My New Durian death box.

[Jsvand5]

Built this finally for my durian. I managed to turn a supposedly 6 hr job into about 18 but it's finally basically done. I figure I'll probably still kill the durian but at least this gives me a shot. I have the vents set to close at 70 degrees. The soil back there has great drainage so I'm hoping to avoid phytophthora. I might try to grow a couple pulasan in there too.

[cbss_daviefl]

Nice! How many durian trees grafted by you and Patrick survived?

[Marsbars]

Built this finally for my durian. I managed to turn a supposedly 6 hr job into about 18 but it's finally basically done. I figure I'll probably still kill the durian but at least this gives me a shot. I have the vents set to close at 70 degrees. The soil back there has great drainage so I'm hoping to avoid phytophthora. I might try to grow a couple pulasan in there too.

Awesome setup!  I dont really see people growing durian in greenhouses. I wonder why. Maybe because of the trees massive size? Wouldn't the wood rot inside the greenhouse?

[Jsvand5]

Nice! How many durian trees grafted by you and Patrick survived?

We only did 2 trees. One of the grafts initially looked good but eventually failed. Right now I have one tree with two grafts on it. I have a couple more grafted trees coming in the spring though. I have not had any luck with shipped budwood. Tried several times. Even when the wood looks perfect it seems to fail. The shipped wood has always been at least 3 days old so it's either that or that I suck at grafting. Both reasons are probably true.

[Jsvand5]

Built this finally for my durian. I managed to turn a supposedly 6 hr job into about 18 but it's finally basically done. I figure I'll probably still kill the durian but at least this gives me a shot. I have the vents set to close at 70 degrees. The soil back there has great drainage so I'm hoping to avoid phytophthora. I might try to grow a couple pulasan in there too.

Wouldn't the wood rot inside the greenhouse?

Im sure something will kill them. I'll know soon. First one goes in the ground next weekend once I get the temperature dialed in better.

[TropicalFruitHunters]

Nice job on the structure though.  Good luck with the tree.  TLC.

[gunnar429]

Built this finally for my durian. I managed to turn a supposedly 6 hr job into about 18 but it's finally basically done. I figure I'll probably still kill the durian but at least this gives me a shot. I have the vents set to close at 70 degrees. The soil back there has great drainage so I'm hoping to avoid phytophthora. I might try to grow a couple pulasan in there too.

Wouldn't the wood rot inside the greenhouse?

Im sure something will kill them. I'll know soon. First one goes in the ground next weekend once I get the temperature dialed in better.

The late Bob Ross' advice:  think happy little thoughts   

[KarenRei]

"Durian Death Box" - sounds like a metal band from Indonesia 

[Tropicaliste]

Wait a minute, you built that greenhouse in 18 hours?

[Jsvand5]

Wait a minute, you built that greenhouse in 18 hours?

It's a kit. According to the website it should have been a 6 hr job. Unfortunately I decided to screw up every step at least once so it took a lot longer. Pretty happy with it though. Seems to be much better quality than most kits that I have seen.

[TREESNMORE]

It looks real good . Should keep something nice and warm in the winter. Just watch the temp, don't let it get to hot.

[From the sea]

were can one get grafted durian?

[Samu]

Toptropicals carries it, but not always available.
Here's the link:

 http://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/durio_sp.htm

Good luck on growing it, from what I heard, there is no chance to
fruit it in California.

[ClayMango]

Built this finally for my durian. I managed to turn a supposedly 6 hr job into about 18 but it's finally basically done. I figure I'll probably still kill the durian but at least this gives me a shot. I have the vents set to close at 70 degrees. The soil back there has great drainage so I'm hoping to avoid phytophthora. I might try to grow a couple pulasan in there too.

Wouldn't the wood rot inside the greenhouse?

Im sure something will kill them. I'll know soon. First one goes in the ground next weekend once I get the temperature dialed in better.

