imdocrob

Hi everybody, I was just wondering if anyone has any information on where to find a good greenhouse to keep my nanners in during the winter. I am in Oregon and would like to keep them going all winter. If anyone out there has a greenhouse could they give me some info. on where they got theirs and what other equipment they use ie: fans, heaters etc..? Thanks for your help.

mikevan

I use cattle-panels to build a DIY hoop-house that's 9' wide and 6' tall and as long as I want in 52" incriments. It worked great:
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showp...o=956&size=big
Yes, there is a little nanner peeking from out the end. It was quick, cheap and no plans were necessary - simply zip-tie cattle-panels together to form a tunnel of hoops and cover with plastic. Keep the short wires on the underside, long wires on top so the ends of the short wires don't gouge the poly. Mine was single-layer poly, tho it pushed the limits of my plants a bit sometimes. I had the nanner, plus chocolate, coffee, vanilla, taro, lemongrass, cashew, etc sequestered inside. The heat went out at least once on a 20F night and the plants suffered only minimal damage.

I currently have a pit 8' deep, 12' wide and 45' long that I'm turning into a walipini greenhouse, but this winter I'll just do another cattle-panel hoophouse tho I'll use dual-layer poly seperated by water-hose for greater insulation, and plywood ends - a little less adhoc. I tear down the hoophouse in the Spring - so it's really a temporary greenhouse for me. Tho, you can make it into a more permanant greenhouse with better quality poly and wire rather than zip-ties...

Have fun,
Mike

imdocrob

Wow thats pretty impressive. I don't have that kind of room though. But the idea seems to work. How did u heat it during the winter months? Also did u use a humidifier? Thanks again for the help.
Rob

Steve L

I've got a Juliana greenhouse. I lost my old glass one to Hurricane Rita last Sept. I already had natural gas heat and assembled the Juliana one over the same area as the old one. It's a 10 x 14 x 8 with 4 ceiling windows and double doors. The manufacturer is Swedish so the instructions were a bit of a challenge in the translation to Engish but the pictures are excellent. Best greenhouse for the money in my opinion.

I use it only for overwintering container plants; mostly heliconia, tender gingers, and orchids. Fortunately, my bananas survive in the ground here in Lake Charles, LA. But if you are container growing the bananas, the ceiling only is 8 feet high and the side wall is about 6 feet high so that might pose a problem for a mature specimen.

I definitely need fans to circulate the air here because of spider mite problems brought on by the dry warm conditions. I added a soaker hose on a timer last winter for humidity and it worked very well. Kept the mite problem to a minimum. It was a lot cheaper than a greenhouse humidifier.

Steve

mikevan

It can be as short as you want it to be. 9' wide and 6' tall and 52" long hoops placed end to end. You can put a couple of cattle-panels together to form a 9x9' greenhouse, basically.

I used the basic grey metal 1500 watt utility heater you find at any hardware store. I didn't try to keep it warm in there - just acceptably above freezing. I also grouped my plants and kept them warm rather than tried to make the whole interior warm. Smaller greenhouse and dual covering means more efficient heating capability. Beware tho - and this goes for any greenhouse - when the sun comes out, it heats up *FAST*! Without venting, it can easily get to 120F in minutes! My vents were on the ends. I just folded the plastic back. This time around I'll be a little more sophisticated and use hinged vents on the plywood ends. Two sheets of plywood side-by-side covers the end - with the trimmings placed beside them to make up the extra foot of difference. Then you can cut a door and vents and hinge them and either operate the vents manually or install those greenhouse vent openers. Put vents on either side. One low and one high also works well - cold air coming in thru the low and hot air rising thru the high would help keep a constant flow. An exhaust fan would help too on windless days. At night, close it up and set your heater to freeze-guard and be happy. I have a wireless thermometer so I can monitor the temps at any given moment plus track high and low temps too. Put your containers close together. You can even pour sand between them as well to limit a draft amongst the pots and chilling the roots. The poly will rain - get ready for wet hair when you're in there. A double-layer won't have so much of a problem. Put an umbrella above your heater too.

And being out there in the rain is an adventure! The sound is deafening!

Have fun,
Mike

mikevan

Oh - and I put pipe-insulation on the ends to keep the plastic from chafing. This time I may even take a split water-hose and work it into the seems so the plastic will sit on the water-hose and not the wire-ends that don't always perfectly evenly match. Since I'll be using plywood ends, I'll staple the panel hoops to the plywood, then cut the plywood to match the hoop round with just a little lip and put the pipe-insulation on that. Then the plastic will wrap over that, and I can take a water-hose to wrap the plastic ends around and attach that to the plywood by those hose-retainer thingies you find at the average hardware store. That way the plastic is easy to remove. To keep tears in the plastic from getting too big - if you use the cheap hardware-store poly - you can apply strips of duct tape to the plastic in a wide grid - that way if the plastic in one grid tears with the wind, the duct-tape will stop the tear.

Have fun,
Mike

JoeS475

I got some excellent greenhouse advice in this thread:

Indoor Grow Lights

Not sure yet if I'm gonna do the greenhouse or the grow lights...

