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Posted by 0tterbot on March 7, 2007, 3:43 am
If you were Registered and logged in, you could reply and use other advanced thread options > Hi Kylie,
>
>> - what is your hothouse made from? if it's not too much trouble to
>> describe it briefly.
>
> Its made from steel hoops with plastic film stretched over it. I bought it
> from Monbulk Rural Enterprises.
> http://www.monbulkrural.com.au/
> They make them to size in approximately 2.1 meter increments in length.
> The
> film is made with a non-drip inside surface and has a slightly insulative
> property. I added 3 extra rails, a central rail between the top of the
> doors
> and one down either side at about 2 metres high offset 100mm inwards.
> These are used for supporting the twine that the tomato clips attach to
> and
> for supporting a trellis mesh when needed. The irrigation feed lines for
> drip irrigation run down each side and along the central rail.
>
> As a general rule the daytime temperature inside will reach nearly
> double the outside maximum, so it is important to keep the doors open on a
> day that goes over 23 degrees max. Tomatoes require somewhere between 12
> and
> 14 degrees for the chemical process that makes them turn red, so the
> greater
> temperature of the hothouse means that the tomato season is increased in
> length.
>
>> and i take it you are growing directly in the soil, yes?
>
> Yes. The Dandenongs mountain soil is acidic and clay based, parts closer
> to
> the clay under-soil where I placed my hothouse had a pH of 5, so quite a
> bit
> of preparation was called for to get it back to the optimum of 6.5. I have
> made a double bay compost bin and will be digging in a bit over 1 cubic
> meter of compost after this growing season to increase the biota in the
> soil.
interesting, thanks! those greenhouses look nice! i have one (plastic as
well) but it's pretty basic, and the plastic is even worse since the Great
Greenhouse Mishap of 2006. I aspire to a really nice one one day. ;-)
>> i succumbed & started using derris dust, if that helps you for next year.
>> i could keep the butterflies off iwth netting, but not the moths (which
>> are smaller).
>
> I tried some derris dust, but didn't like the idea of eating the broccoli
> heads as it is quite hard to wash them out, so gave up.
it is? i haven't had any trouble at all, but then my broccoli heads are
quite loose for some reason. (might make a difference, i don't know!).
>>one year i am going to try enclosed boxes made of flyscreen
>> & see how that goes
>
> The flyscreen sounds good, but I wonder if it might shade too much of the
> light. If you do try the flyscreen boxes, please post the results.
> I'd like to hear how they go.
someone here wrote in once that they used shadecloth boxes & it worked well.
this summer i have had a shadecloth top over the broccoli & cabbage &
they've been fine (and haven't bolted either! as i was genuinely expecting
they might as they went in late). so i feel pretty sure flyscreen would be
all right. at any rate, if i ever get on with it, i'll report!
kylie
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