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greenhouse Started on my Greenhouse

Here's a picture of some toms taken Christmas Eve. They were among the last I transplanted and none of them have blooms yet, though a few are getting ready to.

christmastoms.jpg


Here's a side view - see how close they are planted together. The containers are seven gallons - 14" wide by 11.25" deep.

sideviewtoms.jpg


For a while today, I was getting more than 40,000 lux inside. If I could get that kind of lighting for seven hours a day - wow, would I soon have some maters to eat!

Mike
 
Thanks,

I just got back from trimming a peach basket full of dead or dying branches and leaves. A lot of material about growing in a GH says that air circulation at the bottom of plants is paramount. Even in the summer garden, I noticed leaves at the bottom of a plant tend to die fairly early and the same is true inside. But the difference is that because of the relative humidity, those leaves can start to rotten in a few days. So once the leaves start to turn yellow and wilt, I cut them off and add them to the compost. The plants look a bit bare but I figure those leaves are not contributing anything useful to the plant's growing so I might as well remove them.

Seeing how the plants have grown under poor lighting for the last month or more really excites me as to what is possible if I can provide more lighting and grow the year-round!

Mike
 
Plants are looking really good Mike.

Have you "enjoyed" any of these snowstorms yet? If so, how did the GH do?

We got two feet right before Xmas. The ground's still covered.:rolleyes:
 
No major snowfalls yet - in fact, the most we have had at a time is maybe an inch. I don't think snowfall will be a concern. Worst case scenario is a very heavy snowfall in the middle of the night. I lose enough heat that most of it would melt but if it comes down real hard, it will test it. During the day, if I need to I can crank the kero heater up and in an hour melt a foot or more of snow. At least I think I can!

Mike
 
The soaker hose works a treat - I'll never buy an airstone again! 16 outside, 54 inside, only 1650 watts of heat running. The roof is covered in snow, but that's okay - no sunlight to block anyway.

We are in the dead of winter - it isn't suppose to be any higher than 28 for the next week and in low single digits some nights. Still, not a real bad winter. It's not rare to have minus temps, though we are moving up a zone in the proposed new USDA cold hardiness ratings. I guess it has been more than 10 years since it got colder than minus 10. Of course, once everyone buys plants that are cold hardy to minus 10, we will have several nights of minus 15 or so!

Mike
 
The greenhouse, now that I have switched to bloom and fruit watering, as well as scattered sunlight here and there, is now a veritable sea of green and yellow. The plants are very, very, leggy, thanks to warmer temps, the ferts and still a lack of all day, everyday sunlight. But they are blooming like mad - one plant I counted today had 18 full blooms and bunches more getting ready to open.

The next few days will be a challenge - temps in the 20s of a night, days are suppose to be sunny with highs getting into the low 60s (maybe, possibly, perhaps, hopefully) by Monday. I've seen 110 degrees in the GH when the outside temp was 35, so I will need to keep a close eye. But would it ever be nice to turn off the heaters, open the door and stick the fan at the far end where it can blow this stale air out. As long as the temps don't stay long at more than 90 degrees, the blooms should set fruit and then the fruit ripen. There are about 30 plants very much alive and well, and 3-4 more that are surviving, so hopefully I can start getting 50 pounds or more of ripe fruit in a week.

Mike
 
Mike,

Looks awesome! I would love to have something like that some day.

I skimmed the entire thread and didn't catch it, so forgive me if I missed it, but I asume you heat it at night during the winter?
 
Yes, mostly a 1200 watt heater with a fan and a 450 watt convection heater on an opposite wall. When it got below about 20 degrees, I would also use a kerosene heater turned as low as it would go. A gallon of kerosene lasts about three nights.

However, I will not use the GH next winter - not enough sunlight. But I probably will partition off the front part and overwinter some plants in it.

Mike
 
Here's some pics from it. This one is of the middle row of plants. Yes, very leggy but nothing I can do.

toms33.jpg


This plant might be a tomato factory. It's a hybrid, Florida 91 VFF. The toms should grow to about 10 ounces, according to the data. I counted at least 18 blooms on it with more coming on.

fla1.jpg


Here's another plant, same variety. They are suppose to be determinates but...

fla2.jpg


Mike
 
pappywith4 said:
do you pull the suckers?
Click to expand...

No, but I have cut off the tops, which encourages more suckers. I'm finding they also are developing blooms. For some of the early season plants I started in September, I'm finding that while the rest of the plant has pretty much reached its life expectancy, the sprouts or suckers are going strong.

I also have been able to stick the cutting in water and five weeks later have plants with blooms.

Mike
 
I LOVE SUNSHINE!!!

Yeah, screaming! Thanks to a few days with something in the sky shining for more than 30 minutes every three days, my plants are setting fruit. I counted at least 10 baby toms and cannot begin to count the number of blossoms - in the hundreds!

I do have some plants in the back row, in buckets of water that either need to produce fruit or get out of the pot. In another month, maybe less, I am going to need the space for seedlings.

Mike
 
Plants are lookin good Mike. Stick with it; tomato prices will be up this year due to a lot of big growers in Florida losing a boat load to unusually cold weather.
 
millworkman said:
Those things are looking awesome. Congrats. Can we get some more pictures of the outside?
Click to expand...

Here's one I took a while back, but it still pretty much looks the same!

greenhouse.jpg


It's ghetto, but I'm glad I didn't spend big bucks on polycarb for the top and front - it would not have made a difference.

192 sq. ft.

Mike
 
I was at a store this week that normally has the very lowest prices on tomatoes. Their toms went from $1.29 to $1.69 - and they are still basically cardboard.

This morning, I went out to do the daily ritual of shaking the plants to help pollination and was able to count 22 baby tomatoes. That's eight more than yesterday!

If I can end up getting 500 pounds of tomatoes before the plants die, I will be one happy camper. BTW, that's less than 20 pounds per plant left!

Mike
 
Hi Mike,

Do you remember our convo regarding clear polythene sheeting to span 5 x 4 foot area in my garden? I have found some which is 250 guage (2.5 mil) stuff for cheap. Is it up to the job you think?

Chris
 
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