Harvst Sprout mini greenhouse

Harvst have developed their range of Smart Mini Greenhouses to give everyone the opportunity to raise their own vegetables, salads and herbs even when both space and time is limited.  


We don't all have sufficient spare time everyday to give some of that precious resource to tending plants. But at the same time want to be able to raise our own vegetables, salads or herbs. 
With this in mind Harvst have developed a range of smart mini greenhouses which means you don't have to tend to your plants every day of the week.
Harvst have also considered the more modern, small gardens or those who only have a courtyard, patio or balcony, by making their smart greenhouses in four 'mini' sizes to suit all types of locations. 

Based in West Wales, Harvst was established in 2019 by Chris Tanner when he used his knowledge as an electronics engineer, together with his passion for his vegetable garden, to develop a means of creating a small, protected space where he could raise plants unaffected by the wild and windy conditions he faced. 

Harvst Smart Mini Greenhouse Sprout S6    Harvst Smart Mini Greenhouse Sprout S14   Harvst Smart Mini Greenhouse Sprout S10   Harvst Smart Mini Greenhouse Sprout S24

Automatic Opener
As mini greenhouses are, by nature, small, enclosed areas they can be quickly affected by the weather conditions, so on hot, sunny days they can become hot and humid. The hinged roof of the sprout smart greenhouse can be manually opened and secured open, however it is better, easier and more efficient to have an automatic opener fitted.  

As standard the Solar, 3 Season and 4 Season models are all supplied complete with an automatic opener.

However, if you purchase the Greenhouse only model it is possible to purchase the automatic opener at the same time to fix into the greenhouse.  

Harvst Mini Greenhouse Automatic Opener

 

Harvst Automatic Opener For Greenhouse

Easy to fix in place this opener will lift the whole lid when the temperature inside the greenhouse rises, quickly venting heat and keeping your greenhouse cool.

No power is needed, the opener works with a combination of springs and melting wax for reliable, long life. The opening temperature can be easily set from between 18 to 25 degrees by simply screwing the piston in or out.  

 

Solar Power
Harvst have designed their Smart Solar greenhouse models to provide the keen grower with a greenhouse with a sensor based watering system which needs neither mains power or mains water to operate efficiently. Harvst have achieved this by using a Solar Panel which will provide the power that the control system, sensors and water pump need.

This compact 5watt solar panel is 9in x 7in x ½ in / 23cm x 18cm x 1.5cm comes complete with brackets for easy mounting and a 9ft 10in / 3 metre connection cable and two-pin power connector for the Harvst control system.

The long cable enables you to mount the panel in the best location to capture the most sunshine.   

Harvst Solar Panel

Once connected the solar panel will automatically charge the built-in battery within the control unit. This in turn provides sufficient power so that the control unit can use a combination of environmental data and timers to turn on electric water valves (and optionally a pump) which are connected to the irrigation system to allow water to the drippers to keep your plants correctly and efficiently watered.

Smart Self Watering
Ensuring your plants are neither under or over watered is vital if you want healthy growth. This is why Harvst supply their Solar, 3 Season and 4 Season Sprout greenhouses with a smart control system which uses a combination of timers and sensors to turn the watering system on and off as required by your plants.

Harvst Control Unit

The Control Unit

The brains of the system, there is a solar powered version with a built-in battery which is supplied with the Solar Model, or a mains powered version for the 3 and 4 Models.

Setting the controller is simple and can be done using a web app which is compatible with iPhone or Android, can also be run on a laptop, tablet or computer.

If your mini greenhouse is within range of a WiFi network you can connect the control system to the internet to monitor data and update settings from anywhere.

Diagram For the Harvst Control Unit

Connecting to one of the ports on the Control Unit is an Air Temperature Sensor. The sensor is on the end of a 3ft 3in / 1 metre flexible cable allowing you to put it in the most temperature critical location within your greenhouse. This then allows you to monitor the temperature within your greenhouse using the app. 

