Welcome to the forum Shelly!

Teresa

Just what are you looking for in seeds? If you aren't looking for streaked ones then why don't you give me a shout. My e-mail address is: ladytea1941@aol.com.

Connie

smorzz, a good fairy tale story with a fairy tale ending - it put a smile on my face for a monday morning. thanks for writing!

Think long and hard about a greenhouse, hobby greenhouses are almost worthless.

Don't over complicate the indoor light growing process and be careful for fungal problems, which are easily reduced by a small fan on your plants.

Hostaholic; obsessive/compulsive given to unreasonable fits of euphoria and unjustified periods of depression.

Euphoria; when you see the picture and order a new one.
Depression; when your credit card bill comes due and you can't make the minimal payment.

>Think long and hard about a greenhouse, hobby greenhouses are almost worthless.

HUH???? I love my hobby greenhouse! At 16x20 it's just right for my one-person operation. I have heat (gas and wood stove), water, electricity, and phone out there. I winter over all sorts of plants, have flowers blooming all year and start gobs of seeds in there.

The only real drawback is summer, when it's too hot to work in there (but the wasps love to build their nests wherever they can).

Indyrose

Thanks for the welcome everyone! Seems kinda cute as I been lurking here for months.

Connie, I will email you... thanks!

EO- Thanks for the input. Not having a fan may have been my issues with some of my tomato plants last spring, as that is when my basement tends to feel damp. That was the whole intent with the greenhouse. I thought it would be a good springtime transition place for veggies/hostas from the house to the garden... as I can get frost til the end of May around here. *ponders*

" That was the whole intent with the greenhouse. I thought it would be a good springtime transition place for veggies/hostas from the house to the garden... as I can get frost til the end of May around here. *ponders*"
Smorz

The problem with small greenhouses is controlling the heat, the spring sun can run the temp of a greenhouse up very very quickly and the small area is very hard to control. Even the ones attached to the house can be difficult to impossible to moderate, they are cute but worthless. It is a little like a car in the sun, the temp goes up so fast that even massive cooling systems would have a hard time keeping up.

Welcome Smors; You have come to the right place, we understand the hosta addiction here. I myself am in my 2nd year of the illness. I agree w/ you this is a fun & interesting forum,I joined this past spring & find great info along w/ the laughs. Nice plant choices for your starter plants.Everyone here will help to enable you to reach all the levels,& if you get to feeling guilty over things just do as I do...Think wow others have thousands of hostas , I guess I don't have the full blown illness yet! Good luck w/ the seed growing its a good way to make it through the winter when we are not drooling over the new catalogs , planing new gardens & making wish lists! ~Dot

Congrats on your addiction.
You have come to the right spot...we are enablers. lol

Go for the greenhouse...they do come with vents and fans and are fun.

Hi Smorz, where in Wisconsin are you? I live in the Fox River Valley...and I am always looking for someone to "plant shop" with if you are close by. E-mail me, my address is riley3945@athenet.net.
Vicki

I have a sister who lives in NJ who I have tried to get hooked on hosta. After telling my wife that NJ climate is much better for hosta than Alabama, my wife asked if I had thought about moving farther north. Funny thing is the thought has crossed my mind! Now that is hooked.

Yes jbranch , NJ is a nice place to grow hosta . I am in the area called the NJ pines. Most years we have plenty of summer rain,this year I have had to water my plants because we have had a dry summer. I have only one of close to a hundred hostas showing leaf burn and decline. A first year H.Pizazz, poor thing looks sad. Everything else is pristine in October....this has been an extra long summer though. Many folks dislike NJ, but I think the country side is beautiful. Just like anywhere in the world there nice places & some not so nice. I have been here 20 yrs & hope to stay. If you plan to move to NJ , check into the property taxes & insurance costs first, they may be higher than what you are used to in Alabama. For myself, I prefer to pay a bit more , because I like it here. Good luck in your choices ~ Dot

>The problem with small greenhouses is controlling the heat, the spring sun can run the temp of a greenhouse up very very quickly and the small area is very hard to control.

My greenhouse has temp controlled vents that open/close at certain temperatures, manual windows and a screen door for summer. Works just fine. I also have cold frames that open/close with hydraulic pistons that are temperature sensitive. That works fine, too. Years of use tells me so. I would be devastated if anything happened to my greenhouse.

Indyrose

welcome

admitting you have a problem.. is the first step in enabling your problem .... lol

could be a lot worse... have fun ...

ken

"My greenhouse has temp controlled vents that open/close at certain temperatures, manual windows and a screen door for summer. Works just fine. I also have cold frames that open/close with hydraulic pistons that are temperature sensitive. That works fine, too. Years of use tells me so. I would be devastated if anything happened to my greenhouse."

Indyrose

Indy, 16X20 is not so small, it may be a hobby house for you but a lot of production could go through that space. My cautions still stand but if she looks into it carefully and doesn't undersize then I wouldn't expect more problems than any professional grower would have.

Even a tiny gh could be fun and hard at the same time, any problem can be overcome, I hoped to help avoid a disappointment.

Indy,
I suspected it and here it is: computer controlled greenhouse.
Manfred

Here is a link that might be useful: GH with computer control

Modern digital controls could control a greenhouse well I'm sure, the controls indicated did not control for high humidity. High humidity AND high heat are the bane of hosta, although I would not recommend hosta in a greenhouse during summer heat anyway. Cooling a greenhouse and removing and lowering humidity is something like an air conditioner which is very expensive for a structure that doesn't enjoy the insulation that can be in a building.

This is not to argue against a greenhouse just to point out some of the factors to be considered. The value of a greenhouse for the hosta grower is a big cold frame to start a little early and protect during spring frost and freeze.

