Greenhouse in Melbourne for Subtropicals over winter (forum)

J starts with ...
I'm looking to extend the growing period of some subtropical trees in pots I have here (cherimoya, Lucumo, white sapote etc) and I was wondering if putting these in a greenhouse/hot house would be a good way of continuing growth during the melbourne winter. What do you guys think? Will it work? What kind of greenhouse or hothouse do I need (I don't know if there's difference between the two). And can anyone make some recommendations on brands and so forth if it is worth my while? I'm eyeballing this one http://cgi.ebay.com.au/3-5x2x2M-LARGE-Greenhouse-Garden-Hot-Green-House-NEW-/190346285292?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_15&hash=item2c5185d0ec
Any recommendations or thoughts on this matter?

Time: 22nd February 2011 8:37pm

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About the Author J
Upwey, Victoria
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Jantina says...
Hi J, hubby glassed in a north facing corner for me, it's unheated except for when the hot water that goes thru my wood stove gets too hot and I run it thru a panel in there to cool it off. Effectively that leaves it unheated 95% of the time and my mango in a pot in there is happy all winter, along with some bananas, a bunchiosa, 3 miracle plants etc. It has dark tiles on the floor and the two stone walls of the house are painted black to be heat sinks which would probably make it more temperature stable than a plastic poly house. Is that back verandah of yours north facing? how about glassing in a small section of that?

Time: 22nd February 2011 9:35pm

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About the Author Jantina
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J says...
Hi jantina,
thanks for the reply. I should have made it clear, I didn't want to erect or do anything permanent. I wanted to set up a temporary greenhouse (hence the ebay link) that could be dismantled during spring and rebuilt again every autumn (if need be). I was wondering if one of this temp greenhouses would do the job to extend the growing period, and if so whats the best kind/brand to get.
But still I do have a question about your setup: Does your glass house just protect the subtropicals over winter or did it encourage growth?

Time: 22nd February 2011 9:45pm

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Upwey, Victoria
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Jason says...
J, I had a cheap greenhouse last Winter and it worked awesome, I was able to get temps above 25c pretty much every day of the year and even though the days were very short everything kept growing at a mild sort of rate. I had the centre of it full of rubbish bins full of water and that was enough for bananas to survive undamaged in there all Winter even if outside the poly house was below 0c. Any of those cheap Chinese greenhouses will last one year but the plastic on mine fell to bits this last Spring, I think I'm going to re-cover it with better plastic for next year since the frame still has a few years left in it. It was warm enough to germinate seeds all Winter too

Time: 22nd February 2011 10:04pm

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Original Post was last edited: 22nd February 2011 10:05pm

About the Author Jason
Portland
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J says...
Thanks Jason! Do you think the green house found here: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/3-5x2x2M-LARGE-Greenhouse-Garden-Hot-Green-House-NEW-/190346285292?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_15&hash=item2c5185d0ec

Would do the job? or any other places online (or brands) that you would recommend?

Time: 22nd February 2011 10:17pm

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Original Post was last edited: 22nd February 2011 10:39pm

About the Author J
Upwey, Victoria
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Jantina says...
It definitely encouraged growth but nothing like summer growth, the mango flowers in there in the winter.

Time: 22nd February 2011 11:36pm

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J says...
Jason & Jantina & everyone else, I ended up picking up a green house for about 80$ on ebay. I just had a question about these plastic green houses (mines nicely set up now), I noticed it gets quite humid in this green house, and there's some condensation at the on rhe roof as well. Is this normal? My concern is with all the humidity & moisture, stuff like my cherimoya and avocado which deal badly with root rot might not like it in there. Also I have put the green house near a wall so it gets a little bit of protection from the wind, however this is not the sunniest spot in the garden during winter.. will this be problem? Not that I get much sun during winter but will the plants in there still be able to grow without any direct sunlight on the spot where the greenhouse is located? Any thoughts?

Time: 25th April 2011 8:09pm

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Jason says...
I had mine in pretty much full sun apart from the late afternoon and morning. Have you see evidence of root rot on Avocados in Victoria?, I don't believe root rot exists in our climate. The tropical people seem to have endless problems with it but well sucks to be them in this case :)>?.

So long as you keep can get the temps up to 25c during the day and keep it as warm as possible during the night the amount of sunlight wont matter too much I don't think. Try and either keep it really full or put some stuff full of water or bricks or etc, anything to hold the heat into it once the sun is down



Time: 25th April 2011 8:47pm

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About the Author Jason
Portland
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