Travis, congrats with your greenhouse. You have a fine bunch of plants. For ID's you have to put on more close ups and not to many at one time. greets Harry

Awesome pics Travis. I, also, have the HFGH. I love it. Get a fan in there, the heat lately is brutal..hehehe.

Dave
Milwaukee

Fan? My cacti are loving it! My "chain fruit chollas" are bursting with new growth. Tonight, once it drops to about 80ish in there, I am going to water them with a little fertilizer and let them enjoy the heat wave.

Travis

That's a very nice setup.

I personally don't use a greenhouse once temps are up consistently above about 50 degrees at night. It's too hot in them even with shade cloth and exhaust fans, which cost money to run :-). Outdoors works just fine and it's free.

You might end up frying a few of your plants in that greenhouse as it is now even in zone 5.

randy

I agree, I would just keep them outdoors for now. At those temps, some of your plants are going to go dormant due to the heat and you are risking root damage.

The only problem is that I have no good spot outside... also too much rain is a very real issue. I also think that themomiter is slightly off, it said 111 outside but the weather channel put it at a high of 92 that day :-)

Travis

If it was 92 outdoors, the 120 was probably very close to the real temp in the greenhouse. My greenhouse stays about 20 to 40 degrees warmer inside. I went into it yesterday to fetch some pots and it was 135. It was only 105 outside. I didn't stay in very long:-).

Having a greenhouse is great, but there is a learning curve when you start. Taking plants fresh out of your house and putting them under a magnifying glass and into a frying pan will probably have adverse results.

Shadecloth and vent fans will help a lot.

Rain shouldn't really be an issue, it rains outside of zone 5 too:-). A very good soil mix usually takes care of that.

Wish you luck.

randy

The problem is the temp it read outside was 111 and inside 121. I know it wasn't that hot outside so I question the acuracy of the temp.

I did a slow transition into the full sun by putting them out in early spring so they got used to the intensity of the sun. 1-2 of my plants got minor sunrelated damage but I just moved them under my partial shade clothish thing.

Travis

In your third pic down, the spikey stripey plant on the upper left (not the big round one)........you don't have a better pic of that one do you?

It looks like one that I bought (rescued, LOL) at Wal Mart the other day, and I'm trying to find out what it is. Yours is the first other one I've seen online!

I do have pics of mine, but have to get them put on a CD to get them on the computer.

J

Try this site J...

http://www.desert-tropicals.com/Plants/Asphodelaceae/Haworthia_fasciata.html

Here is a link that might be useful: HERE

Thanks Travis, it is a Haworthia Fasciata! Now I can find out how to take care of it! :)

J

In the 3rd pic down, that cactus in the back row 2nd from the right...i have one so identical to it, i cant believe it! (the one that has been chopped in half, and has a new shoot out the side).
The funny thing is (and i reckon the same thing happened to yours), it used to be the rootstock for a gymno scion, but the top half of the rootstock and the scion rotted, leaving a small amount of rootstock left over, and subsequently re-shooting with new growth.

Am i right?

Hi Miguel,

I think those rootstocks are hylocereus of some species...and they get huge! It's a night blooming tropical similar to an Epiphyllum.

Dave
Milwaukee

Sweet news you guys! I just got a new shelf setup for my greenhouse. It ran me just shy of $100 but is big enough for all my plants (+ some new ones) and strong enough to support my weight sitting on one of the shelves (135lbs). I will try to get pictures up this weekend. It was purchased at Menards in the shelving department. Even better its not bulky rubbermaid shelves, this shelf system is like powder coated steel. Looks like it will hold up as long as it doesnt sit in a big pool of water. Considering my GH is usually super dry I don't think rust is too big of an issue.

Its amazing how much nicer my greenhouse is with proper room for the plants. This setup can also be added to. Some day if I get the itch again I can just throw on another shelf or two and have 50 more plants.

Parts -
4 4' shelves (~$15 each) My gh is only 8 feet long so its a nice close fit... like less than .5" on each side

10 rods (~$4 each)

Travis

don't know all the exact species but I think I can pick out the genus, here it goes:
all are left to right
pic 1;
top: mammillaria, ?, gymnocalycium
middle:haworthia, haworthia, euphorbia maybe (or tephrocactus), haworthia, lobivia
bottom: ?, ?, anacampseros rufescens, ?, ?

pic 2:
top: all look like cereus
bottom: ?, ?, lobivia, ferocactus probably

pic 3:
top: ferocactus, notocactus (parodia), espostoa lanata (?), mammilaria crest ?
middle: Echinopsis, ?, 3 mammilarias in a row
bottom: gymnocalycium friedrichae, lobivia (?), 3 mamms in a row

pic 4:
looks like 2 aloes, an epiphytic cactus (should NOT be in greenhouse!), bottom?

pic 5:
front: mammillaria plumosa (?)
behind left: euphorbia obesa (?), behind right: mammillaria

pic 6:
top left?
right: tephrocactus
bottom right?

pic 7: hard to see

pic 8:
top right astrophytum myriostigma
bottom: gymnocalycium, ?, lobivia, astrophytum capricorne

pic 9:
top: echinocactus grusonii, notocactus ottonis(?)
bottom: cereus peruvianus (?), ?, ?

pic 10:
left: oreocereus (?)
top: mammilaria
right: cereus crested form
bottom: ferocactus

xerophyte_nyc,

Thank you very much for giving me some direction for hunting down names for my beauties! I am thinking that getting ID's is going to be my job this winter... keep me busy when I can't be growing them.

I can't wait untill my brother comes home this weekend so I can steal his camera and get some new shots of my babies. Looking back at these pictures its amazing how much some of them have grown in just a little over 1 month. The "chain fruit chollas" for example have put on a few inches and many little branches. SOoooooo exciting :-)

Travis

Travis

Out of curiosity, how do you intend on overwintering those plants?

x_nyc

Ahhh, my basement stays at ~50ish... I plan on keeping them down there. I did that last year and it worked very well. They actually went with 0 water all winter. Many put out very nice blooms after thier nap time.

Travis

Good - because that greenhouse will not keep the night temps any warmer than outdoors. I keep all my cactus in the garage overwinter, no light, no water, I've been doing it for 10+ years. Easy.

Here are the updates I promised!

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If you ask me, its a much better setup now :-)

Enjoy the pics!

Travis

Looks clean and neat, and you've got more room for more plants :-)

The cycad needs full sun for optimum growth, you can leave it outside the greenhouse and bring it in when it starts to get cold, Sago Palm (Cycas revoluta) can easily survive light frosts without damage, and will live through heavier frosts but the leaves will die back. Since it is very doubtful you'll get a new flush of leaves this late in the season it's OK where it is, but next spring, leave out for fresh air, sun and rain, you will be rewarded.

Also, what happens when you water the top plants, does the excess drip onto the plants underneath?

Gymnocalycium (the ones with the pink flowers) are easy bloomers and very rewarding, especially the clumping species which look like a bouquet when in flower

It's a nice set up you have there. Pic #6, right front - common name - Paper Spines. 1 down, 100 to go?