Pictures of my greenhouse

[Daintree]

Hi!
I wanted to share my greenhouse, since I love it so much.
We named it Daintree, after our favorite tropical area in Australia.

We built the 15x20 ft tropical portion of the greenhouse from a kit in 2009.  It is twin-wall 8 mil polycarbonate, and came with an exhaust fan, intake vent, and 15,000 btu gas heater.  It is oriented with the front door to the east, and the long walls face north and south.
Immediately, it became too small!

We built a 10x10 foot addition, for those things that prefer chill hours.  It was stick-built, with corrugated polycarbonate on both the inside and outside of the 2x4 frame.  In the winter, I can shut the door between the two houses and keep the temps in the temperate house above freezing using a 16x16 inch window between the two houses.  I get night-time lows of 50F in the tropical house.

There are weeks in the winter when the daytime temps never get above freezing, and nighttime temps are in the single digits or below 0 F.  But we get about 250 clear sunny days per year, so the heat gain during the day, even in the winter, means the furnace rarely kicks on until late afternoon.  The furnace make a LOT of water vapor, so there are some winter days when it actually gets foggy in there!

We get very hot in the summer (weeks over 100 F), so I put up a 30% shade canopy around the end of May.  There is a HUGE benefit (additional 10-20 F of cooling!) to having the canopy elevated above the roof, instead of laying on it. 

We located Daintree so that it gets some shade from our maple tree in the summer, increasing the total shade to about 50%.  There is a powerful exhaust fan that turns on at 90 F.  I take the shade down in September but leave the frame up all year.

In the winter, I use full-spectrum flood-lights at various heights that come on in the morning and evening.  The plants all get adequate light to bloom and fruit, except for my dragonfruit (aargh!).

I built a 150 gallon pond that I fill using filtered city water.  I drop a sump pump and fertilizer into it and water everything with a hose.  I also give frequent “rain showers” to prevent spider mites (although I am still arguing with the mealy bugs about who is boss, sometimes!).

There is a BIG slug problem, especially in summer, because we flood irrigate, and get 2 inches of water on the floor every week.  A favorite night-time activity is slug-picking!

I raise Bourkes grasskeets, and they fly free in the greenhouse year-round (there are nets under the perches, which eliminates “poop-fall”).  They help prune the monstera, epiphylums and dragonfruit!  Anything they are not allowed to touch has a net over it…

So far, it has held up to marble-sized hail, sustained winds of 65 mph, and a couple of HUGE branches breaking off the maple tree.

[jcaldeira]

Very nice!  How about some larger photos?

[From the sea]

Wow! cool hot house, how to the trees deal with the shorter days in the winter?

[Luisport]

Geezzz i don'r stop to say WOW!!! I don't have more words to say... your pics are just great! 

[thao]

Have your bourke parakeet bred in that GH yet? Bet they love their extra tropical aviary. You might want to add some Chinese painted/button quail for any seed that the bourke's drop on the ground and maybe a few small bantam ducks to help control the slug problem. The call ducks are most only 2-3lbs max, so about the size of two fist or a little bigger.

[Daintree]

I have tried to add some more pictures - but, can someone please tell me why I keep getting the message that the file size limit is exceeded when I try to post more?  I am resizing them to thumbnail size and it still doesn't help.  Sorry - I am better at plants than I am at computers...

Yes, I have had baby Bourkes coming out my ears this summer.  Button quail sound like a great idea, as long as I gather them all up when we water in the summer!
The shorter winter days don't seem to bother the plants much, especially the trees and banana plants, since I have a LOT of full spectrum floodlights out there.  I have the plants and lights positioned very carefully.

[From the sea]

try using photobucket that way you don't have to worry about file size

[JeffDM]

try using photobucket that way you don't have to worry about file size

Or, change the compression level on your camera just for the pictures you want to post here.
I had the same problem.

[thao]

Maybe, it's because of your newbie status? But photo bucket or any photo sharing site, will let you post more pictures.

Button quail or cortunix quail are great for greenhouse cleaning of dropped seed. They might even  make more babies in your greenhouse though. Make sure you look carefully under each leaf, when it comes to your summer watering, as the button are small, but the cortunix are bigger and can be spotted easier.

[Daintree]

Will the quail eat slugs, or slug eggs, by any chance? The slug eggs actually look pretty tasty - I wonder if you can make caviar from them.
I will take some small file-size pictures tomorrow and post them.
Thanks!

