"Ultra Tropicals"

Having worked away from the UK for 15 years my first winter back home convinced me I needed somewhere warm to escape the cold. In September 2012 I purchased a second hand Hartley 10 and started planning how to create my tropical stove house. The builders started work in May 2013 and the greenhouse was watertight within a month. Right from the start my plan was to keep the heating costs as low as possible (I keep the temperature at 22C at all times) - after a lot of research I eventually went for an unusual method of glazing....on the outside of the greenhouse is a 2mm layer of acrylic (all had to be cut to size before delivery), underneath this is a layer of 4mm twin wall polycarbonate - held securely to the frame with glazing bars. Next comes a layer of bubble wrap insulation, this is followed on the interior frame by another layer of 4mm twin wall polycarbonate. During the winter storms trees and fence panels came down all around my garden - the greenhouse didn't budge . Next came the underfloor heating. I dug trenches below ground level, lined with polystyrene and then back filled with stone. On top of this I added a layer of gravel and a layer of gardening sand. Into the sand I buried 2 40m heating cables and covered with sand and either pea shingle or a path (see below). I also sunk 2 200ltr water tanks into the ground so that I would always have "warmish" water for the plants.
This is how the greenhouse looks today (now I just need to keep finding new and exciting tropical plants to fill the last few gaps):-

I am currently growing over 150 varieties of heat loving Tropicals - Cubanola Domingensis and Deppea Splendens being the two most unusual.
My plan for the next 12 months is to really expand the variety of orchids I grow however I'm always on the lookout for anything unique - GC is going to be invaluable

 

Love it!

 

Very nice

 

Looks great, obviously a lot of thought went into it, the plants look like they appreciate it, very lush.

 

Certainly a tropical looking house, what is the minimum night temperature you are hoping for?
I imagine, you, like most of us with a greenhouse always wish is was bigger!

 

Welcome Gregory!

I'm growing C.domingensis too which is just starting it's third summer season. Is it me or is it a bit slow growing?
I had seed for D.splendens which germinated like cress. They germinated just before I went on holiday and my Dad was left to pop in and do the watering - he got confused and they drowned!

Have you grown Tacca? You seem to have the ideal conditions, the only downside being that it does get big......................


Well worth the effort though!

I have a spare Musschia wollastonii. Not truly tropical (native to Madeira) but tender and interesting..................

(http://www.cloudforest.com/northwest/forum/26150.html)


(http://peacockhorticulturalnursery.com/2009/08/)

A few other things that may be of interest too if you're interested.

 

Very nice Gregory

 

Great thread Gregory. But I find like so many threads on this forum - especially when LongK gets going - that it always raises even more questions.

My first question is about the greenhouse. Do you really keep it at 22C day and night, summer and winter. Its easy enough to heat it up, but what happens when the sun comes out - how do you cool it down? And what about ventilation and humidity, and how do they tie in with the temperature.

The second question is what sort of plants need those conditions. I have opted to keep my garden room at a minimum of 10C, though now its obviously a lot warmer than that. There seem to be a lot of tropical plants that will survive the winter just frost free, but I chose 10C as the temperature at which a lot of plants such as Cannas and bananas will continue to keep growing over the winter rather than going dormant. However that temperature may change at some point. This then raises the question of light - do you need to provide extra light in the dark winter days with temperatures that high.

I love your Cubanola - is that you own picture of it flowering for you? As a result of an introduction by LongK I am now growing it from seed. And yes it seems to be very slow growing. This year I sowed Cubanola and Tropaeolum peregrinum on the same day. The Tropaeolum was over 7 feet high a month ago, whilst the Cubanola is hardly a quarter of an inch high.

That Deppea is a new one to me - what a looker - and it doesn't seem to need much heat over winter.

My latest exotic endeavour is some seeds of Strophanthus preussii sown yesterday - picture below.

 

That's a bit rich coming from the man who is almost single handedly responsible for my current Salvia overload!!!

 

I keep it at 22c even at night - the glazing has saved me a small fortune already - even in the depth of winter just an hour of sunshine comfortably raised the temperature so that the heating wasn't needed for most of the day. The greenhouse is 10'x15' - should have gone maybe to 10'x25....

 

You are right about the Cubanola - slow growing. The Deppea has really impressed me - I brought the seeds from a seller on the US East Coast last summer (the most expensive seeds I have ever purchased - $31 for 20 seeds). The seedlings were tiny and I lost 90% due to damping off. The 2 survivors have flourished - both are now 3ft tall with masses of leaf (I'm going to try cuttings in the next few weeks) - more than anything else I want to collect seed this season - due to the rarity I want to do my bit to ensure the survival of what is a stunning plant. I haven't tried Tacca yet - not sure I've got the space. I'll let you know the progress with the Deppea - if I'm successful I'll happily send you send you seeds/rooted cuttings. I'm on year 2 with my Plumeria - really hoping for some flowers this year

 

Hello Peter,
I really do keep it at 22C. Not sure if it's entirely necessary for the plants (it's mainly for me to be honest) but they seem to love it. The greenhouse has auto vents which bring the temperature down a bit but it does get seriously hot on sunny days (the record is 38C). I've trained Scindapsus over the roof and that is doing a great job of shading - the most successful shading though comes from some Ficus that I brought seeds of from a US vendor (they were supposed to be Elastica but are definitely not - no idea what they actually are) the leaves are nearly a foot across on plants only a few feet high. Last summer (before any of the plants really took off) I had masses of issues with RSM and tried everything to get rid of them - as recently as February I was still finding the odd plant with leaf damage. Since then the plants have gone crazy, the humidity has gone through the roof and the RSM have packed up and gone home - I damp down twice a day. I didn't provide extra light in winter but some of the early seeds would definitely have benefitted. If I am successful with the Deppea then I'll be in contact regarding seeds/cuttings - a really special plant. Let me know how the Strophanthus comes along - haven't seen that before. The happiest plants in the heat are the orchids - the Phals have flowered solidly for 12months now - I'm looking to try Vandas next.

 

Thanks!
What kind of space for growing do you have outdoors?

RSM is a pain. High humidity is certainly the key to avoiding it, and parasitic mites the solution. I had RSM on my Cantua outdoors last summer.

 

Gregory - you and anyone else are very welcome to any spare seedlings that I might have of Strophanthus. However I find the major problem with tropical seeds is to get any to germinate. I suspect that the surer way is via cuttings - but you still have to get the first plant.

Touch wood - I haven't had any RSM yet. I have found, unintentionally, that after allowing the temperature to rise a lot during the day and then fall back at night (currently to 15 or 16C) the rh goes through the roof. Every morning my meter says 99% rh and the windows and roof are running with condensation. But the benefit seems to be no RSM. Then if I allow the temperature to rise again during the day with a bit of ventilation the rh falls down to 60 or 70% and the condensation disappears. My feeling is that as long as the humidity is lowered at some point during the day I won't get mould. But its early days yet and I don't really know.

I was originally worried about the high humidity, but I gather that in the jungle (ie rain forest) you typically have a temperature of 35C and 80 to 90 % or more humidity. So I am minded to grow that sort of plant. A number of plants such as Fittonia are said to be difficult as house plants because they don't get enough humidity - they seem to be suitable candidates, but I also have others such as palms that are maybe not so suitable.

 

longk, your avatar is your own bat plant? Classy!