Steve, I have not moved my trees indoors yet, the sunroom is the space where they will go.

If you know you are going to stay at a fine piece of realestate a big greenhouse is the ticket. You have to know a lot about it.Heating/cooling, ventilation, homemade in my case or traditional ones, quality, strong winds, hail damaged and a few others, like a wood stove in case of power failures. Lastly, age. In my case, I still managed to do thing that are very challenging to say the least but not for long.

I have a good forum friend that has a large greenhouse, winter of 2017 or 18, his heater went out, it wiped out a lot of his fruit bearing trees. Problem: a little switch, 18 bucks plus labor.

Steve, thank you for this post! We are hoping to either buy or build one in the near future, just trying to figure out if we’re going to buy land or stay where we are.

Kelley, I hope you do buy the land and move, good luck and please let us know.

Sunshine, I can't wait to see your set up again.

Steve, although yours may not be a true greenhouse, huge even, your imagination allows you to build one similar with a slight cost if at all. You are smart, savy, creative and helpful. Thank you.

Bob, that is great advice. I too had a friend loose everything when he went on vacation. He even lost is prized chameleon and many lizards. I felt so bad for him. BUt believe it or not, many of his plants came back again during the summer because the roots didn't die, thank God.

Mines is getting full now. Once I get some extra money soon, I might go bigger. I'm tired of small spaces.

Hi everyone!

I was busy trying to install my solar pool cover on my greenhouse today. Here is what is look like during our attempt:

Thank you so much Mike for your suggestion about the solar pool cover. Usually, my greenhouse has the same temperature than outdoor during the nigh. Tonight, I see that my greenhouse is warmer than outside by 6 degree. I think that it could be warmer if we closed the door sooner!

Bob, my god! My worst nightmare is the waken up one day and lose everything in my greenhouse!

Amy, there are thousands of successful greenhouses growers with no big problems, small things could be your only things to worry about. What could go wrong with your setup, nothing, dear!

Actually in Montreal, 100s of things can go wrong, and some of them will. First in importance, the greenhouse needs two methods of heating. One to heat the greenhouse during Montreal's winter, and a second one to back up the main heater. Many growers have a main heater system, backed up by two additional backups. The greenhouse should most certainly have an alarm system that alerts Amy in her home when their is a temperature emergency.. Every greenhouse should have a covering that can withstand up to 100 MPH winds, even if they never come. I could go on and on with additional cautions.

Jodi, small greenhouses don’t need a elaborate system, alarm is cheap, heaters are also cheap, I don’t see much more. T5 lights would be better than led shop lights. They give some heat, a little better than led’s.

Bob, all greenhouses, large or small, need the protections I outlined. Especially in areas such as Canada, or take the risk of dead trees. It is up to Amy whether she wants to take the required precautions to insure the safety her collection. Heat failure will surely come when relaying on a single heater. Its only a matter of time.

There are a lot of people that grow plants in places like mine and others for years, using just a little common sense, just a little. It’s not a big deal to be successful, Brian could chime in, he has the answer. You have to try it and see how this will take you.

Buying a greenhouse is a decent layout,the rest is with the help of you and us a green signal, You go Amy.

Amy, you might not be well aware of the benefits it give you, health wise, to engage in this , doing what you like to do. We all support you.

Houzz has a post that reads, “Built a greenhouse in the shade” an interesting article building a none traditional greenhouse. I like it, it’s something I could built Myself.

Thanks Bob and Jodi for your inputs! I have been growing citrus for years but with my new greenhouse I feel like a toddler again because there so much to learn.

I am kind of paranoid with everything so I have install a probe with an alert. I have two electric heaters and I plan to buy a propane heater this winter in case we have a power failure. Now, I am dealing with excessive humidity in my greenhouse and I am not sure what to do. I already have a fan but I am not sure if I should install a dehumidifier.

Bob, thank you so much for your support! It’s true that having a greenhouse makes this hobby much easier. Without my greenhouse, my trees must be tucked in my basement and I will be dealing with some leaves and fruits drop by now.

Installed 4 layers of glass on east wall. looking east through GH

looking west at New Zealand lemonade enclosure

Start of Seed grown Fukushu kumquat enclosure.

7 foot tree is entering 4th winter in ground outside.

Growth spurt that pushes it from 6 feet to 7 feet

Steve

Hey guys, haven't started to bring anything in yet, another week or so. There is LOTS of re arranging to do. The GH does have things in it, in ground trees and such. Still lots to put in.

Amy will you not be heating it? I know it's still very early but what about Nov-Dec?

Steve, looking GOOD buddy!! Can you come to my place and do that for me? Ha. Nice job

Amy, until it get really cold, you can always fold back the front of that draped pool cover to making getting in easily accessible. Then once the very cold air starts to move in, drape it back over the front and fold it like a gioft wrap and use bungie cords to keep it closed until you have to get in and help keep the coldd out))

Matt, I already have to turn my heater on during the night in the greenhouse! How are your trees doing?

