Maine 4-Season Greenhouse Grow

Looking like a beautiful sunny Monday on the coast of Maine. Chicks are getting moved out of the GH and into their outdoor summer enclosure. Waiting on the autos to break soil and keeping an eye on the transplants in their big pots. They look happy and I know once their roots find all that space they are going to POP. I've never used tomato cages but I think they will be helpful, especially if I want to add an exterior trellis or, more likely, I want to support stalks/colas with wire to the cage. I'm guessing at that point the roots will have fully grown around the feet of the cage and locked it in place.

Most outdoor growers up here don't plant for another 2-3 weeks. The Stanks already have a 6-week head start in the GH...
:slide:
 
They are going to love the sun man. I can't wait to see how big they get!
 
Ok, here is one of those "educational" updates...meaning I was stupid and I can hopefully spare someone else the pain. Amongst all my glee for getting the pots planted and setup in the GH I forgot one of the fundamentals of gardening...germinating seeds don't like 46F low night temps! No, I haven't lost them but I also haven't seen them and 4x of them I planted on 5/4 so they are due. Today and tomorrow are supposed to be nice and sunny so here is the plan:

This afternoon I am going to rearrange all 6x of the 10-gallon pots on my large germinating heat pad and cover the tops of the pots with polycarbonate (or similar) to retain the heat. The pots will get enough heat through the night to stay above 65F (hopefully) and we should see these seeds pop. A good lesson, since the other plants were several weeks grown and hardy enough to prosper in these fluctuating spring temps...not so much for seedling autos, no matter how much I want to get them growing and harvested by beginning of August.

Onwards...
 
Ms Stank said:
I hope those seedlings make their appearance today, Blew!
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Me too...or at least soon. I put the pots on the germ pad and modified the GH front vents so I can close them at night...I should have done that earlier but it got pushed down the list. Now it is done. :)
 
Blew Hiller said:
Ok, here is one of those "educational" updates...meaning I was stupid and I can hopefully spare someone else the pain. Amongst all my glee for getting the pots planted and setup in the GH I forgot one of the fundamentals of gardening...germinating seeds don't like 46F low night temps! No, I haven't lost them but I also haven't seen them and 4x of them I planted on 5/4 so they are due. Today and tomorrow are supposed to be nice and sunny so here is the plan:

This afternoon I am going to rearrange all 6x of the 10-gallon pots on my large germinating heat pad and cover the tops of the pots with polycarbonate (or similar) to retain the heat. The pots will get enough heat through the night to stay above 65F (hopefully) and we should see these seeds pop. A good lesson, since the other plants were several weeks grown and hardy enough to prosper in these fluctuating spring temps...not so much for seedling autos, no matter how much I want to get them growing and harvested by beginning of August.

Onwards...
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I think you should be alright. Might take a little longer to germinate but the ruderalis background in the autos are supposed to make them more hardy to colder temps (according to people that know that sort of thing). Time will tell if that is true.

I also think that you growing in those bigger pots will help keep the soil warmer longer.

:popcorn:
 
Van Stank said:
I think you should be alright. Might take a little longer to germinate but the ruderalis background in the autos are supposed to make them more hardy to colder temps (according to people that know that sort of thing). Time will tell if that is true. I also think that you growing in those bigger pots will help keep the soil warmer longer.
Click to expand...

I'm not worried..yet. The heating pads will get the pot mass to a constant 65F through the night and daytime temps will push them to 80F...they'll pop but it was a good lesson for me.

Also, now I can close the GH front vent with one quick motion, whereas before I had to unscrew several spots.
 
43F this morning, but I have the GH buttoned up and the autos are on a heating pad with a piece of polycarbonate over them...a makeshift cold frame in side the GH! At these temps, there's no way to start outside as early as May 1...but May and June offer the only 14-15+hr sunshine months of the year where I am ....hence the value of a GH:cool:

Midcoast Maine Hours of Sunshine.png

Midcoast Maine Hours of Sunshine.png

Hours of Sunlight
 
First water for the big pots since last Friday when they got potted....Stankberry was looking a little limp so I figured it was time. It's crazy how much water the 30 and 45-gallons hold...I just stood over them with the hose running for like 3-4 minutes each. That will be great when they get bigger and need to hold more water during the hot months of July and August. One of the autos popped and I am expecting the others to follow suit. 60F and sunny...a magical day on the coast of Maine.
 
I am guessing about 6-7 gallons for the 30 gallons...and 9-11 for the 45 gallons
 
LOL....that works!
 
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