General information on the Greenhouse Facility:

The CALS/ARS greenhouses are primarily used by the following departments:  Horticulture, Botany, Plant Pathology, Forest and Wildlife Ecology, Soil Science, Genetics, Agronomy, Biochemistry, Landscape Architecture, Entomology and Zoology.  The Walnut Street facility supports more than 70 scientists, who train more than 150 postdoctorates/graduate students.  It also serves numerous undergraduate students, who have jobs and/or independent projects with many of these labs.  The greenhouses, especially D.C. Smith and King Hall, also allow for hands-on instruction in many plant-related courses.

Information on the WSGH Construction and Cost:

The older section of the greenhouse (40 houses) was built in the early 1960s.

Phase I construction:  The newer section of the greenhouse (32 houses) was built in 2005.  It replaced a wooden structure greenhouse that was built in the early 1950’s.  Each module (set of 8 greenhouses) cost $1 million in 2004.  The total project cost was 6.8 million dollars.

The Phase II construction will replace the old section of greenhouses with 40 new houses, similar to those built in 2005. This project has a projected budget of $11.0 million, which will be funded 1/2 by the State and 1/2 by donors. (This phase of construction did not yet occur, but we are hopeful that we will build more modern greenhouse space to accommodate our plant science research community.)

The plant sciences at UW-Madison generate tens of millions of dollars each year.

Information on Space Rental Costs:

Space charges are based on a per square foot of bench space, per month rate.  Rates vary for the older and newer sections of the greenhouse (based on variances in the energy costs to run them.)

Old Section = 0.55$/sq. ft. per month (no AC); 0.89$/sq. ft. per month (with AC)

New Section = 0.89$/sq. ft. per month

This means that a small (85 sq. ft.) greenhouse in the old section will cost about  $46.75/mo; a larger old section house (250 sq. ft.) will run about $137.50/mo.  Small (132 sq. ft.) new section houses are $117.48/mo.; large (282 sq. ft.) old section houses are $155.10/mo.  These rates are only average estimates – houses do vary in the sq. ft. of bench space they contain.  Since air conditioning energy costs are expensive, houses in the old section with active AC will be charged a higher rate.  An average 85 sq. ft. greenhouse with AC will cost $75.65/mo.  AC usually runs from May 1 through October 31.  If you are in a greenhouse with AC, you are charged the full rate for that space, even if your plants do not fill all the benches.

Coldframes cost $6.00/mo. per coldframe.