This air temperature sensor is supplied as standard with the Solar, 3 and 4 Model Mini Greenhouses.

If you want to make your watering system more sophisticated and take into account the moisture of the soil your plants are growing in then you can add a pair of Soil Moisture Sensors.

Increasing Temperatures
Adding heat to your mini greenhouse makes it possible for you to extend the growing season and increases the range of plants which you can raise from seeds or cuttings. This is why Harvst include as standard with their 3 Season and 4 Season Sprout Smart Mini Greenhouses a safe, low voltage heating cable.

Heating Cable

The 12volt Heating Cable Harvst supply is 4 metres long, strong, waterproof and reliable.

It is a self-regulating cable which is set with a target temperature of 50 degrees. This basically means that it works to maintain this as a constant temperature, regardless of the ambient temperature.

To achieve this the cable will use more power to reach this temperature on a cold day than it would on a warmer day.   

Harvst Heating Cable

Ideally lay the cable over the surface of the shelf within your Sprout Greenhouse and place your seed trays or plant pots on top of this cable. With this arrangement the heat generated by the cable will be directed towards the compost your plants are growing in, helping them to germinate and produce healthy growth. The heat from the cable will also help to warm the air within the greenhouse.

It should also be noted that due to the temperature the cable is aiming to achieve it should not be allowed to come into direct contact with your plants or their roots.

It is possible to buy an additional heating cable when you purchase your Sprout Smart Greenhouse. The Solar models are not suitable for using with this heated cable as the solar panel is not powerful enough to provide the power that the cable would need.

With the 3 and 4 Season models it would be possible to add an additional cable, remembering that the control unit and mains power supply with these models have a maximum capacity of 150 watts.

Harvst Heating Cable

Each heated cable will use approximately 60 watts of power at maximum (the wattage used changes significantly based on how hard the cable is having to work to maintain its target temperature).

So if you were just using heating cables within the greenhouse and not lights then the maximum number of cables is two.  

If you are running lights and heating cables at the same time the control unit is smart enough to make the most of the power, such that if the lights are off then it would allow two cables to run at the same time. When the lights are on, the control unit would then only allow the top cable to run.

LED Grow Lights
Grow lights are used for two main reasons – to either grow all year round – or if your greenhouse is in a location where it will not get sufficient natural light.

The lights which Harvst supply to use with their range of Sprout Mini Greenhouses are low voltage, LED grow lights. They are fully waterproof – which means that they are fine with prolonged exposure to the irrigation system within a Sprout greenhouse, but they should not be immersed in water.

Although these are low voltage lights, they will give off a decent amount of heat - you won’t burn yourself but the lights will be hot to touch. The benefit of this heat is that it helps to keep your greenhouse warmer during the colder, shorter days when you are likely to be using the lights. When the lights are being used on warmer days, the automatic opener fitted to the roof of the greenhouse will help to regulate the temperature within the greenhouse.

Supplied as standard with the 4 Season Mini Greenhouses these 10watt LED grow lights are 50cm long and are designed to be fitted directly to the underside of the mesh shelves.

In this way they will provide lighting to the plants on the shelf below, as well as some heat for the trays, pots and plants above.

LED grow lights within the Sprout Mini Greenhouse

The shelves within the Sprout greenhouse are positioned 11in / 28cm apart and the lights will provide 11,000 lum at a height of 20cm. Ideally when your plants are small raise your seed trays or pots up closer to the strip lights so they benefit from the full strength of the lights and as they grow move them further away from the lights.

Sprout Mini Greenhouse with LED strip lights

Two lights are provided for each shelf when you purchase the 4 Season greenhouse, but you can add more – the control unit with the Solar, 3 Season and 4 Season models can support up to 12 lights (depending on what heating is also been controlled at the same time).

With each pair of lights you receive a splitter cable with three tails – this lets you connect two lights to the control unit, with a spare tail for the next pair of lights.

 

  

Plugged directly into the Harvst control unit these lights will be controlled by the on-board timer, which can be run twice a day.