# GreenHouse Plants Starting to Bloom



## Meerkat (May 31, 2011)

Don't know if they wil produce or not. This is basically an experiment.We do have little figs on the container fig tree though.
Tomatos,winter squash and peppers are all blooming .


----------



## 1969cj-5 (Sep 14, 2011)

I can not wait to get home and build my greenhouse!


----------



## Meerkat (May 31, 2011)

1969cj-5 said:


> I can not wait to get home and build my greenhouse!


 Happy trails to you,where ever you are. Ours is a lean to close to the house .
Soon as we learn I'll pass it on to you.


----------



## 1969cj-5 (Sep 14, 2011)

Meerkat said:


> Happy trails to you,*where ever you are*. Ours is a lean to close to the house .
> Soon as we learn I'll pass it on to you.


I am still in Southwest Asia. I will be home by Christmas though.


----------



## Meerkat (May 31, 2011)

1969cj-5 said:


> I am still in Southwest Asia. I will be home by Christmas though.


 My son just left there .I always tell him to fly safe and he just laughs and says he will do what he can. Those flights are 15 hours long.


----------



## Meerkat (May 31, 2011)

So far not so good .Lots of blooms but no fruit except a couple of tomatos and some small pea size bell peppers are forming .Herbs are doing great though.
The heat will be a problem even here in the south,one day its 80 nd the next its freezing.
This is just an experiment so I'm not really disappointed.I can still plant lots of seedlings for spring in the lean to in February and March.On seedlings I can use bottom heat .Rope xmas lights are fantastic for this,but be careful and keep watch on them just in case. I've used the same string now for two seasons and it has been fine.But if you burn down your house insurence won't pay.Can't wait till after xmas sales to buy more and other things we need.Thats one of the good thigns aout not ding xmas,is after sales.


----------



## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

Meerkat said:


> So far not so good .Lots of blooms but no fruit except a couple of tomatos and some small pea size bell peppers are forming .Herbs are doing great though.
> The heat will be a problem even here in the south,one day its 80 nd the next its freezing.
> This is just an experiment so I'm not really disappointed.I can still plant lots of seedlings for spring in the lean to in February and March.On seedlings I can use bottom heat .Rope xmas lights are fantastic for this,but be careful and keep watch on them just in case. I've used the same string now for two seasons and it has been fine.But if you burn down your house insurgence won't pay.Can't wait till after xmas sales to buy more and other things we need.Thats one of the good thigns aout not ding xmas,is after sales.


On your tomatoes and peppers go thru and jiggle the plants every day in the morning and evening.. they are self pollinating and jiggling them will cause the pollen to fall down to where it needs to be.. on the squash and cucumbers(if you do them) you will have to hand pollinate with either a paint brush or just pluck the male blooms and tear the bloom part off the stamen and use it to pollinate the female blooms. There are tons of videos on youtube of folks hand pollinating squash in case you are not sure of what to do..


----------



## Meerkat (May 31, 2011)

Emerald said:


> On your tomatoes and peppers go thru and jiggle the plants every day in the morning and evening.. they are self pollinating and jiggling them will cause the pollen to fall down to where it needs to be.. on the squash and cucumbers(if you do them) you will have to hand pollinate with either a paint brush or just pluck the male blooms and tear the bloom part off the stamen and use it to pollinate the female blooms. There are tons of videos on youtube of folks hand pollinating squash in case you are not sure of what to do..


 Thanks again Emerald, I can't use youtube,but will try the hand pollination. I have been shaking the toms though.


----------



## Meerkat (May 31, 2011)

We have been lucky with plants with the unusual warm spell ,but tonight its about to get cold. 
So far I have figs almost ripe,bell peppers,tomatos and winter squash all with fruits on them in our lean to.
Heat will be a problem and at this stage in the production it will be criticle. Will let yall know how it goes.
I'm using grow lights most of the day,lots of clouds with no rain last few weeks.Never saw so many cloudy days without rain in my life !


----------



## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

Depending on how cold, it might be worth putting a few gallon jugs of hot, hot water all around the plants in the green house or even using a small space heater if it is only going to be a night or two of cold weather to get them thru the night. 
I have been known to go out in my garden if it is going to frost but only one or two nights and string my old incandescent type holiday lights all thru the fencing that my beans and tomatoes are on and drape tarps over the fences. Sure is a pain in the tookus but it got me another bushel of tomatoes and a few more dinners worth of beans this year. The new LED lights do not generate heat so only the old lights will do..
I wonder if putting a few strings of lights on your fig will keep the temps up enuf to get you to harvest?


----------



## Meerkat (May 31, 2011)

Emerald said:


> Depending on how cold, it might be worth putting a few gallon jugs of hot, hot water all around the plants in the green house or even using a small space heater if it is only going to be a night or two of cold weather to get them thru the night.
> I have been known to go out in my garden if it is going to frost but only one or two nights and string my old incandescent type holiday lights all thru the fencing that my beans and tomatoes are on and drape tarps over the fences. Sure is a pain in the tookus but it got me another bushel of tomatoes and a few more dinners worth of beans this year. The new LED lights do not generate heat so only the old lights will do..
> I wonder if putting a few strings of lights on your fig will keep the temps up enuf to get you to harvest?


 Emerald this is a good idea.I have some old light bulbs but not many recepticles to screw them in.I will put in the hot water though.I'm still looking for metal containers I can paint black facing the sun too.Fill them with hot water and let the sun keep them that way.Paint the inside white and the outside black,two tone like an old pair of Buster Brown saddle oxfords,haha.
In my old Plant Science book theres a string of lights across a field with dozens of bulbs on it ,but that was nusery production so we could do it on a smaller scale.


----------



## Meerkat (May 31, 2011)

It got too cold in the lean to last night and will be colder tonight. So we brought in all the plants today .Had to use a hand truck on the fig tree that is full of half ripe figs now.
They are now in a window on the east side which only gets a little morning sun.We have them under 4 grow lights,did'nt harden them of so we will hope for the best now.We had to keep the space heater going all night last night and of course this won't work . 
It may get cramped,the house is small .Guess we will be livign inside a greenhouse type environment if it works.
The mint smells fantastic .


----------



## Clarice (Aug 19, 2010)

We now have lettuce and radishes coming up in the greenhouse. Can almost taste that fresh salad.


----------

