Hi Buyorsell..It's been a while seeing you.
I have a small 8x12 green house. In winter it's kept heated, gas and electric electric in case something happens to gas heater. I keep a plastic container filled with water which helps with humidity and seems to keep temps stable.
I dont know anything technical about green houses..LOL What temp do you keep your gh in winter? Highs and lows? I find gardenias do best in a cooler area during winter..my 'debnias stay in a back room (the house) that is semi-unheated. South window and some artifical at night. Toni

I have a pond in my greenhouse with tropical waterlilies and tropical marginal water plants in it but lost them the last two years. I heated the greenhouse to about 50* but that wasn't enough to keep the pond warm. I use an electric heater.

I used to live in Phoenix and am growing a lot of plants that grow there so I know they can take heat. I'm not shading or cooling the greenhouse in summer. My bougainvilleas keep losing all it's leaves and I'm not sure why. My Gardenia radicans has done very well except for spider mites. It is blooming right now. My scraggly Meyer lemon has a lemon on it and has bloomed twice. Also battling with spider mites on it too. My Jasmine sambac looks yellow all over, not sure why. Variegated stephanotis is going to bloom, covered with buds. I bought it a couple months ago so haven't grown it that long.

My greenhouse is only 6 x 8. I bought several metal plant racks that are only about ten inches deep to put pots on. Many tropicals grow bigger than that and require bigger pots than will fit on them. I wish they were taller too. they are sort of like baker's racks. I wanted attractive shelving not just functional.

Hi Buyorsell. How large is your pond? How many plants are kept in your gh?
Are you using an exhaust fan, ventilation?
In summer, I haul every plant out of gh and set in the yard. For one, it saves on electric. Plants love the outdoors..there's nothing like fresh air, rain and sun. Since the electric company increased rates by 24%, my plants will return to the gh as late as possible. But even before the price hike, plants went out in spring.
Make sure you gh is getting adequate air circulation, Buy. IMO, fresh air is really important.
What type of plants do you have from AZ? Since AZ day temps are hot in summer, what about nights? Is there a drop?
If so, then the secret is to replicate their native environment. This is difficult when one grows several types of plants used to different conditions.
Most plants need warmth during the day and a decrease at night. Most not all.

Treat your Boug 'almost' like a succulent, especially in winter. During summer they need more water and fertilizer. Stop feeding in winter..Even during summer, my boug soil dries before getting a drink.
Oh, what type of soil do you use? If you're into soil-less mixes, it's a different ballgame. You may need to fertilizer in winter too. I use soil=less mediums like Perlite, Peat etc, but also add potting soil in plants. (I don't have time to water, feed, Superthrive and Epsom Salt over 300 plants three-four times a week, lol)

What type of Boug do you have? Is it evergreen or deciduous? Even if it's deciduous it's way too early for leaf drop. My boug gets a slow=release Boug fert, watered well, then soil dries between. They enjoy sun, fresh air, and cooler temps. They adapt well to less or average humidity.

About your leaves yellowing..as you know, there are many reasons this happens..Overwatering, nutrient definciency, insects.
A woman from GW who lives in IL turned me on to Epsom Salts..Give it a try..Can't hurt. But I think your problem is related to spider mites.

Stephs are unpredictable. Mine was purchased between 1989-1991..but it's never, once bloomed..Leaves are healthy, green, no bugs..I decided to set outdoors. In winter, it goes in the upstairs bathroom, west window. Stephs need humidity.

Buy, You've probably read some of my posts..I do NOT use chemical insecticides. I mix up my own concoction. I've won the battle of mites/scale/whitefly..mealy are still ahead, but thank God, they seldom appear..it's been 3 yrs since seeing mealy on a Purple Passion.
This is what I use for mites. 2-4 drops dish soap, (Not Dawn) citrus rind or juice, finely chopped garlic. (Garlic can plug a sprayer, so instead of chopping, mix this concoction the day before spraying. Place garlic in water, squeeze juice from garlic if possible. A little Cayenne Pepper wouldn't hurt either. Combine ingredients, shake well, then spray plants thoroughly. Week 1, spray 3 times. Week 2, 2 times, Week 3, 1 time..Mites should be gone after week one, but I continue using week 2 and 3 as a preventative. You can substitute..Say you don't have citrus rind..if you have lemon juice, etc, use that. The object is to spray the entire plant. Leaves, over and under, stems, trunk.
Do you hose plants in the gh? They'd love a shower. Though you probably have a lot of humidity because of the pond, hosing would add more, knock off insects, and clean foliage..Dust particles form on leaves, so it's best ridding it. If enough dust form, it'll clog leaf pores.

