Brutal temps

My wife heard on the radio that the temp reached 106F today. This is tough on greenhouse plants. I have been able to keep the GH generally under 100F. Right now, I've got 97F outside and about 95F in the GH. I'm sure it was hotter earlier.

So far, I've gotten by with less damage than I expected. Some Hydrangea 'Blue Billows' cuttings got crispy, some nice new growth I was getting on some Bird's Nest ferns got singed on the edges, as did some emerging foliage on the Clementine citrus.

Cooler temps forecast for tomorrow, thank goodness. How is everybody else doing? Greenhouses shut down or still operating?

SB

Mine is still operating at about 95 right now with Evap and misters & fans...but, disappointing for veggies. Peppers are loving it but no other veggie is. Hibiscus are blooming, jasmines are sending out runners, mint is thriving.

First year owning a GH...in Arizona...summer...sigh

lol .. I am germinating pansy seeds in one grhouse...this is a cool weather annual that likes to germinate under 60 degree temps. But we get hot weather every summer, and I have 2-3 layers of shade cloth over the grhouse so it stays fairly cool and the fans run all day and they are really strong. They are also under a mister that goes on for 13 sec every few minutes and that helps to cool them off.
Surprisingly enough, even though the temps have been around 95-100 all week, the germination rate for this first round looks great and they have germ faster than normal.

This is the only thing that I would even think of having in the grhouses in the summer. I can't even begin to imagine how you guys keep plants in there alive.....do you all put shade cloths on?

Since this is the monsoon season i've elected not to use shade cloths. I did however go to HD and buy some cheapie plastic miniblinds that I attached on the inside ( picture ) that dropped the temps down immediately but they keep getting lower and lower (melting) lol. They seem to have stopped drooping in the last couple of weeks so they'll be ok. Everything is really doing ok, no burns, wilting etc etc...just nothing is setting fruit which I didn't expect them to right now either.

Why would you want to put things in a greenhouse in the summer ?
I do have one house that has tomatoes in it. It sits east to west with a huge tree on the west end. 2 large exhaust fans, & a squirrel cage fan to keep air moving. I lost a group of blossoms about 2 weeks ago. After I started the squirrel cage fan fruit set is back to normal.
The only reason the tomatoes are inside is disease. You can only pick for about 2 weeks if they are outside, before the blight gets them. Personnally I won't eat a blighted tomato. Others sell them at the Farmers Market, they have to taste bad! I start selling mine June 15, & will have tomatoes until I let the whole thing freeze-up. Lasst year I pulled the plug Nov 15.
The rest of our greenhouses get to do the heat treatment. Well over 100º everyday that is sunny. At least it cooks the weeds.
Bernie

Everyone asks me why I want plants in the greenhouse during summer.... and here's the answer


Because it's there? lol

My dad gave me an aluminum army tent frame and my husband framed it in and covered it with poly carb panels for me. Well, I'm impatient ...I want everything NOW... so, he added a swamp cooler and upducts and fans and a drip system. Well, I couldn't let all that just SIT there doing nothing so I sowed a couple hundred seeds of this n that and put it out in the GH. I'm having the most fun. I know it's not practical but i'm not killing anything ( just not bearing fruit except the peppers) The peppers and tomatoes we have in the outside garden are all burned up so the GH is helping me extend the growing season for at least the peppers.

Country, are you a commercial grower? That would be my dream!

Yes & No. We need lots of starts for our veggie garden, so we started growing some flowers & well, you know. We sell flowers at our Farmers Market in the spring. By july 1 it's all veggie garden!
Bernie

We're supposed to have record breaking heat for this time of the year all next week. Over 115 degrees. What's your summer high temps like?

"Why would you want to put things in a greenhouse in the summer ?"

While some of my plants are in containers, many, mostly tropical trees, shrubs, and ornamentals, are in raised beds or ground beds and grow there year round.

Pepper, we hit 100F about every year. This year were around 98-102 for almost a week. Early morning dew points were, I think, in the mid 70s. In the GH my humidity meter read 90-96% in the mornings, down to around 50% in the afternoons. Generally it can be kept within a degree or so of the outside temp with 50% Aluminet, ventilation, and misters.

I'm thinking about a fogger, though. A guy on another forum was just telling me that his Alabama GH (filled with orchids) was over 10 cooler than the outside temp with the fogger. I've always held off on a fogger because of my hard water...I didn't want the hard water deposits everywhere...he says it's really not a problem.

