The tiniest greenhouse tour

[carletonexotic]

Firstly, I've loved looking back through the photos of everyone's greenhouses in this forum - endlessly fascinating to see people's collections and setup.

Secondly, I think mine might be the smallest greenhouse on here, so not much of a tour but I'm proud of what I've done so far.

Bought, disassembled, transported, washed, painted and reassembled this 4ft x 6ft greenhouse in spring. Built myself some L-shaped staging leaving room for me to stand and room for a couple of tall plants. I've a bar heater, fan, auto vent for controlling temperatures.

Collection isn't much to look at yet, but I'm working on it. I like the square BEF pots which help me to maximise space. Hoping to pick up some specimen plants and am trying my hand at germinating some lophophora seeds currently.

My first time owning a greenhouse and I'm enjoying pottering in there whenever I get the chance!

[juster]

Well done with your greenhouse, it looks great. You have some nice plants there, just concentrate on looking after them and you will be surprised in a couple of years, to see how much they have grown, and many will have flowered. To me that is the whole enjoyment of the hobby, watching the progress.

[carletonexotic]

Well done with your greenhouse, it looks great. You have some nice plants there, just concentrate on looking after them and you will be surprised in a couple of years, to see how much they have grown, and many will have flowered. To me that is the whole enjoyment of the hobby, watching the progress.

Thanks Juster. Yes, in the garden I have a lot of fast-growing perennials. I love the explosion of foliage that I get every year from spring onwards but one learn I'm learning about cacti and succulents is that it's a marathon rather than a sprint. Let's see what I can get through my first winter...

[edds]

A great start and easy to add more sections on it in the future when you need to!

[carletonexotic]

A great start and easy to add more sections on it in the future when you need to!

Thanks Edds!

[carletonexotic]

I have a couple of general greenhouse questions if anyone could offer advice. Thought I'd post here rather than start a new thread...

Bear in mind that although I currently have a random assortment of cacti and succulents, the ones I'd like to keep alive in particular are my ariocarpus, lophophora, copiapoa and astrophytum (agaves will be overwintered here but spend summer outside so not too worried about them).

• I currently have 50% shade netting up. Should this come down now? How do I know when it is and isn't needed? And is it better than the shade paint I've seen advertised?

• When should I insulate with bubble wrap? Does everyone look for a certain nighttime low temperature as a sign to do this?

• I have an electric bar heater for when it gets really cold? What else do I need to consider?

[Phil_SK]

I currently have 50% shade netting up. Should this come down now? How do I know when it is and isn't needed? And is it better than the shade paint I've seen advertised?

Definitely take down now. I've never shaded my plants (other than my Gasteria, Haworthia etc) and they're fine. They can cope with the sun so long as they get accustomed to stronger springtime sun gradually (ie not moved from shade to sun suddenly). A bit like humans building up a tan. Scorching is more likely to be caused by hot air in a stuffy greenhouse (though, of course, strong sun plays a part in this indirectly).

When should I insulate with bubble wrap? Does everyone look for a certain nighttime low temperature as a sign to do this?

I don't use bubble wrap but if I did I'd put it up when it was convenient! There's surely nothing worse than trying to do it at dusk after you've just seen the forecast.

I have an electric bar heater for when it gets really cold? What else do I need to consider?

Getting your first greenhouse is great but until you've got too many plants for it to be a sensible strategy ( ) bringing them inside for winter has to be something to consider if you have space and a cool room. Cacti don't even need to be near a window if you can keep them cool enough.

[greatnorthernexotic]

One more cold spell (at least) to get through for my tiny cactus greenhouse. The only casualty so far has been dragonfruit root stock. Everything has been bubble wrapped, bar heater on a timer, a little extra insulation for the coldest nights.

How has everyone else done over winter?

[greatnorthernexotic]

Another update from my tiny greenhouse - I'm refining my genera, removing the plants I don't love, adding more of the ones I do. I've got a growing collection of copiapoa. I also added my first aztekium and would like to add more this year. Still in two minds about whether to keep everything in BEF pots or go fully terracotta with the larger specimens.

[juster]

They have done really well, so good to see them growing on nicely. I think most of us have favourite plants and genera. Personally I have a mixture of plastic and clay pots, depending on the size of the plant and how it seems to grow.