The Tropical Fruit Forum

Omg so sorry Mark. I'd be so pissed! Hell I'm pissed right now that my passion fruit vine died!

What a nice hoop house! There one I plan to build will be late budget. I like that rocket mass heater. Will most likely add that idea. Anyhow, you guys are cool! I want to join the cool hoop/green house kids.

Thangbom

Awesome! PM sent! I though about that like and chalk idea already. I was even thinking of buying 30' worth of pvc pipe then arching it into a 21' wide arch. I would then trace that out and cut the wood to match. But, buying a used and good deal bender is even better!!

Thangbom

Awesome brain food. I think that is a good idea on bending the frames then measure the hoops to see what I need to order. I already have a 5'' post auger and tractor w/3pt. I can borrow my neighbor's boom thing that the auger attaches to. I also have an electric cement/concrete mixer so I'm just moving it from hole to hole with drop the concrete in. I'll take a look at recycled stuff. That's a good idea. 10' peak hoop house is pretty much perfect. I want it anywhere from 10' to 11' peak. There will be less chances of wind damage while allow me some room to grow taller plants. I'll have to top them yearly but that's okay. As for 2ply inflated, I'm not sure on what to do. I know for a fact that it's better but it also cost a good deal more. I'm trying to keep things simple as possible in case something does go wrong, my parents can maybe take care of it themselves before I have the time to come fix it. As for heating, I think burning free lumber would do a good job. I can get tons and tons of lumber for free off Craigslist. Maybe a simple wood burner or steel drum or 2 with water heat sinks close will do nicely. We just got to make sure that the fire don't go out of hand and melt the plastic.


Thangbom

Thanks, I'll have to look at your thread again. I really don't want to spend 5k. boo!!!! It really don't get too cold or freezing out here hence why I figured a single layer GH would work fine (with heat sink water barrels). I mean we only bag/tarp what we have now and they survive.

Keep it coming, the more brain food the better.

Thangbom

Hello and happy holidays!

I'm in the research and planning stage of raising a large green/hoop house at my parents' house. They live in the outskirt of Houston where they homestead raising chicken, ducks, quails and plant a good assortment of veggies. My siblings and I regularly visit them on the weekends (almost every weekend). My parents are older (70) but still stay active and love to work in the garden. As the cold comes, my siblings and I have to carry a bunch of plants to group them together to cover them with tarps, plastic, ect. to protect them. I'm tired of doing this and my parents don't have much to do since they can't grow anything in this cold season. They would also like to try their hands at other plants that would regularly not survive in our zone. this whole project will be a DIY project so that I may save $$. I'm not cheap per say but saving $ is good. I don't mind spending $ if I think it's worth it. I'm setting my budget at $2500 for this whole project. Again, I plan to build and DIY everything that I can so save $. Luckily I consider myself very handy and have a good amount of handyman skills/tools.

The plan:
-20'w x 50'l x 12' peak hoophouse (I would like to have more of a strait side so There would be more usable vertigo space). I just have to figure out where to raise the GH on the 2 acres property
-hand cranked roll up sides and auto open vent at top of end walls
-water from well and rain gutters (gutters later on)
-a small door at each end to go in and out
-a second door at the end large enough to drive a 1500 series through in case we ever need to do something in the off season.
-till up the greenhouse grass/dirt to make it softer/add a few truckloads of topsoil to add nutrients and make it easier for roots to grow down.
-dig a small trench near the greenhouse to control water drainage away during rain storms.

I plan to reserve about 15' of the last portion of the hoophouse to plant some trees (mango, avocado, lychee, logan, pineapples, passion fruit, dragon fruit and whatever else I see interesting).

The questions:
-Once the greenhouse is up and growing veggies, how are you transporting dirt/mulch ect. into the greenhouse? Remember, my parent are old so I'm trying to have it so that they can do things on their own.
-Flooring? This is a complex question I think. I plan to have some kind of solid flooring in 1 transporting lane. I think I'll lay bricks of maybe pour some concrete. What I mean by the transport lane is I plan to have a designated lane that will run down the length of the GH for the above question. I'm thinking a sturdy and solid base for this one lane will make it easier for my parents to roll and cart things around. The real question if what so I use for flooring for other areas of the GH that is not growing something?
-Shade cloth? Where to buy? What type?
-Poly sheet? Where and what kind did you buy? (I was thinking 6mil GH poly but unsure)
-For you windy people, how deep did you dig and anchor your poles? I planned to cement every other post and erecting the hoops 3' apart instead of 4' just to add strength but IDK.
-Pest control? We occasionally see wile animals such as birds, rabbits, snakes, foxes, and occasionally an escaped farm animal (horse, donkey, cow). How are you keeping these animals out of the GH when you open the doors or skirts? What about bugs inside the GH such as grasshoppers and such? I was thinking maybe getting some guinea hens to live int he GH to eat bugs?


Thangbom

What a good read! I think you just about have my dream greenhouse. I decided to build a hoophouse at my parents homestead and plant pineapple (idk why but I love the sweet tarts Tang of pineapple), cadoes, mangoes, Logan, lychee, citrus, and jackfruit. I would try a mangosteen if I can find the fruit/seed to sow. It would be super cool to grow a durian but they get to big and tall.

ThangBom

I want to try and grow one of these! I was visiting my local nursery and went into a hoop house that I never went into before (perhaps it's because they only have big potted plants inside which mean big $$). I found some really cool plants. Anyhoo, I guess it's possible to grow Jackfruit in the Houston area with a nice tall green house, so cool!!! I'm going to build my parents a tall one next year when I get the time and $.

This tree did not have  price tag on it. Perhaps its where they get their cuttings and grafts from. The tree is about 15' tall by 10' wide or at least I think it is. It also appears to have had a few fruits harvested from it already.

I just wanted to share some pictures of my parent's plants. They live in the NW Houston area. They have a dozen or so Dragon Fruit plants. They are grown outside, planted into the ground. We cover them with tarp or plastic touching to the ground in the cold month. They get really dehydrated looking with some dry spots. Once the cold passes, we uncover them and start watering them. They bounce right back and produce in no time.

These pictures are were taken months ago but these plants and doing well.

I'm not scared to chop it. I was already planning to. I was hoping if I could air layer it in hopes of having two plants.

ThangBom

I'm a new gardener. I started collecting fruit trees a few months ago. I read some on budwood and grafting. Heck I downloaded a video on grafting from OSU extension service. It's a old video but very informative. Any chance you happen to host a grafting event or educational event for new fruit tree gardeners? I would be interested in learning so that my plants can thrive and not die (they get pricey).

ThangBom

Hello, I have a Joey Avocado plant that I bought from a local garden center. The tree is about 7' tall with very little branching. The first few branches (4 or so) are about 3' off the ground. Then there are no branches for the next few feet before a few more branches branch out. How do I get this thing to branch out more? I have read where people are topping their plants to get to branch. Can I air layer the the plant in the non branch area then snip it once it roots? Ill post a picture of the tree tomorrow.

ThangBom