Welcome!

Manfred,

I expected as much. My husband, the computer-geek, control-freak has been talking about doing that for my greenhouse for a long time. But unfortunately, other projects of higher priority keep popping up before he can finish any plans.

EO is quite right about greenhouses not being of much value for hosta alone -- but I do a gazzillion other plants, too. One of my biggest frustrations is that "one temp fits all" does not apply to plants. I can't simultaneously have a warm and cool greenhouse.

Maybe two greenhouses? No... my husband would flip!

Indyrose

Indy, you can manipulate many of the variables with shade, fan, mist, etc in micro areas. You will also find that certain plants will not grow with other plants or the conditions for one will not suit the other.

I had a production gh growing mostly African violets and other tender plants but for the fun of it we grew a number of other plants. I may be able to help with some; the other thing is go to special forums per plant.

A couple of things, a plant that needs cool roots will do better in deep pots. Violets for example could take the heat but not the sun so we had them on tables with shade cloth over them. They also need constant moisture and a lot of air in the root mass so we manipulated the media and kept them in water constantly, in fact I sold the media all over the country to African Violet collectors.

The bottom line is a mixed greenhouse will have to manipulated per plant or find plants that will fit one condition more or less.

If you want to talk about plants other than hosta email me esther_opal@yahoo.com.

Well... I won my first seeds from Rainbows End. What good deals to be had! Cannot wait to see what comes of them. They are from Chifru Obra and from what I have read, can be a good producer. I just wanted to have a known parent instead of a mix, don't ask me why, I am funny sometimes.

We reconsidered the position of the greenhouse. It was originally going to be in full spring sun, but now it will only get sun til about noonish or so. It will have exhaust, electric, and water, and most importantly we can move it (with great effort) if we need to adjust (if my calculations are too far off). That should make my veggies happy... and a coldframe is easy enough to suit the purpose for the hosta.
We just do not have enough summer here in my opinion.

Thank you again for the warm welcome and input. I am a very frugal person when it comes to spending on myself, but, hosats are for the house appeal... not me. How is that for being an enabler??

By the way, EO, one of my favorite posts was the one you wrote about Herb Benedict digging up that DB for you. It was very touching and heartfelt. It is the first result given for Dorothy Benedict when I Googled it for more info.

Hi Shelly, Welcome! Honestly the word "confession" reminds me of my early Catholic days. "Forgive me father for I have sinned"....I bought WAY to many hosta! It's been 2 days since my last shopping spree. I stole change from the desk drawer, Lied that I was at the grocery store and was really at the nursery. For the following sins, I'm truely sorry. That's the beauty of christians. They're not perfect, just forgiven....till the next time I try to hide my hosta habit. Later, Love, Lisa

My whole faith is based on "grace" which is at the base of forgiveness. I suggest that we must forgive others of course but I further feel that if we can be forgiven then we need to forgive ourselves as well.

Now, I'll pass the plate. We accept hosta here if your short on cash..

Herb the best of all hosta people was so completely generous with me that I feel I have to be generous with my experience regardless of whether some agree with my understanding of hosta horticulture or not. If it is imperfect, forgive me. This is so mushy I may have to throw up as soon as they come to change my depends.

smorz

Since you really want one look into them and study, greenhouse theory is well studied and understood. Talk to the manufacturers, they will tell you what you need to know.

When you decide on the style get back to me I have a semi free heating system and heat is the expense of a greenhouse.

I don't wish to turn this into a religious thread, but let's all keep in mind that all the commandments from all Christian religions can be summarized in one phrase:

Do unto others as you'd have done to you.

All other 'commandments' flow from this, just stop and think about this. If you feel you can/will be forgiven for playing loose and fancy free with the truth and your actions, you are saying you expect others to do the same to you. You lead by example and if you expect others to be truthful to you, you should look in the mirror first. If you expect to be forgiven, you expect to be cheated and lied to. I don't know about you, but I prefer to look at myself in the mirror and take someone at face value. If you do as you'd have done to you there is never need to ask for forgiveness.

peitertje, well said, but it all becomes a bit more nuanced for me since I ain't Jesus.

If we could live up to all the rules forgiveness would never have found its way into the language.

Butch, I think you missed the point. There is only ONE rule: do unto others as you'd have done to you. It is the ONLY rule. BTW, FYI, I prefer to think of myself as an atheist.

I know we have gotten off the topic here (maybe because I used "My Confession" as the title, lol) but I had to share. I totally live by the do unto others rule myself, and tended to hold a grudge and be unforgiving when I felt a serious unjust has been done, anyways...
I was at church years ago at a usually boring and lengthly sermon about forgiveness and the pastor closed by saying, "Yes, God says we must forgive a man if he were to burn down our garage, say out of jealousy, or for whatever reason. But nowhere does He say we should go get a can of gasoline and a match and invite him to come do it again." Well it caught me so off guard and his mannerisms were so extravagant, as he was talking, I snickered out loud. Of course everyone looked at me, and then started laughing too (to my relief).
Maybe it is one of those things that you had to be there to appreciate it, but it has helped me learn what forgiveness really means.

There is only ONE rule: do unto others as you'd have done to you. It is the ONLY rule. BTW, FYI, I prefer to think of myself as an atheist.
Pieterje

The problem with applying the "ONE rule" is I am deciding how to apply the rule assuming "I" know what the other person wants or needs. AND "I" know exactly how and when to apply the rule.

Similar to the statement; "I'm just telling the truth". Can "I" know enough to know the complete "truth"? "I" can tell my truth as I understand it or apply "my" rules as "I" understand them to be "the rules".

I to am an atheist when I am convinced "I" know and a believer in a higher power when "I" don't.