The Tropical Fruit Forum

Yeah, heat is the big thing with greenhouses! I tried the water barrels, but the second the sun quits hitting them they would release their heat, and by 11:00 pm I was heating the air AND the water, since water always equalizes to the air temp.

We too have cheap natural gas here. My 700 sf greenhouse costs $42 per month to heat. However, we are on a year-round payment system, so even in the summer with the furnace off it is $42. Not complaining though!

I have fiddled with so many things for heat - thermal blankets that you have to put on every night and then get shredded by the wind and used as nesting material by squirrels; hot composting, which took up half the greenhouse and required a lot of "food" and babysitting; the above-mentioned barrels; bubble wrap which filled with water, turned green then fell down; those emergency mylar blankets on the north wall; heating my greenhouse pond to hot-tub temp with a homemade heater that shocked the sh1t out of me, and probably some  other things I have blocked from my mind.

 Insulating the foundation, a thick layer of bark on the floor (gravel froze my bare feet at night and baked them in the  daytime so I knew it was having the same effect on potted plant roots), and pay the gas bill has been the best thing for me.  Funny thing, we actually inherited a natural gas well in Texas, and payments from that offset about half of the heat bill!

Cooling in the summer is way easier. Though we are at 2800 ft and have no clouds in the summer, I have found that a good coating of shade paint, a mister system and massive airflow works better than shade cloth. The cloth helped shade it, but the plants hated it. Just sat there and stared at me all summer, refusing to bloom.

Cheers, Carolyn

So, in some of the latest discussions with Plantinyum and Tropicaltoba, it made me wonder how many folks have tropical gardens under glass, or even in their houses.

I know TropicalFruitHunters is in Ohio (still have my shirt!), we just picked up someone in Virgina, there are people in Tennessee, and I think more than one in Canada. Plantinyum is in Bulgaris. And let's not forget Iceland!!!

So let's hear it if you are a greenhouse or indoor gardener, your zone, and a little about what you grow.
If someone knows how to use YouTube (which is not me, that's for sure!) I thought maybe it would be fun if we could have virtual tours of our setups...

Cheers,
Carolyn -
Boise Idaho, 700 s.f. greenhouse, zone 6,
I grow any tropical and sub-tropical edible that I can get my hands on!

I was totally plagued by both hard scale on my citrus, and soft mealybugs. I have had very good luck with imidicloprid systemic. You just pour it into the soil.  Takes a couple weeks to work, but it has kept my greenhouse "clean" for years. It is toxic to bees, but I have none in my greenhouse.

I know some people worry that it travels to the fruit, but the evidence that I have that it DOESN'T affect the fruit is that imidicloprid does not kill fruit-eating insects such as apple worms.

It won't kill spider mites either, so I still have to keep up with those. But I am happily scale-free, and I don't have to spray anything around that could get on my birds, or that they might ingest.

Carolyn

Awesome!
I'm wondering how you move around in there! Do your pots go outside in the summer? I used to, but things are too big now.
Even down here, I have a hard time getting enough light on my citrus in the winter. And yeah, the heat can be pricey! Our natural gas in Idaho is cheap, so that is my heat source. Whenever people ask how much, I always say "it's way cheaper than showing horses!"
Here is my setup -

The seating area, a.k.a. The Laughing Impala Pub


Cacao, cinnamon, vanilla


One of my sweet Bourkes parrots that live out there


One of the two gas furnaces. I move the air around with cheap little fans


The pathway through the tropics

I have mine in 20 gallon pots and they fruit, though often drop the fruit early, probably a sunlight thing...

Carolyn

I have over 70 species of tropical trees and plants in my greenhouse, and the majority will never fruit. But when I am out there on a snowy morning with my steaming cup of coffee, with my little birds chirping, the foggers running, and the smell of orange blossoms in the air, it just doesn't matter.

I have not ordered by mail but I've been there in person. Really nice little place in basically a back yard. Good, healthy plants. Sort of a smaller version of One Green World in Portland, which is my go-to place whenever I am in the area.

Cheers,
Carolyn

Although I love to read through it, the farmers almanac, and the old farmers almanac also, rates no more than chance (52%) in it's predictions.

I don't think anyone can really predict the weather more then 10 days out. It is just too complex of a system...

Carolyn

Looks yummy! I love the variegated flesh.

Carolyn

I always keep a spray bottle with diluted physan (also called consan) on hand. Works great for damping off and other fungal problems when sprouting seeds.

Carolyn

I used to worry that my soursop hardly fruited, until my daughter-in-law said she REALLY wants the leaves, for tea! Mine grows like a weed, so every time I prune it I dry the leaves for her. Win-win!

Carolyn

It looks awesome! My first thought is that you must do a serious ballet to move around in there!  I still have all my greenhouse trees in pots. I can't dig down two inches becuase of our maple tree roots.

I tried bubble wrap with very poor results - the bubbles got all full of condensation and then got moldy, then it all fell down.

You will probably find the water jugs inadequate.  The second the sun quits hitting them they start releasing their heat, and even boiling water is the temperature of the ambient air in two hours.  Then the greenhouse is trying to heat the air AND the water.

I tried several ways to help keep my greenhouse warm, and really, insulation and just an outside heat source (like the propane heater) were the only things that worked. 

Of course, I have over a hundred REALLY tropical plants, like cacao, so I just bit the bullet and pay for the natural gas bill.  You are warmer down there, though, so it may be a bit easier.  A good insulating blanket would probably work well. They make a type of heavy duty bubble wrap just for greenhouses.

Cheers,
Carolyn