Re: My semi-pit banana greenhouse
 

I am building a smaller and different version of this, the frame is wood and pvc and is about 8 feet tall at the peak, not sure how deep i will dig the pit, probably 4 feet. Its about 12 feet wide at the base and will be about 24 feet long for now. I built it so i could expand the length later, and am using a anti condensation and thermal 6 mil cover. I only have one big banana this year so I hope 12 feet of height will be ok. I also bought a roll of weed cloth to put on the floor to keep the thing from becoming a ragweed jungle in the spring lol. I am hoping the black weed cloth, and black barrels filled with water help retain some warmth as well. Do you find that having the pit helps retain a lot of heat?

Re: My semi-pit banana greenhouse
 

:08: :08: Where there's a will there's a nanner.

In my view the main thing the pit does is regulate the minimum temp so that it won't freeze or frost.

It retains some heat, but a lot of the heat is actually lost through the ground. In the winter, the ground in there is always trying to push the temp towards about 45F, so it's easy to keep it from freezing but hard to keep it warm. Since my goal is just to keep it from freezing/frosting, the bare uninsulated floor works fine.

Re: My semi-pit banana greenhouse
 

You have good soil there, here in Oklahoma its noting but rocks, probably going to break my back diggin lol

Re: My semi-pit banana greenhouse
 

Any solar mass like dark barrels filled with water (even milk jugs will help) assist in retaining heat. Open, they'll add humidity.

Personal rant: I so wish people would not use that stupid landscape "cloth". 8 layers of newspaper and woodchips to cover will keep down weeds and give you some kind of soil when the chips break down. Plastic? BTDT. You have to dig it out and good luck getting it all gone. Why not go cheap?

BTW, we called large unheated enclosed growing structures hoophouses when I was up north. I must be getting old...

Re: My semi-pit banana greenhouse
 

Lol Mulch aint cheap here, i got like 200 feet of cloth for 19 dollars, but I do use mulch in the yard, I have to with 105 degree or higher temps in the summer, I even have a compost bin. The plasic I am just laying down on the surface like carpet, just keeps the weeds from poking up but not burying it. All my plants are going to be in pots and containers for the winter, then moved outside in the spring. Without something to hold the weeds down, when you opened the door the greenhouse would explode in a flash of poke weed leaves and purple berries. I think they do still call them hoophouses.

Re: My semi-pit banana greenhouse
 

Okay, I hate mentioning this but old carpet can be used to suppress weeds also; you can find it free by driving around neighborhoods or contacting carpet installers. One man's trash...just a thought...yeah, I"m cheap...I use my funds to buy plants.

I wasn't talking mulch but wood chips. Which are not necessarily free where you live. When I lived in DC, I had all I wanted; it cost to dump them. When I lived in Ohio, tree trimmers sold them to be recycled into that dyed mulch so they were not available. In Jacksonville, where it costs to dump them, it's possible to get them for free but I have yet to figure out how.

Re: My semi-pit banana greenhouse
 

You really hate landscape cloth lol, just kidding.:ha: I might go by a local lumber yard that we have and see if they might want to give some of the chips away. I did see a sign last year that said free mulch there, it should be fine for inside a greenhouse.

Re: My semi-pit banana greenhouse
 

Nope didn't lose anything. Bananas all went semi dormant, but they are coming out of it and the cannas are putting up buds. I started with one cutting of ornamental sweet potato, the lime green kind, and now I have 60. It worked out pretty well, never went below 32F

Re: My semi-pit banana greenhouse
 

Update request? How's stuff in the pit coming along Greenfin? Many casualties...?

Re: My semi-pit banana greenhouse
 

Oops, sorry, was directed to Greenfin. Yes Greenfin, update please.

Re: My semi-pit banana greenhouse
 

My Cavendishes (Williams Hybrid, Dwarf Cavendish, and Grand Nain) and Dwarf Red died down to the ground but sent up pups.

All the Dwarf Orinocos lost their leaves, but their pstems survived almost unscathed. I pruned them back to 3' a few weeks ago (they were up to 6'), though, in an attempt to give them room to push out enough new leaves under the 7' ceiling to sustain a bunch.

One of the Dwarf Orniocos flowered in the middle of winter, so I put an aquarium heater in the pool underneath it in hopes of keeping the bunch alive. It worked, and I think the fingers will start getting ripe in 4-6 weeks.

I think I'm going to have 12-15 bunches hanging in there by the end of July: 10 Dwarf Orinoco, 2 Dwarf Brazilian, 1 purported Dwarf Namwah, and 2 purported Fake Ice Cream. I might get autumn blooms from SH-3640, Gluay Kai, Williams Hybrid, Grand Nain, and Dwarf Cavendish.

On a side note, my Alano sapodilla is budding up with flowers for the first time. It's supposed to taste like a fine pear soaked in brown sugar, which sounds rather tasty, so hopefully I'll get to try one for the first time this year.

Pictures to come later today or tomorrow--after I do my taxes :rollerbananadone:

Re: My semi-pit banana greenhouse
 

Re: My semi-pit banana greenhouse
 

Amazing set up. Too bad about the williams...What happened with the end of the video? I was going nuts wanting to see more!!!

Re: My semi-pit banana greenhouse
 

Haha, yeah, I accidentally hit the stop button on the camera. Meant to say,

"...and after that, it [the DB] started pushing out these sword-like leaves. I'm not sure if the timing was coincidental and these are pre-flag leaves, or whether these are just 'stress leaves', but the next leaf on the way looks a bit more normal, so maybe the plant will go ahead and pump out a few good adult leaves before it flowers. That's what I'm hoping for."

Re: My semi-pit banana greenhouse
 

I see what Banana's are in the pit of your pit.. lol :^)

Re: My semi-pit banana greenhouse
 

Clockwise from the back left, the pit in the pit holds Gluay Kai, Dwarf Brazilian, Grand Nain, and SH-3640. I moved them into the pit late last year when they were already dormant, and they just slowly rotted over the winter. I think if they'd had the chance to get established in there they would have fared much better, more like how the Dwarf Orinocos fared (except for the Grand Nain, which probably would have died down to the ground anyway like all the other Cavendishes). I'm also thinking about moving my Cocos into the pit in the pit to give it room to flower.

Re: My semi-pit banana greenhouse
 

Someone that don't realize what all must have went into this might think it's a ugly weed jungle, but No ! You have a Tropical Magical Majestic rain forest ;) Much respect! Very cool, that's constant work right there! NICE ! Kudos nana bro !

Re: My semi-pit banana greenhouse
 

Thanks. There are indeed some grass/weeds in there, but most of those things that look like weeds are bolting spinach and lettuce. When the bananas defoliated over the winter, I planted lots of spinach and lettuce all around. After gorging on it for a few months, it's bolting and looking ratty. Lots of strawberries along the edges, too: I started with a 7-pack of small starters last year, and now there are hundreds.

Re: My semi-pit banana greenhouse
 

Hey, that was truly educational. Love your quote at the end, too, nannerdeadhead.

Now that we're living in TN, we've been wondering how to grow tropicals and subtropicals here. We have a good sized basement, but not much light in it. Not sure if we'll try building a hoop house like yours, or try growing under led grow lites. LEDs don't provide any heat, so we'd have to insulate the basement a bit (we do have quite a few rigid foamular boards we can use just in case).

You definitely did a lot of digging. No neighbor with a backhoe, or did you do it for the exercise? Just kidding.

Love your photos, and think you did an outstanding job.

Re: My semi-pit banana greenhouse
 

Landlord's rules, no such equipment allowed.

Thanks :bananas_b