[thao]

Not sure if the quail will eat the slug or it's eggs, but that picture above is of the bantam duck "call duck". Ducks in general will eat almost anything ie: insect, worms, snail, slugs, it's eggs and anything else they can find + they make great pets. Not sure about caviar, but those snail can be eaten, if your not gross out by the fact they are your average garden slimy slugs. They look soft, but once cooked toughen up and you must pound the heck out of the cooked protein to get them soft enough for eating. It will still be like eating chewy rubber, but not as tough as if not pounded.

Forgot to mention, they are good  eating too,not that I have eaten garden snails, but the ones from the Asian stores are delicious.

[Ethan]

Will the quail eat slugs, or slug eggs, by any chance? The slug eggs actually look pretty tasty - I wonder if you can make caviar from them.

Bizarre foods did a show in France and visits a place breeding snail eggs that are used like caviar.  They are supposed to taste very nice and they do look tasty.  If you are going to eat the eggs though, eat the slugs too, like escargot....but without the shell.

Nice looking greenhouse BTW.

[nullzero]

Daintree,

Very nice greenhouse, everything looks very nice and organized.

[fruitlovers]

Slugs and snails should not be handled without gloves, nor should their eggs. They can carry parisitic nematodes which can cause a very serious form of meningitis in humans. Quite a few people here have become very seriously ill after eating veggies from their garden with slug trails or accidentally eating small slugs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angiostrongylus_cantonensis
Ducks do like to eat slugs. Chickens don't usually like them. Not their cup of tea.

[MangoFang]

Ms. Newbie/DainTree - Before I moved from upstate NY, I was getting ready to do
exactly what you've done.  SUch a great setup you have.  Would love to see more
pictures when you learn how to post them!

I wonder what your electric bill is each month, though I'm sure it's all still worth
it at the end of the day.  So the greenhouse has been up about 4 years - you must have
some fruit production by now...

Gorgeous little pink and black bird, by the way.....

Good luck amigo.....gary

[Daintree]

Ok, I think I have the picture problem figured out.  I hope you enjoy the tour!


This is the view from our back yard, looking west towards the greenhouse.  My husband built the beautiful deck and pergola.  We have two varieties of akebia, so we do get fruit! The first door takes you into the temperate house. That is our pizza oven on the right. If anyone is ever in Boise, give us a call and we will fire it up and have you over for dinner!


We named our indoor jungle Daintree, after our favorite place in the world - Queensland, Australia.


This is looking west into the temperate house from the porch.  Loquat, fig, some rosemary on the right, then citrus, pineapple guava, bougainvillea and a ficus being attaches by the passion vine on the left. You can't see it, but yellow dragon fruit and Physical Graffiti are back there too.


Leaving the temperate house, looking west into the tropical house


The vanilla orchids, with one of the bananas on the right, and plumeria behind it.  Facing the south wall.


The much larger yellow cacao in front, the smaller red one on the left. You can see the coffee in the back.  I just cut the coffee down last month - it was 7 feet tall and tipping the pot over.


Red cacao flowers.  I have gotten a few "aborted" fruits, but no good ones have set on yet.  I am not very rigorous in my pollinating...


My cinnamon tree.  Yum yum! Another banana in the back, and the hanging plant is a type of variegated hoya that my husband calls "the macaroni plant". You can see the birds in the background.


Coffee beans.  I get about two pots of coffee a year off it.  Oh well, more of a hobby than a way to save at the store!



Monstera, ripening.  The birds LOVE the leaves, but so far do not eat the fruit.  Very tasty, but if you don't wait until all the scales fall off, it feels like eating a cactus!


Blatantly plagiarizing Kipling...


My hiding place from the real world.


The workhorse of the place - a 15,000 btu gas blue-flame furnace.  As an added benefit, when cranked all the way up, it makes about a pint of water vapor an hour.  Happy plants and birds!


150 gallon pond.  I pump filtered water into it, then just drop in a utility pump with a hose on it, mix up any fertilizer or ph balancer (vinegar), and my chore is done in 30 minutes! The bird-proof grate on top with a "flip-up" trap door keeps baby birds from drowning.


Looking east, along the north wall.


Looking east, along the south wall. Bird feeding station is in the upper right.


My monstera.  They live up to their name - they have hit the ceiling and crawled across the bird perches several times.  Last time I pruned it, it filled up four huge garbage bags!


My messy potting bench. Just as you enter the tropical house, in the northeast corner.

[Daintree]

Mr. Newbie/DainTree - Before I moved from upstate NY, I was getting ready to do
exactly what you've done.  SUch a great setup you have.  Would love to see more
pictures when you learn how to post them!

