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| Well, I just found and put up my greenhouses, these are fairly small, they have two 4 tier shelves, that can each hold one flat, or two flats if they are placed differently.
Now, my dahlias are not in flats, that are in 5 inch pots, but I was wondering, if I can start puting them out during the day? It was only 35 degrees F today, but inside the greenhouse it seemed pretty warm, I was VERY comfortable in a longsleeved shirt. I would have to bring them in when it gets dark, does this seem warm enough to you? It must have been at least 60 degrees inside the greenhouse. Seems to me that they would definately benifit from the natural sunlight!! Any thoughts? Just how low can the temp go before these plants revolt against me? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by misslucinda 6a (My Page) on Tue, Mar 10, 09 at 17:57
| Hi Mommy-- Your best bet for feedback would be VikingCraftsman as he is in our zone (and JRoot because he really trucks his children in and outdoors for a while to weather them) and I know both start their tubers early. However, I think you are making a mistake if you plop your babies outdoors, albeit in a protected environment, too early. IME you don't need the sun until they start sprouting and then (my)tubers only start sprouting if the potting mixture is in excess of 60 degrees. I think you want to avoid any environment which will subject them to capricious changes in temperature because it will alter the size and behaviour of the incipient growth and perhaps stress the tuber itself (I am reaching beyond my knowledge of botany here). Hope this helps, Lucinda |
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- Posted by vikingcraftsman 6/7LINY (My Page) on Tue, Mar 10, 09 at 18:52
| Ok since my friend Lucinda brought me up I will try to answer. First as you are aware weather is different on the same street. My mother in law has the same plants I have. Her plants bloom all most three weeks before mine. Having said that the only way you can be sure is to test one plant. I do this every year. I take one out April first and see how it works out. If that plant sevives a week in the poly house I risk a dozen more. I have also found the more plants you have in the poly house the warmer it is. So by the second week of April i have that house stuffed. I put herbs, and spring bloomiing bulbs in there just to pack it up. I hope this helps you. |
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| Thanks for the feedback. I brought them out yesterday and today, although I worry it did get to cold today, so I put them back up in my window. misslucinda, they where all started mid January or so, so they are in full leaf now, just itching to get some really good light. Unfortunately I can't get them in anything better then a large south facing picture window, as all my lights are in use for seedlings, and Dear Husband will not buy me anymore ;-( So, I will just have to play it by ear. If it is warmer, I'll put them out for the day, if it is cooler like today, I'll just have to keep them inside! I will make sure the pack the greenhouse though. It should be easy, just about time to start bringing out the Cannas!! |
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| I lost some plants in my unheated greenhouse when the temperature went down to about to about 23 degrees one night. The plants were very close to the green house film and the cold went right through to the plants. All plants a foot or so away were fine. |
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| Thanks for posting about your experiance, I am planning on bringing them in when the weather is bad and at night prior to the temps dropping off too much. They are all back in the window today (large south facing, just don't have the ability to get more shop lights this year, DH said NO!!) I did get some good news though; I have about 35 pots that are all Lilac Time and Moms Special, they seem pretty stable. I also have 3 pots that are from my Mother in Law last year, they where very abused going into storage because she dug them up and let them sit for days outside prior to handing them off to me because "they need to be 100% dry before storage you know?? ;-( Anyway, I had about 15 trays from hers I tried to get going, and now I have 3 that took off. Had 5 at one point, but 2 died off, just could not keep going. The good news is, I took sprout cuttings off two of them, and after 3 weeks, one is rooting!! The other looks just like the day I cut it, full, strong, lush and green, but no roots! So, I just added more rooting hormone and replanted it. Hopefully it will have roots soon! Even better news though, is within a week, these tubers are going to give me at last 4 more cuttings, and they still are producing more eyes past that! It is amazing just how much will to live these remarkable flowers have! |
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