Yesterday 81, day before 77 -- we've had 5 days or so of higher than normal temps. Cool down coming Thursday. Been hard to keep the GH cool. Had to cut open the solar pool cover on the GH roof vents -- needed more air in there.
Radishes have not produced at all. But I did discover that the greens are edible --put them in salad, or stir fry. Also hear that if I let them go they will grow "pods" that are quite tasty.
After some days in the 40's and 50's we're getting a nice warm trend now. Yesterday 60, today 68, tomorrow 78! Won't need to heat the GHs at night until late this week. Time to really focus on getting the 2nd HF GH joined to the existing one, and get some garden fencing up so I have a place to put all these plants. It won't be long and they'll be cooking in the GH.
Lemons, tomatoes, peppers and flowers doing fabulous in the popup GH. Not as successful in the big GH, but learning a I go.
Going to order two dwarf everbearing mulberry from RareSeeds/Baker Creek, and some unusual flowers and veggies.
Not really sure if these little gnats are fungus gnats. I have dug around in the pots and see no larva (web says there are large white larva -- mine has none). But they are multiplying and needed to be gotten rid of. The Miracle Grow soil is WAY to loose - too much mulch. And it's usually very wet when purchased. I think these little gnats came into the GH from that.
Moral -- keep the fungus under control - treat before there is a problem.
1) Treat purchased soil with Physan 20 before even putting in pots. Kills fungus that fungus gnats live on. Can use if fungus starts to grow too.
2) Those little flying gnats -- if they are fungus gnats they will destroy the plant's roots - treat them early.
Things I tried:
1) Murphy's Oil soap (it's pure soap) - mix 2 TBSP with 1 cup alcohol - then add to water. I was afraid to use that much alcohol so I used 2 TBSP alcohol. Filled the squirt bottle with water. The next day I saw no difference in the # of gnats.
2) Then I tried this: Water and 3% hydrogen peroxide (4 to 1 ratio - water to peroxide). Make sure it doesn't have any other added medicinal ingredients. Let top 2" of soil dry out first then drench. This supposedly kills them on contact. I took all the plants out of the GH and treated them all. They seem to be 99% gone - tomorrow will tell.
3) Set out "traps" - either the yellow sticky -- or make your own with yellow paper with pure Vaseline jelly smeared on it.
4) Try sugar water in a yellow dish (they like yellow). Did this and tried blue and clear. There were lots of them in the yellow dishes, none in the others. Did this before I did the peroxide treatment and then realized this is a nice add on by my problem was BIG and needed immediate resolution.
You can also put a little peroxide in water periodically to help prevent fungus.
Also chamomile tea helps prevent fungus. Spray the plants every week or so.
Bottom line - keep the fungus out and you keep the fungus gnats out.
Had 8-9 cloudy dreary days, followed by 5-6 sunny and unseasonably arm. Now back to cloudy - 1.73 inches of rain yesterday. Supposed to clear this afternoon.
6 x 8 HF GH: plants had a difficult time - due to inexperience of the grower (me) ! Mostly they didn't get enough light for a couple of months during the short days. T-5 grow light has doubled size of most of the peppers and cilantro in just a week. Puts out just a touch of heat for them too. Gloria's tomato (self sprouted from my compost) has done well and is putting on tomatoes. Spinach and lettuce did terrible. Herbs did great. I waited until November to plant stuff -- it should have been well on its way before then. Also discovered the miracle grow soil is just not good for sprouting. Too much mulch in it. The radishes sprouted and then got really leggy -- the soil just seemed to shrink. Finally added a lot more soil on top and they seem to be coming along now.
Patio GH: the popup has done GREAT. Tomatoes, lemons, peppers, flowers. I can get it to 65 degrees in there even on a cloudy day with just two 65 watt bulbs and two strands of incandescent rope lights. Tent it at night with the cheap mylar blankets and it stays toasty warm.
Have some tomatoes coming on in the HFGH !
It went down in the 20's last night ! Going to have that for several nights. In both GHs I have "tented" the mylar blankets over the plants to better retain the heat. After a short amount of sun this morning (and temps staying cold) I put the mylar back up to warm both the GH. The patio GH had gotten down to 50. Within 15 minutes of putting up the mylar "tents" and the sheets on the outside of the GH the temp got up to 59 (also have two strands of incandescent rope lights and (2) 65 watt light bulbs running in there today. In the 6 x 8 HFGH it hit 56 for a short amount of time, and as soon as the little sun disappeared it dropped to 50, even though I had (3) 65 watt light bulbs and two rope lights going. I tented the plants in there too, and turned on the heater--I decided the plants could make do with artificial light today in exchange for staying warm. Within 15 minutes it was up to 60 degrees. I'm sure the solar pool cover is making a huge difference for the HFGH - can't imagine the heat loss without it. It doesn't have the benefit the patio GH has of snuggling up to a wall of the house.
Have turned the heat up a bit more in the HFGH today and will let that run higher all night. The CFLs turn off at ten but I have them come back on around 4 to add some additional heat.
So much learning this year -- next year I will only grow cold tolerant things in the winter GH.
