I am just thinking but do you have any thoughts for expansion? I have 2 raised beds each 5' wide and about 35 ' long. They are maybe 7 ' apart. I have citrus in only 1 of them but have more in pots that I am nursing along until they get bigger.

Just dreaming in winter but I am seriously thinking of trying to put bows like you but longer from outside of one bed to the outside of the other bed so I can walk down the middle....will have to check my measurements carefully and probably experiment with smaller PVC to get size of bows down pat. I also am using frost cloth now on my one citrus bed with Christmas tree lights and all is good for now but 17 or so is in the long range forecast.

I have a small tunnel of frost cloth over 2 small trees and 2 small trees covered individually plus a larger tunell over all. Watering has been a chore b/c not much rain gets through 2 layers. I have been crawling under all cloth to water and it is not pretty to see me crawling around. This will change some how !! I think my bows now are 3/4 " PVC ,14 ' long . I have a huge piece of frost cloth for expansion. I think it is maybe 50 x 60 . It was not cheap. I will not be able to keep heat in as well as you and I don't have a guess on square feet in the future yet.

Its usually pretty warm inside but crawling around heats me up too....barrels of water or some visqueen for a cap over frost cloth maybe necessary on very cold nights. Might have to go with 2 layers of plastic like you.Thanks for reading all this. Tom

Thanks Steven. I hope that someday you will be able to grow your own tropical fruit.

Tom I am by no means an expert on these things but I will offer you some of my thoughts. I can understand that you want to be able to walk down the middle of the greenhouse but wouldn’t the trees grow too tall to be planted on the outside edges? You would have to build a much larger one. Don’t forget a center support will be needed in case of snow also. It might be best to make two smaller ones. I’m guessing that you want to use only one heat source though. That is what I would be thinking. As far as watering, can you use a soaker hose? Maybe leave it in there once you get it where you want it. I’m a phone guy so I’ve done my share of crawling under houses. LOL. The barrels of water sounds like a great idea. I have never done this but I have though of doing this for a cold frame in the future. Two layers of plastic don’t help a whole lot over using one unless you are able to create an air space. Unfortunately I don’t have an air space. I have considered using bubble wrap between the two layers but I haven’t done that yet. Another reason that I use two layers is because I have had one layer to crack when the plastic is old and be blown back and have the other layer remaining in place protecting my trees. It sounds like you have done a good job protecting your trees so far so I’m sure you will be able to protect them for the rest of this winter and you will have plenty of time to figure out what you need to do before next winter. Keep me informed on what you decide to do. I’ll be happy to answer any questions for you if I can. Tim.

Tim,

How are you doing since your last post? I'm still limping along with my old set up and I'm still green with envy because your set up looks awesome. I'm stuck with my 5' beds but I have 3 Sats and 1 Meyer doing pretty good. I did put in a drip system and it works great. I'm still using Christmas tree lights but I'm about ready to graduate. I think I will do two beds and two greenhouses like you suggested instead of a really wide house with two beds. Too much wasted space with my existing conditions and trying to make a huge wide house. I will probably be moving a large Satsuma to give everything more room. Probably would dig up two and replant one of them between the ones I leave alone. Then move the second one to the other bed I never planted in citrus. I have blueberries on each end and wish I hadn't wasted the space. I don't cover them and I'm not in love with them either.

The four citrus I have are spaced about 7 or 8 feet apart and I wish they were wider apart thus digging up the two in the middle and using one of them between where they were before. I have not fertilized them enough and haven't had many Sats. The few I've had haven't been good but no hurry on that. I had 130 Meyer Lemons last year and 70 this year. The sats should be ready to get going now. I don't really like the Meyer but friends do. The thorns tear me up. I cut off every one I see !

I have a Kishu and a Xie Shan waiting in pots and they will be ready to plant in the ground this spring.

Are you pleased with your 12' height or do you think 14 ' might be better ? I guessing I could pull down a whipy top to cut fruit off without a ladder.

I'm thinking about using 20' PVC pipe on my beds so the cross ties would need to come out a little wider than my 5 ' beds. Can I ask what you wish you had done differently ? What is the spacing of your trees? Would taller bows and not quite as wide be better ?(I hate to cut 2 ' off a 20' stick of PVC) I don't want to climb a ladder to pick fruit. You remember from my older post I don't like crawling around on the ground but I don't like falling off ladders either !

What are the lowest temps you have had to deal with? When I tried painting barrels black it didn't workout good at all. I need a better primer. What I used was supposed to be great and make paint stick to glass. Didn't work on plastic barrels at all. Next time I'm using the auto paint that they use on the plastic bumpers for new cars.

Did you come to the SE Citrus Expo in Clanton this year ? I think I would have remembered you but you might have slipped under the radar. Thanks. Tom

Hi Tom,

You went to Neighbors.

He used twenty two foot bows.

I soil banked all my trees. It went below freezing Monday at 1700 and is now 26. It has been below freezing for over 36 hours. I super watered Monday during the day. I'm sure I'll have some damage but doubt I'll lose any trees. Time will tell.

Hi Tom,
I’m doing well. Thanks for asking. It sounds like you have a good plan for your greenhouse. I’ve been wanting to build a larger greenhouse but I haven’t yet. My greenhouse is only about 7 ½ feet tall in the middle. I wish it was it was 12 or 14 feet tall. As far as what I wish that I had done differently, I wish I had used UV protected greenhouse plastic film. I always take my plastic off by April 15 but as you know there are many bright sunny days that seem to bake the plastic that I buy from home improvement stores, although I usually can use the plastic for three seasons. The reason that I cut 18 inches off of the 20 foot PVC pipes is because the largest plastic that I have found from the home improvement stores is 20 foot wide and I need 9 inches on each side to fasten the plastic to the ties. You can find just about any size UV protected plastic film from greenhouse supply stores so you can go as wide and tall as you want. A word of warring though, the taller the frame the more wind it will catch.
My trees are too close at 10 feet apart but they fit ok inside of the frame. I have to prune about three or four feet off of the top of the trees every fall before I Install the plastic cover. The coldest temps that I have had was just a few days ago at 0.5 degrees according to my outdoor weather station. I set the greenhouse thermostat to around 33 degrees so all was fine inside of it. No I didn’t go to the SE Citrus Expo in Clanton. To be honest I forgot all about it. I wish that I had gone.
My trees are doing well but I did lose my Eureka lemon tree. I don’t know why. The Navel orange trees are less productive for some reason also. It might be from all of the pruning that they go through each fall. The other trees are full as ever.
It was great hearing from you. I haven’t been on this board for a while. I told downsouthcitrus that I would post some pics soon but I haven’t done so yet. Now is not the best time because we have eaten most of the fruit and the trees look bare. Let me know if I can give you any info that might help you on your greenhouse.
Best of luck. Tim McCord, Centre AL.