I wonder what your electric bill is each month, though I'm sure it's all still worth
it at the end of the day.  So the greenhouse has been up about 4 years - you must have
some fruit production by now...

Gorgeous little pink and black bird, by the way.....

Good luck amigo.....gary

Hi Gary,
The furnace is gas, and my setup DOES cost as much to heat as the house - about $600 a year.  I turn the furnace on for the first time usually in early October and run it through April.  If the sun is out, the thermostat shuts it off during the day, even in a real cold snap.  My worst month is usually January, when we get down below 0F for days, and never get above freezing during the day.  I have NEVER dropped below 50F at night, but I do shut the door between the two environments, and keep the temperate house just above freezing.  If we get below 0F, I use an electric booster heater.  But, it is still cheaper than two people going to the movies every week...

Oh yeah - fruit - I have had a couple of banana crops, LOTS of lemons, limes, kumquats and tangors, lots of coffee, no cacao yet, lots of monstera, loads of dwarf and regular pineapple (I quit growing the big ones since they take up so much room), and still waiting on the lychees and loquats.  The dragon fruit both refuse to bloom, even when I speak harshly to them.  My jackfruit seeds are coming up, though, so another ten years and I will be all set!

[MangoFang]

Mrs. Daintree - what a glorious setup - isn't it great to go in there
almost every day and see if anything new has opened or sprouted
or whatever?  I mean I just do that in my backyard every day,but
I can imagine living in your frigid weather and going into your little
paradise to dream away......

So your next duty (!) ( ) will be to post some pictures of fruits
when they are ready for the knife!

congrats and welcome to this wonderful, crazy hideout of
fruit cakes.......


gary

[Mark in Texas]

Beautiful job Daintree!   You're like me, we folks living in the cold/heat extremes brought the tropics indoors.  I've got cados, citrus, mangos and the usual stuff like maters, herbs, etc. going on.   Just added RootBuilder panels to my Reed avocado pot and key lime.  While pulling away the pine needle mulch was blown away by the hundreds of fine, white roots growing just under the mulch on top of the soil.

I also use it as a getaway.  Nothing like a good book, cold Lone Star beer and happy dog at my feet in my greenhouse.

Have fun, and happy harvest!

Mark

[Daintree]

Beautiful job Daintree!   You're like me, we folks living in the cold/heat extremes brought the tropics indoors.  I've got cados, citrus, mangos and the usual stuff like maters, herbs, etc. going on.   Just added RootBuilder panels to my Reed avocado pot and key lime.  While pulling away the pine needle mulch was blown away by the hundreds of fine, white roots growing just under the mulch on top of the soil.

I also use it as a getaway.  Nothing like a good book, cold Lone Star beer and happy dog at my feet in my greenhouse.

Have fun, and happy harvest!

Mark

Ha! Sounds like my husband, who is from San Antonio!  Only he he heads out to the greenhouse with a Shiner Bock and a machete! Yikes!!

[Mark in Texas]

Ha! Sounds like my husband, who is from San Antonio!  Only he he heads out to the greenhouse with a Shiner Bock and a machete! Yikes!!

Yes mam, nothing as tasty as a Shiner Bock or a Lone Star, the National Beer of Texas! 

[Doglips]

I saw the name Daintree and immediately remembered my trip there, then I saw Boise, and said naaa, must be coincidence.

I wanted to see a wild Jurrasic Jungle Chicken (Cassowary) while I was there,  no such luck.  Took pictures of the signs.  They are definintely something from another time zone.  Sorry for the thread hijack.

Nice setup you have there, I'd hate to see the gas bill in the middle of winter.

   

[Daintree]

Hey Doglips! You mean one THESE??? And no, it doesn't live in my greenhouse in Boise - it is from the real, and beloved, Daintree, where we are moving just as soon as we hit the lottery.  It made my little heart go pitter-patter...


Ok, just found this one also.  These are the only two that turned out, out of about 100 shots with a 600mm telephoto lens.  Bummer I was still shooting film - I think these cost me about $80 per shot! 

[thao]

There are only two guys in the US, that actual raises them. They wanted to import more, but since Australia's importing laws has been so strict, no new birds can imported for new blood line and a more diverse gene pool. But they are hard to raise and even harder to get them to breed and hatch eggs. You would need a very large land, just for one male and only introduce the female, when it's time to breed, or he would get very territory and kill her. He doesn't list his location, but I think he did mention he was from FL?, in one of the of his threads a while back.
http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/473149/cassowaries

[Daintree]

Wow!  These folks are brave - I rank cassowaries right up there with ostriches and tigers as far as hazardous livestock... think I'll look into the cute little call ducks.