I'd focus on ridding mites for now. Halt fertilizing. If you use Superthrive, add some. Hose plants, and either try the spray I mentioned or a mite insecticide.
Good luck, Buy or Sell..Take care, Toni

The pond is all the way across the back of the greenhouse and is 6'x 2' by 18" deep or so. I have tropical waterlilies, azolla and dwarf umbrella grass in it. I have dwarf papyrus and a lotus in pots with no holes so they can be full of water.

I do hose the plants in the greenhouse, almost daily. I have sprayed the lemon and gardenia with neem and with Safer soap, multiple times. I need to take my reading glasses out there to see if the mites are still alive. To my horror, I can't tell with the naked eye anymore....

The greenhouse has two roof vents with automatic openers.

The only location in the yard where it would fit is partially shaded by neighbor's mature box elder (terrible weed tree but that is another story) We don't get very hot here in Portland so no fan or shade cloth has been necessary. I bought shade cloth last year but had to take it off, the plants were stretching.

Gardenias, Bougainvilla, tropical Hibiscus, Pittosporum, Lemons, Lantana, Asparagus meyeri (foxtail asparagus) Mandevillea, Osteospermum, Tradescantia (purple heart and wandering jew) Ruellia (Mexican petunia)Cuphea (Mexican heather) and Agapanthus all grow outside in Phoenix and I have all of them in the greenhouse. Plus a couple Plectranthus, a Stephanotis and a pothos and a Philodendron in the shade under the plant rack.

Bougainvilleas are 'Raspberry Ice', and two NOIDs. I think DH overwatered them when I was in Atlanta on business a couple weeks ago.

I really don't have room in the yard/patio/deck to put them all outside for the summer. It is much warmer for them inside the greenhouse too.

I uploaded some photos if anyone is interested.

Here is a link that might be useful: greenhouse photos

Hi Lee Ann,
Wow, your gh is really nice. Everything's doing great.
I have a few questions and comments. Your Variegated Steph is abslutely gorgeous. Where on earth did you find a variegated version??? It has sooo many flowers, too.
What do you fert with and how often?
What size pot is your FoxTail in? How long are your tails?
I love the Daffs around your gh,..what a novel idea.
I may look into it.
What are the plants in pic 10? I particularly like the one with purple veins.
Your Raspberry Ice Boug is nicely variegated. There's so much white in its leaves.. How long are your winters? Because it's deciduous, how many months is it w/o foliage?
You've done a great job.
Oh and your pond is a great idea too..bet it increases humidity. A lot..Plus you grow water plants inside. I like the way your smaller Papyrus is growing..Cool..Toni

Thanks for the compliments.

I found the stephanotis at Fred Meyer which is a local big box store owned by Kroger. They have a big garden center. It was grown my Monrovia in California.
I have not fertilized it, it had osmocote in the pot when I boght it which wasn't that long ago.

I am a lazy gardener and have only fertilized the greenhouse once, with Miracle Gro after putting Osmocote in some of the pots in early spring. I'm sure it was long leached out and I should have fertilized much more often. I don't spray the dang mites as often as I should either.

The foxtail asparagus is in an eight inch pot and the tails about about a foot tall.

The daffs were supposed to be planted, I had bought them mail order as bulbs and I wait until they bloom to plant them in the garden because I have sooo many that I like to see them up before digging. We had a very bad wet spring so I didn't get them all into the ground.

In pic 10 are Ruellia brittoniana also known as Mexican petunia and the one with the purple veins is a taro, 'Black Magic' Colocasia esculenta that doesn't get enough sun to make it as dark as it should be.

The bougainvillea only defoliates for a short period of time and it did it in May or so this year outside of winter.

Our winters are long and gray and rainy but not particularly cold. Actual freezing temps and snow are usually only a few days. We did have a late freeze in May this year which knocked a lot back.