended the grow lights that we purchased. These grow lights are full-spectrum LED lights, with red, white and blue light. Because the plants are in close proximity to the grow lights, use caution the lights of your choosing aren’t too strong. Some grow lights could potentially burn plants placed too close to them.
SO FAR, SO GOOD…
At the time I’m writing this post, we have been using these grow lights for about one month. Some of the plants are actually touching the lights themselves, and there isn’t any evidence of sunburn on the plants. Not even on the plants who technically prefer less light such as the orchids and a ZZ plant that I stuck in the cabinet for fun.
The blue light promotes healthy growth and helps prevent plants from getting too leggy. Red light promotes flowering and fruiting. Blue and red lights in combination with white lights give plants everything they need to grow and flourish.
These lights are in strip form, and can easily be attached to the cabinet with zip ties, magnets or the sticky pads that come with the lights. Four strips of lights are included in the kit as well as a built in timer which is especially helpful! We have our timer set for 12 hours on and 12 hours off each day.
Other ideas for greenhouse cabinet lights would include one larger light that would attach to the top of the greenhouse cabinet. Usually stronger lights are used for this, and only one light would be necessary. Consider the plants that you’re growing before purchasing a light. There are many different lights out there, and be sure you are purchasing one that will fit the space and be just what your plants need.
PLUGGING IT IN
Now I bet you’re thinking, if I have an enclosed glass box – how am I supposed to plug this stuff in?!
The cords to everything inside the DIY IKEA greenhouse cabinet are small, so we were able to drill a small hole in the top of the cabinet to allow the wires to come out. The wires are then plugged in to a power strip that runs the cabinet.
MAINTAINING HUMIDITY IN A GREENHOUSE CABINET
As mentioned earlier, it’s important to consider what types of plants you plan to grow in your greenhouse cabinet and to know their specific needs. Some plants require a very high humidity level in order to thrive, while others can deal with slightly less humidity.
A hygrometer comes in very handy when monitoring DIY IKEA greenhouse cabinet heat and humidity. As a true crazy plant-lady, I purchased an inexpensive hygrometer that has an app so I can check it on my phone. I receive notifications if the humidity or temperature has fallen out of the “safe” range that I assigned to the cabinet.
Some folks seal up their greenhouse cabinets to maximize humidity retention, while others are a little more relaxed about it. At the moment, all of the humidity in our greenhouse cabinet comes from evaporation from rockwool and from the plants in the cabinet! More on humidity below.
OPTIONS FOR INCREASING HUMIDITY IN A DIY IKEA GREENHOUSE CABINET
- Use a small humidifier: an essential oil diffuser is small and can be set to run for a couple of hours at a time before shutting off. This may be all of the extra humidity your cabinet needs.
- Humidity Trays: a humidity tray can be purchased or made. Essentially, this is a tray filled with stones or leca beads and filled with water. The plant pots should be sitting on top of the rocks or leca beads, so that the bottom of the pot is not in contact with the water. As water evaporates under the plants, the humidity in the cabinet will rise.
- Rockwool: We had a significant amount of horticultural rockwool on hand, so this is what we used. Rockwool was placed in trays and on tera cotta saucers and soaked. Similar to a humidity tray, as the water in the rockwool evaporates humidity increases.
- Leca: Leca beads can be used in pace of rockwool as well. These beads are porous and therefore retain water well.
