Took a chainsaw to my oldest greenhouse fruit tree, a Washington navel orange. The saw, despite a new chain, couldn’t get the job done. So I took out the hatchet and hammer. I’ve found that easier than a shovel on any tree with roots over one inch or even on smaller trees. This thing had 3 inch roots. No digging it out.
Took the opportunity to take a few pictures of my ever changing greenhouse setup. The two yr old nectarines on the exterior rows got moved to my buddies new orchard. They are being replaced by figs.
The center four trellised rows have 82 stone fruit trees on 140ft of trellis. That equals an average spacing of 5.5ft by 1.7ft. We’ll have to see how that works. Knowing myself I’d say the losers will start coming out within two yrs.
always,admire your ability of growing fruits inside greenhouse. I hope there is an opportunity of seeing it myself. In Chicago, every fall, I put a greenhouse on my wish list, one of these days, i will get one.
The roots were spread too far and vigor excessive. That led to poor fruit. Also I couldn’t get the scale under control with oil and didn’t want to resort to a systemic. The scale spread from citrus to figs and blueberry in 2015.
Fruitnut! So nice to see an up-date of your greenhouse (as always), but this time the trees have no clothes. I’ve never seen it so bare. Yikes! Can’t wait for the pics with blossoms everywhere!!!
Yes the pluots and early apricots are swelling. In there pluots bloom ahead of most apricots, but not ahead of Tasty Rich and Flavorella which are very low chilling. I think pluots bloom so early because they were fully chilled probably by Dec 1. That means any warmth since then has been pushing the buds along.
Fruitnut, what’s up with the rectangular portion at the far end of your greenhouse that appears to be covered with plywood or something (just above the 2X8 framing lumber)? Is that some sort of swamp cooler, as it appears that it may have pvc piped in to it on the left side? Is what appears to be plywood some kind of burlap or felt?
Do you have any trouble with insect pests inside? Do you spray at all, even the perimeter of the hothouse? Do you feel as though you get adequate sunlight through it? Actually, I know you get adequate light (I’ve seen your photos before), but do you think you get optimum light through the covering material? Has brightness or light passivity decreased as the panels aged? Do you have any issues with fungus or bacteria inside? What would you do different if you had it to do again…anything?
Sorry for so many questions right in a row like that. I’m a curious and sometimes obnoxiously direct fella. I can’t help it.
I want to maybe do something similar to this one day. Your experience would be helpful.
You need a better chainsaw…that attempted cut looks like it was done with a small weed trimmer with a nylon string.
Fruitnut,
Every time I see your pics posted. I am ever so impressed and want to see more. Please make sure you post when the fruit on dangling on the trees! Thanks for the tour! You rock!
Ha! My thoughts were the same! I have wood that is three feet thick and is 250 years old I have cut through. Although near the stump the wood is very dense. I have seen stump wood dull a new chainsaw after the cut. I sharpen them myself, and a friend has a machine. After three of four sharpenings one side tends to be sharper than the other and you need a machine sharpener to fix that. So I sharpen 4 times and the fifth time through a machine sharpener. I keep three blades for each of my three chainsaws, so nine chains.I wait till I have three or four that need a machine before I have them sharpened.
I want to come over and get that wood! It should burn all night once cured in my wood burning stove!!
You can edit posts to fix mistakes. I’m dyslexic and often mix up letters. I could not post if not for an edit button! Yes the greenhouse is impressive and it’s huge! The only way I can have a greenhouse like that is if frutinut puts me in his will!
That is a swamp cooler. I use evaporative cooling in both summer and in winter to achieve adequate chilling. Those in humid climates may not realize the power of evaporative cooling. It lowers temp inside greenhouse by about 10-15F both summer and winter depending on dew point of outside air. The brown thing is 4ft by 28ft by 4 inch thick cooler pads that the water runs over/thru. Air is pulled thru those pads by the 36 inch exhaust fans on the opposite end. Those fans exhaust the hottest air and replace it with air that has been cooled by passing thru the pads. Thus in summer the exhaust end is 10-15F hotter than the end by the pads. Things like sweet cherry are on the cool end. Citrus and figs on the hot end.
Spider mites are the worst insect pest. That requires one spray in May and spot treatment later. Minor issue with a beetle. Scale is easily controlled with oil except on the large citrus tree due to all those leaves. Can’t get 100% coverage. There are no disease issues here but could be in a humid climate unless managed to lower humidity inside. No losses to critters or weather.
Light is adequate, 50% of outside, even thru two layers of woven poly. It’s very diffused light which is a big plus. And we have 75% sunshine all yr long. Properly built in the humid east light would be OK. I’d use double or triple wall polycarbonate covering out east.
Doing it again I’d lower height from 16ft to 12-13 just to make it easier to build and to change covering.
My buddies chainsaw was a wreck and vibrated so bad I was happy to get out the axe. Just cut off with a saw and it would have sprouted back for yrs. Taken out this way and there are no sprouts or hump to trip over.
Thanks for the tour! You rock!