The late Bob Ross' advice:  think happy little thoughts 

"Let's put some happy little trees in there"                    I loved that Fro lol

[Tropicaliste]

I remember it took 3 people and nearly a day to put up the small HFGH that I had, lol ... 18 hours by yourself, that's nothing to scoff at. Where did you get it?

[Jsvand5]

I remember it took 3 people and nearly a day to put up the small HFGH that I had, lol ... 18 hours by yourself, that's nothing to scoff at. Where did you get it?

http://grandiogreenhouses.com

I think if I had to do it again it would go pretty quick now that I have learned from every mistake that you could possibly make the first time.

[Pancrazio]

Good luck with your greenhouse! I do support zone pusher at every latitude! 
I'm leaving here the following suggestion: put extra efforts in making the base of the greenhouse well insulated, it will keep the base of the trunk alive "justincase". To me, the base of the greenhouse has always been one of the most critical and overlooked point of every project. But since cold air stays closer to the ground...

[HMHausman]

http://grandiogreenhouses.com

I think if I had to do it again it would go pretty quick now that I have learned from every mistake that you could possibly make the first time.

Are your services available to assist in assembly for others on the forum.....and, if so, what is your hourly rate and best estimate as to how long will be required to set it up?

Edit...oh upon further re-reading you said that it should take about 6 hours.

[Jsvand5]

http://grandiogreenhouses.com

I think if I had to do it again it would go pretty quick now that I have learned from every mistake that you could possibly make the first time.

Are your services available to assist in assembly for others on the forum.....and, if so, what is your hourly rate and best estimate as to how long will be required to set it up?

Edit...oh upon further re-reading you said that it should take about 6 hours.

Well just have one delivered to your house during lychee season. I'll come down to help put it together. Just make sure you have a lot of boxes to fill with lychees.

[fruitlovers]

Very nice greenhouse! I'm sure you'll be succesful growing the durians. Really they are not as delicate as people think. Just don't let them see any limestone, alkaline water, or sudden drops in temperature. To keep them happy keep the temperature variation from daytime to nightime as small as possible. Growing them is easy. The harder part will be getting them to fruit.

[Jsvand5]

Very nice greenhouse! I'm sure you'll be succesful growing the durians. Really they are not as delicate as people think. Just don't let them see any limestone, alkaline water, or sudden drops in temperature. To keep them happy keep the temperature variation from daytime to nightime as small as possible. Growing them is easy. The harder part will be getting them to fruit.

Thanks, I hope you are right. I don't think I really have any limestone in my area. At least not near the surface. My yard is pretty sandy in the upper few feet and then seems to get a little more like an orange clay mixed with sand after that. My house was built in pretty much a pine/ oak forest so I am hoping all of the years of that stuff breaking down in the soil will make it suitable. The greenhouse can easily maintain 70 degrees so I don't see any reason that they should die aside from maybe phytophthora. The tree actually already looks healthier after only a few days in the ground.

I tried to grab wood from the smallest fruiting trees while in Puerto Rico. They only looked to be about 10ft tall so I'm hoping the greenhouse will be big enough. But them outgrowing the greenhouse would be a great problem to have I guess. Better than killing them at 2ft.  My goal is to get 3 trees in there. It's only 16ft long so they will be cramped but I'll keep up on the punning.

[Pancrazio]

Why don't you stick with just a tree and try to espalier it? It could obtain quite some size and that means bigger crops for a longer time before the plant outgrows the greenhouse.

[Jsvand5]

Why don't you stick with just a tree and try to espalier it? It could obtain quite some size and that means bigger crops for a longer time before the plant outgrows the greenhouse.

Going with three mainly for pollination in case I do actually manage to get them to flower one day.

[Jsvand5]

Well I haven't killed it yet. Now I'm wondering about how to train it. I want to keep it short because of the greenhouse height but right now it is branching at around 2 ft. I'm thinking I should tie up highest branch to make it the new central leader and then let it start branching at around 4 ft. Any ideas?

[TropicalFruitHunters]

Looking good dude!  I agree and would let it continue to put out as much growth as possible not pruning anything until is was at least 4 feet all around.  Looks like you may have a keeper.  Good job!