I have two water lines, upper and lower, made out of drip irrigation line. The lower I use to run spaghetti line to all my plants + three EB's. The upper line I connected those yellow mister heads. I don't have them on timers yet but during the hottest part of the day I turn on the upper line and the whole GH gets misted/fogged. We have really hard water and the only thing I noticed was a buildup of deposits on the glass covering my screen door but it wipes off easily. I don't see it on my plants or anywhere else. When I turn those on the temp drops 10 degrees or more and stays that way for an hour or so after it's turned off.

In defense or Pepper having plants in a greenhouse in AZ in the summer, quite frankly it's easier to cool the greenhouse than the outside the greenhouse LOL Pepper, sounds like your plants are doing great in there!

lol reno

Thank you neighbor! Right around now all gardens in Arizona are dying in the heat. My greenhouse is extending the life of mine. But, the heat is preventing the tomatoes from fruiting. I'm just going to let them keep growing until it cools off... My okra in the garden is drying/dying but the GH okra is growing fast and flowering.

=D

You AZ people will have to change the name from greenhouse to "Koolhouse" !

One hydroponic tomato grower here has the whole end of his greenhouse built like a radiator. He runs cold water through it & all air coming in has to pass through this cold water radiator. It cools it considerably.
Bernie

Here are my pansy seed flats under the mister system, I think you can see the shade cloth, or at least how it shades the grhouse and makes it darker ( and cooler) in there.

LOL Bernie!

Holy crap! That's a lot of pansies tiger!

Wow Tiger! That IS a bunch o'pansies. I only wish I had that kind of growing room. My GH is only 16' x 20'.

thats only the first germination, and the smallest. We did another one today. We moved those to one of the sides of the greenhouse and then filled that up again. I hope these pop as fast!
The trick-esp with pansies, is to come off the water pretty fast and start growing them on the dryer side, while still keeping the seeds that are still germ wet. Today, I only watered them twice, even though the grhouse was pretty hot-I think 96 today. Thats a big difference than the amt of water they get under the mister, although as they start to send out the root, I slow down the amt of times the mister comes on.

We had 103 on Thursday here. The greenhouse never got over 100. I'm growing under 55% shadecloth and have a full-blown misting system using de-ionized water. At these temperatures I'm firing 12 nozzles (about 8 gph each) for about 6 seconds every 4 minutes. Since I 'm growing mostly Bromeliads and other tropicals the humidification and cooling are appreciated.

I just went out to check the temp in my greenhouse and it is 117 degree's. We were 115 on Fri. and Sat. Sunday was 113 , Monday was 108 and today will be close to that outside. It is really hard to keep the greenhouse under 100 with these kinds of temps.

Jerodsmom, what are your humidity levels or dew points?

Pepper, you might try a different tomato which will continue to set during the heat. I tried one this year and we have had a series of 100+ degree days. It has kept blooming and setting, for my area it also has less bug problems and requires less water. Unfortunately the maters are small but tasty. I'm growing an Arkansas Traveler but there may be one better suited to Az. We lived in Tempe in the early 70's. Lots to see and do in Az. It has a "warm" spot in my heart. pod

Pod,

We just had a wonderful monsoon storm with lots of rain. The smell of wet desert! Nothing like Arizona!

I will try the Arkansas Traveler for next summer. I've decided to pull up all of my tomato plants and plant new ones. I'm just trying to get my timing right since we don't cool off until October. So, I should be starting seedlings soon.

Pepper

I grow lettuce in my greenhouse all summer with evaporative coolers. I have only "little" tomatoes, cherry plum, multi color etc. Most of the small tomatos will just keep producing all year in the greenhouse. Lots of cukes. Herbs love it. Green onions all the time. Fresh flowers in the house all year. The only greens I can't have in summer are spinach and most of the oriental goodies. I grow arugula, cress, beets, chard etc all summer. I haven't tried okra inside as it loves the heat. I did have ambrosia melons in November and December last year. Just have to keep it below cooking and above freezing. ;-)

Grammys,

My large tomatoes just will not set fruit. I haven't tried the smaller varieties but I am sure to do so next summer. I'm going to give it another go this winter with the larger ones.

My pumpkins are looking great and i'm hand pollinating but nothing so far...plus, my cukes might turn out to be bitter. Only thing that is spectacular are my peppers =D

I don't have much luck with large tomatoes so I just grow alot of kinds of little ones!

Ohhh I remember the July monsoons. We got pictures somewhere of the water standing knee deep. It came down so fast there was no where for it to go. Up to my knees which is a fair piece. Now get ready for the swelters, they are more common here... pod

I guess hurricane/tropical storm Emilia is affecting our temps this week....100's and rain yippee!

Aaaahhhh, relief :-)

Let me revise that.....88 for the high??? Hope that's true!

I saw 93 for me! Of course it's raining off and on (woo hoo!) so I can't really go outside to get stuff done.