~Joe

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johndeltav

Hi imdocrob,Every fall I put up a temporary greenhouse.I use pvc pipe and plastic sheet that is 40' long 9' high and 12' wide.I reuse the pvc pipe and buy new sheeting each year.The greenhouse runs the length of the back of my house.The sun heats up the brick and concrete slab which helps heat up the area at night. pictures below.john



http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v4...Anch=imgAnch32



http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v4...Anch=imgAnch31

momoese

I'll bet that helps keep you're home heating bills down too!

johndeltav

Hi Mitchel,It does help heat the house.I can open two windows and the back door when the sun is shinning.It get up to 90 + degrees in the greenhouse if I don't vent the air outside or into the house.john

PaulOdin

Mike, how long a section of wire does it take to make a 6' x 9' arch? About 18 feet? I like your design and plan to make a smaller copy around November, maybe 6' x 9' x 12ish'. It almost seems like it should be longer, just to use up a 100' roll...

Paul

mikevan

The cattle-panels that I use (don't use hog-panels or concrete wire-mesh - the cattle-panel's wires are thick and very sturdy and can stand up to wind better) - are 16' long by 52" wide. When you curve that into a hoop that's 9' wide, you'll have a 6' tall hoop. You can mate several of these together - as long of a greenhouse as you want - tho if you get too long venting becomes a bit more of a challenge. Mine was something like 33' long and my next one will be about 21.5' long. Build yourself a base-frame out of 2x4's and be sure to anchor it to the ground securely. If your area is wet, you should probably put it on a gravel bed so moisture doesn't collect under the 2x4's. I then take numerous nails and nail along the top-side. Then I set one end of the panel against the nails on one side, then curve it and set the other end on the nails on the other side, then I bend the nails over it. That's my 1-person method - I do this all solo. I put the next panel on the same way, then use zip-ties to secure them together. At 52" incriments, you can use 3 panels to make a 13' long hoop-house. At around $17 each, that's a bargain! And when you curve it - do it so the short 52" wires are on the bottom so their ends don't chafe on the poly.

Have fun,
Mike

PaulOdin

The part I like best is...cheap! But I like the whole design- flexible size, storable frame, did I mention cheap?
In central Florida I should only need it for a few months, but after this last spring I may want to keep it up to provide humidity for some plants. We had a draught from February through June this year in "semi-tropical" Florida. Now that the wet season is here I'm still watering about once a week. A few more signs of global warming, and I'm buying land a bit higher above sea level, in tropical Tennessee!

mikevan

Here in north central Texas, I errect the greenhouse at the end of October and only close it occasionally at night until near the end of December - and even then it'll spend more time open than closed until early March where it'll remain open for the most part until April and I tear it down again. Hopefully next season I'll get my larger nanners in the ground and will work on protecting them where they grow from then on...

Be well,
Mike

johndeltav

Hi Mike,I moved all my dwarf bananas (Texas star,Calif. Gold,Cavendish etc.) in the area the temporary greenhouse covers to give them a better chance to get ripe fruit.In the past I have used cheep door openers that open when the temp reaches a preset temp.I live in Denton where our winter must be a little colder than yours. john

mikevan

Egads! I grew up in Denton! Small world. Yeah - you're in Zone 7 and I'm a little south of you in Zone 8 - tho the way things are going, we'll be in Zone 9 before long.

I'll probably put a green-house vent opener on my vents this winter too - it was a pain getting out there every morning to open things up then every evening to close it up again...

Never heard of Texas Star - what kinda nanner is that? I may have to beg a pup.

Be well,
Mike

johndeltav

Hi Mike, Texas Star is said to be cold hardy.I haven't found any that don't freeze to the ground here in Denton.I've lived here since 1965.I went to Denton high and UNT.When were you here?john

JoeReal

Beware of TyTy or Aaron!

I bought Texas Star which is touted to survive 0 deg F. I received the rotten corms, but managed to revive it in my Lazarus Chamber, then planted it, grew to about 4 ft. I leave it outside for the winte last year, it died down to the pot level. It never returned. We are in zone 9, and our lows at that time was only 24 deg F!

mikevan

Heh - after the Garden WatchDog debacle around TyTy's removing their entry from there (what did they have to hide?) and the deplorable BBB record on them, I'd as soon ride down a slide covered with broken glass bare-back as do business with them. So, now we have two people that refute their claims about Texas Star. Poor nanner. That's kinda bad, methinks... What are the chances that it's just a dwarf cavendish or something?

I've had very good luck with the likes of Wellspring Gardens tho. As well as sharing and people like Mitchel. Gonna try AandB Tropicals soon and perhaps Going Bananas...

John, I went to Denton High there too, and took some courses at UNT since it seemed to be a family tradition. Got a degree from an art school in Phoenix, tho... I live in Comanche now - a tiny spot in the middle of "Over Yonder". It's drier than Mars here these past couple of years, tho the heat is definitely not a "dry heat" - egads. But, my nanners seem to like it. Before long I'll have that tropical jungle here that I've always wanted. Lotsa nanners, figs, tall bamboo, etc...

Be well,
Mike

garnetmoth

what?! no TyTy? the hott fotoshopped Aberzombie like boys (and occasional girls) dont give it away?