Thank you Mike for the tips! My husband did something like that last week and I try to post the pictures but I can’t seem to post any picture. It’s really annoying! Grrrrr......

Oh nooo Amy really that cold already.. hopefully it warms back up at least at night for ya :( Almost a month away so it was a great feeling coming home to most all of the citrus blooming. The in ground ponderosa lemon is doing great. Meyer is doing better now then it did all year. The weather is still nice here 16-18 during the day. running anywhere from 4-8 degrees at night for a few more days. Nothing has been put in the GH yet. Making room for everything this weekend.

I know stupid houzz, can't post pics either while others can....

I just posted a pick of a mock orange blooms. I do t get why you guys can’t. I hate not seeing your pictures.

Fukushu kumquat housing near done.

3 more windows added today to NZL house

Meiwa kumquat house.

Steve

Is that a plumeria I see in there ?? Some figs too ? Citrus too ? A chair and bar too ? Ha. Love it. Hope you are doing well my friend. It looks so cozy and warm. I know where you will be spending your winter. What a great set up. Fan cover and all. Nice !! Even shelves ? Wow. All you need are a few fragrant orchids!!
Mike )

Steve looking real nice !!

Here's a peak inside!

Matt, very nice. Don't forget to leave a space for you to sit back and relax unless you'd prefer to put another tree. ha

Steve, Matt! Well done! You two are so ressourceful! How do you guys water your plant during winter? Do you have a hose or you have to bring a watering can from your hose?

Mike, you have very good eyes. Yes, I have a plumeria loll. It was a gift from my sister in law. I just love the fragant of this tree!

my orchids are also in the greenhouse but you can‘t see them from this angle. I will try to take another picture tomorro. No bench for me loll I just one of those person that prefer to have another tree lollll... don’t laught! The true is that I love to look and examine my trees to see if they are alright so I don’t really need to sit loll

Mike you are so right. I will move things around and have a chair in there in about a month. There is nothing more rewarding then to be sitting in there in a snowstorm while it's 70F inside.

Amy in the snowy part of winter I'll fill jugs and bring them out. I try to use the hose until a hard freeze. Things start to take longer to dry out Dec-Jan.

I hope everyones is ready! The first real "cold" hits tonight. -10c feeling like -15. Which is no where near normal temps here. Should be 5-7C this time of year. I just went out and got another heater. Now I have two, to be safe.

Heater for my valentine pomelo failed and was off for 35+ houres through a temperature drop to 17F. No damage though

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Heater failed on my Fukushu kumquat to and it survived with no damage. Tonight/tomorrow 12F predicted.

Steve

Steve you must of insulated those trees well. Thank god they survived. Good job buddy

More insulation near tree's base

Hey guys! How are your greenhouse temps? Today around 9am it was 22F outside and 52 in the greenhouse.

Pocirus, your set-up fascinates me. Is this a temporary thing that you do every year?

Every year requires a different setup to enclose the trees.

Steve

Vaporvac

Where are you in the Ohio River valley. Z6 stretches almost 1000 miles.

Steve

Cincinnati.

Vaporvac

Do you grow citrus trees and /or do any citrus grafting. I have grafted 3 citrus trees of my own. All 3 of them are inside though.

Steve

No, unfortunately. I'm just getting into figs via the generosity of a forum friend in Dayton. I'm mainly Old roses and trying to learn grafting for them, but hope to learn for some fruit trees. Where are you? I never considered building a temporary housing, but like the idea. I has many advantages especially if one could keep make it interlocking or part of it permanent. I have something similar on my front vestibule.

I am on the west side of the mount airy forest branch of the mill creek just south of I-74.

Pear trees; Callery pear rootstock works great for fruiting pear scions These are the weed pear seedlings coming up all over the place from mutated Bradford pear seeds.

Steve

Hope you kind and generous folk still want to talk greenhouses. I am in N Cal, in a sort of Bay Area, but more like Central Valley California climate, and about to buy a Sunglo lean-to. Of course I don't NEED it, but I WANT it, so I'm following greenhouse threads with interest, and would love some feedback.

Where will it be going. Which model. At usda 9 you won't need anything fancy. Pictures of where its going.

Steve

This is the site. I've been making do with a sort of PVC low tunnel, covered with shadecloth in the summer, and frost blankets in the winter. I am hoping for a Sunglo model 1700 e lean-to greenhouse attached to my garage. The ground slopes up slightly, and I would need a foundation, and maybe a kneewall.

Here is a link to their website http://www.sunglogreenhouses.com/

and an installation video https://youtu.be/MpaABLAkC9k