Greenhouse Tour and Heating

[@CitrusPalmsWithTom]

Another trick is to get a 50-gallon aquarium heater and drop it into the barrels of water. The heater will easily keep the barrel at about 90F. Also, putting bricks or pavers on the floor will allow the ground to heat more in the sun.

[@sweethomealabamahomestead4504]

That is a good idea, I saw you did that with your meyer lemon. It would be really good if I could make it where I could move the water through all the barrels.

[@kathleenebsen2659]

I agree!

[@DiannasHomestead]

Thanks for the tour

[@sweethomealabamahomestead4504]

You are welcome. It has not blown away yet so that is a good thing.(:

[@sunnyday1639]

You could string incandescent christmas lights inside the greenhouse to give off heat. Also could add frost cloths or sheets for more cold sensitive trees/plants. Maybe a second layer of 6 mil greenhouse plastic but you would need to make sure to vent during the day so it will not get too hot in there.

[@sweethomealabamahomestead4504]

Thanks for the info. All of the plant in here are some what cold hardy to start with, except the passion vine so I was going to try and keep it alive.

[@farleyschmackums]

I tried the ceramic pot candle thing but with a massive crisco candle. I have a tiny, one cattle panel hoop house. It didn’t generate any extra heat. But I did heap up mushroom compost on either side of the greenhouse and that seems to keep it relatively warmer at night.

[@sweethomealabamahomestead4504]

I saw a lot of people doing the compost with pipe running through it with a fan, but i think you would need a big pile of compost(:

[@farleyschmackums]

@ I agree, a lot of compost is needed for such a large space. It’s really difficult trying to figure out how to manage a proper greenhouse temp without much input. Have you ever read about the Soviet citrologists? They had all of these techniques for growing citrus in their harsh environment. In my own observations, growing in an understory gives citrus a great advantage. I had about 15 or so meyers and calamondins in ground that were very well established before a 16 degree freeze. All of the ones out in the open died to the ground but the ones under the oaks didn’t lose branches or anything. I thought that was pretty interesting! This article is on the Soviet citrologists methods, really neat info, might be fun to experiment with some of these techniques. Obviously some of the methods require more work than I’d like to input lol but maybe they could be incorporated in a miniature fashion for experimentation. I definitely want to try! solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2020/04/fruit-trenches-cultivating-subtropical-plants-in-freezing-temperatures

[@farleyschmackums]

And I really appreciate all of your updates! For being in a zone 7, it takes a lot of effort to grow citrus. I think you’re going to have so much to offer with your experiences and I can’t wait to see what the future holds!

[@Offgridlee444]

Hi, new subscriber here! Great tour!

[@sweethomealabamahomestead4504]

Welcome and thanks!

[@Offgridlee444]

@ Yw! 😊

[@doggiefamily908]

Thank you for the tour. Where did you get your barrels from? I'm looking for a cheap source of large, black barrels. I got two smaller greenhouses. One is 10 by 10, the other 10 by 7. The bigger one has all the cold hardy trees, satsumas, kumquats, thomasville, etc. The smaller is for lemon, lime, pineapple, banana and passion vines. I have small electric heaters in both, but try to keep only the smaller one from freezing. The other one, I will turn the heater on only if it drops below 25 . You could possibly put all your frost sensitive plants in one end, and only protect these from freezing.

[@sweethomealabamahomestead4504]

I got them off of Craigslist from a guy selling them on there. The good thing about your big one is all those can handle a little cold. My passion vines is taking over mine.(: Most of my stuff and handle down to 20F, but if we go to 0F like we did last year it will be hard to keep it that hot.

[@kathleenebsen2659]

Yuzu should be fine. Cold hardy to 0*F. It becomes the 007 James Bond strategy of Live and Let Die. You try out different plants and Nature sorts out the ones that can adapt to your conditions. Don’t get discouraged. 😊

[@sweethomealabamahomestead4504]

I'm going to try Yuzu out side to but I don't think it will make it through 0F.

[@ross2398]

Bury the greenhouse more!

[@sweethomealabamahomestead4504]

I heard that if you dig down it will put more heat out.

[@ross2398]

@ it’s all about minimizing the amount of actual “glass/plastic” surface area.

[@nashyielding971]

I understand trying to do everything as cheaply as possible. But your hoop house is doomed if there's much of a storm. Those small tubes just don't have the strength needed to resist severe gusts. You can find various videos of people learning the hard way what happens to flimsy, rigged greenhouses in severe weather.

[@sweethomealabamahomestead4504]

It has done great so far with 30 mph gust, the plastic helps it hold together as well. I'll keep you up to date if it blows away.(: