We have achieved hoopdom!

I have to say a huge THANK YOU to my DH once again. I tell you I drooped midway today, but he kept on. He also caught me emailing a friend when I was supposed to be getting scissors. But he never wavered!! I wonder are brugs worth it???

I have only moved in those with special pods. I may not bring anymore in. I have a ton of fancy hibiscus that want in. And lots of ears and gingers that may want a dry haven. Time to pray for a warm winter.

Tomorrow I need to clean my front porch all off so I can move my front brugs to there and also my bougainvillea standards. No longer can we lug 25 gallon pottery pots to the backyard.

I do not know how you guys do as much as you all do in the cold areas. My hat is off to all of you!

Thats a pretty neat greenhouse Kell. I'm guessing regular PVC pipe and .........what kind of plastic did your DH use?

This is a poorman's greenhouse. LOL. So inexpensive to make. Yes, PVC and the plastic you get at HD. We toss it every year so we only have to store the PVC. Makes it so easy.

This year I am going to put a heater in it. Last year I bought one then chickened out for I was afraid of electrocuting myself. I need to find something I can put over the top to keep the water from the ceiling from dripping on it.

Water? Oh yes, condensation, I hadn't thought of that. I am on a budget, this I could do tho, maybe on a smaller scale to get an early start on spring. I couldn't overwinter here, I'ts getting into the teens tonight with a high of only 32 in the AM......

The water just drips off the ceiling, I get problems with rot. I am hoping a heater will dry it out some. Brugs hate cold and wet.

Here is the site my DH used for reference.
http://www.westsidegardener.com/howto/hoophouse.html

He changed the plans somewhat as the years went by. We have a real space problem, so we take it down about March. You could even reuse the plastic if you wanted. It is pretty cheap at HD.

I want to WELCOME you to Daves, John. And to the Brug Forum. Glad to see you have joined us here.

Thank You Kell, I am visually impaired and don't get around much, this is a great pastime for me. Everyone is so friendly and helpfull.

Oh I bet it is a great pastime!! It is so addicting! I am usually glued to my computer. We are glad to have you here. And we sure love your birds!

Kell, that's the way DH built my hoophouses. I have a 12 X 12 and a 20 X 30. I heat with gas. The new one will be bigger. LOL We used bigger PVC pipes.

This message was edited Dec 5, 2005 12:27 AM

Looks great Kell. I am using the Florida room this year and DH is already fusing that I am going to mess the wood up. At least he put my plants in for me

How does the gas work, Ada? Do you have a big heater in there? I bought an electric one. You leave yours up all year don't you?

Oh Donna, how great you have a Florida room. What exaclty is that? A sunroom?

Looks like an instant, traveling, Arky wedding chapel, nice and cozy!!!

Kell, that's way too cool! I'm curious though........if you're in 9b, can't the brugs winter outside or do they still die to the ground?

Kell - where did you get those black tubs the brugs are in - look like nice heavy plastic with a good gripping "lip" at the top.

Diane Krny

Those are Home Depot ones Diane. I think they go for $8 a piece. 15 gallon. They are very sturdy. I wish they had these around here in 20 and 25 gallon too.

LOL Sherry. A wedding chapel?

Last year all my brugs made it fine outside, Barbara. Only one died to the ground but came back. I have no clue why it had such a hard time. We had one frost in November last year that fried some of the top leaves, little limb damage. Some drop their leaves, but some keep them.

The trouble is, I never know if we will have a worse freeze or even repetitive ones. So I must be prepared. I really want to protect my mothers though. I have some hot pods on them I want to see ripen. We will have some really bad storms now. We have incredible weather from May on with not even any rain at all but come November anything goes.

I really have more trouble with rot in winter from rain than from the cold.

If you can get some aircirculation in there, it should take care of the dripping, no?

Looks great Kell, LOL at Sherry 'wedding chapel'

My gh drips condensation too if we have lots of rain. The ground absorbs so much water. I keep a circulation fan running 24/7. Take care of those babies. As many as you have they must be the chosen few.

alrighty, kell!

i had a makeshift gh last year, but now i know (sort of) that brugs love winter weather here in corte madera.

Yes, Kell. We leave the heaters. We had a problem in the big greenhouse which has a 30,00 BTU heater that isn't vented. We had to vent the greenhouse to get it burning properly. The small greenhouse has a 10,000 BTU heater.

Kell, I love your greenhouse. I will have to tell DH that he has a new project to work on. He will love that! Ya, right!!!

I went to the website, looks like I could do it myself. How long did it take for you to put it together?

Crystal

Kell.
the GH is great I turned a gazbo into a GH and I run heaters and fans all the time. I do not have and trouble with rot because the fans keep it from being to wet and the heaters are set at 45. I did put them to close togeather and had trouble from that so I do not keep as much now. We live in 8a and Kenboy has his in the grown. I have not gotten that brave but he is going to help me with it. No pain no gain.
Our winters are getting warmer and wamer. We may be in zone 10 in a few years.
Joan

I'm in your zone in Arky, and mine are in the ground too, Joan, and this might be the year that none make it, but so far, two winters, all came through with flying colors. How big is your GH?? I'm going to be outta town and I'm thinking I'll leave mine on 45 degrees too and I will have it watched. I don't use fans, but mine doesn't get wet, I guess it would be a good thing to leave a fan on just it case it rains in or somehow gets wet...

Sherry, my GH is about 600 sq, ft, in the summer we take down the Plexiglas and put up the screens and we have a gazebo again. Do they they die down to the grown or just the leaves die back? I left two out in pots but that may not give them enough protection.
Please let me know how they are doing through the winter. I thought I was suppose to keep the leaves on them all winter. I am going to let them go dormant this year and I bet they will do better. Do you have trouble with white fly in winter?
Joan

I'll try Joan, I'm about an 18 month newbie, and, basically, I do what comes naturally, and I do not have a green thumb but I'm tenacious, and willing to keep going when the going is tough. Here is what I do, and I'm in your zone. All of mine are in the ground and winter there. I take cuttings of the special ones, and that is very few, if they cannot take my winter, I'll use those that will. I leave them out until the midnight hour (freeze), then take cuttings for pals and the GH. Later on, when the weather/cold has its way with them, I cut them to a height that tidies up the garden, which now looks like there has been a nuclear blast. I've being doing this such a short time that everything I do is subject to change, as I feel my way along. MY passion is seeds, crosses, that hybridizers that know what they are doing, are willing to send me, such as Mary Heik, Kyle and Kell and Ada and Brugie and Poppysue and MANY other nice people have trusted me with and, IMO, brugs grown here, Arky zone 8a, are absolutely far ahead of imported cuttings - BUT there is a place for cuttings and there are some that one just cannot secure via seeds. And - no, I do not have trouble with whitefly - I use Mosquito Crumbles and I've never had whitefly or gnats, except fruit flies inside, grrrrrrrrrr!!!!! Hope I answered some of your questions....BTW, that's a big GH!!

Sherry, thank you so much that helped a hole lot. I have not tried the MC but I will get it tomorrow before they get started. I only had one burg but I just got 5 more and I am going to plant them out side next spring.
We are going to have are first real freeze tomorrow night so now I can get my bulbs in.
It realy helped just to tell me the things you do day in and day out. How you take care of thing and what you keep and what you through out. Joan

Gosh Joan, what a great conversion from winter to summer use.

Crystal, we have it down to just a couple of hours. Tom hasn't put up the front panel yet. I was even wondering if we really needed it. But I bet in a bad storm it would go airborn with a 3 sided structure.

Gee Sherry, I no longer think you can call yourself a newbie anymore! LOL I think it is time you graduated.

I am totally envious of you all with your greenhouses. IThe temps have not gotten above 16 degrees in the last week. Tomorrow night is suppose to be 5. My sister 5 miles away has a very nice gh and she leaves her temp set at 45. She is the one with the Sangs blooming. I don't know if they are still blooming. And, I keep forgetting to ask her if the pollenating I did made a pod.

Will let you know. In fact, I will send her an email right now and hopefully hear from her tomorrow.

Jeanette

Hello everyone. I'm a Brug newbie and a DG newbie, Southeast 8a.

Nursed a rooted Brug piece I received a year ago and planted it outdoors. We've had a few freezes, but of course the ground never freezes here. All the leaves have abandoned the baby Brug, and I was wondering whether it would do any good to take a cutting now.

Any advice is appreciated--

Well, hoopie-dee-doo, Kell! I love your hoophouse and have printed out instructions for DH's DIY project. He may come kicking and screaming, but hopefully we will eventually see eye-to-eye. (You want me to do what, so you can go fishing???)

I can probably hold off 'til next winter, but am quickly running out of indoor space and nooks next to the house.

Thanks for sharing ideas.

Hi Fleurs, no it's not too late. Leave 6-8 inches of trunk, mulch well and it probably will come back for you. Take the top piece that you cut off and put it in water until you see roots coming (about 1-2 inches) then pot up. It will have to be kept warm (inside or in a greenhouse. How big did your cutting get, and did it bloom?

You've just got the one? Come see me and we can fix that.
Linda

Those of you planing on builting a hop house .
Only use Sch 40 pvc . It is thicker than sch 10 . If you go to the electrical section of hard ware store you will find bent pieces - 45 degrees - some places will have 30 and 60 also . They will also have wall plates . these are pieces of steel that can be screwed to a board and connector [ for pvc ] screwed into them .

Hi kell.. I love the idea of your hoophouse. After reading the thread, I was thinking about the condensation issue also mentioned by Linda. Has Tom considered raising the ridge to make a steeper pitch? Of course that would change the configuration of the pipe and add a few connectors, but would virtually eliminate any dripage by directing the flow down the visqueen to the ground. Methinks I am going to have to build one of these one day. Thanks for the pic and information!!

Barb

Ohhhh so it is not a round top but a deep slant, Barb? I will mention this to him..............next year. LOL I dare not say boo now. Though the good thing about the round roof, I have more tall room then I would with a pitched roof. I can't make it wider due to NO ROOM!! Last year he raised the roof to 12 feet. Thank god. As it is I have to cut the branches back .

I had no clue Tony that PVC came in prebent pieces.

This is what we use. I think this is the 4th or 5th year we have used the same PVC. It is very flexible and lasts forrever. We bend it down to fit in the connector and it is easy to bend.

i have to show this thread to my hubby: how lucky he is he doesn't need to build me a GH this year. lol.

Here is another thread on these with good links.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/548661/

Thanks, kell!

Kell I always hung my heater from the pipes with tie wraps. I use the ones from Wally World(17.00) runs on 1300 and 1500 BTU and is ffan forced and thermostate controlled. I also put up a cheap oscillating fan behind it for more air circulation. I never had a problem but I also used hvy dty extension cord with the trip box in it just in case.

Yes Florida room is a glassed sun room. You enter it from the front porch or dining room. It has a French door from the dining room and a storm door from the porch. Inside it has 2 sliding glass door and screens

It is so good to see your name again around here, Donna. I am so glad your ordeal is over!!

I had a trip thingie that went between the extension cord and the outlet. I hope I can find it. I need to go look at what kind of heater I bought. It is the same one Gretchen used. I do not think it has a fan though.

What are tie wraps?

I sure wish I had a Florida room too! LOL

I'm so happy to see you got your HH up Kell. We are getting a good Cold spell here.
It looks so nice a neat now. Wonder how it will look in several months?? LOL Filled up to the top with your beauties!!

you know the plastic things the cops use instead of hand cuffs now lol. You stick one end in the slot, pull it and they lock. You have to cut them off. You can also use braided nylon string. That's what I am using in the Florida room. Funny how many pittley things to have to go out and buy to get your house back in order and have what you need when you want to use it lol. Like Tim got a big blister in the middle of his palm the other day and I didn't have any guage and tape to make him a bandage. Just had to use a bunch of bandaids. I went out and bought gauze, tape, antibotic cream, etc. Darn forgot the tie wraps ROFL!!!!!

i have at least a couple of hundred of tie wraps...i don't use them for hand cuffs, lol. kell, donna, kin? just lmk.