And Lee Raden (I think he lived in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania) had an air conditioned alpine house, which was before the family's house was air conditioned. On 11/1/2021 7:25 PM, Mark Mazer via pbs wrote: > "I just accepted that a true alpine house was more of a fantasy than a > reality in my location." > > Matt..... Linc Foster had an alpine house in NW CT with ventilation at bed > level similar to what Heath describes in Collectors' Alpines. > https://amazon.com/Collectors-Alpines-Cultivation-… > > Thirty or so miles South, we had an 8x12 Juliana with custom made HDPE deep > bench level coarse sand plunge beds and extra vents installed on the > Western wall for the Primula and Sax and other alpines. The East and South > beds, without the extra vents, grew winter South African bulbs and sundry > South American's. Under the benches were all sorts of Trilliums, Paris, > and ephemerals. We kept it "frost free" but some of the colder corners > did freeze. > > Here in coastal NC, this stuff pretty much succumbed to the high humidity > and temps after a couple of years in the greenhouse. It's now filled mostly > with cacti and citrus and tropicals that are overwintered in the house. > Camellias grow in the garden. > > On Mon, Nov 1, 2021 at 5:42 PM Matt Mattus via pbs < > pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> wrote: > >> Recently I've had many requests that my next book should be about building >> a greenhouse, but I've been throwing around an idea more like a diary book >> of the perils and joys of building and keeping a greenhouse, or life with a >> greenhouse. Surely, the market is small for this topic, but it has had me >> recently hunting for reference as I incubate the idea. >> >> Katheryn S Taylor's book 'Winter Flowers in Greenhouse and Sun-Heated Pit >> (1941) was my first go-to book when I dreamed of constructing a pit house >> as a teenager. Last week I spent some time revisiting it and noticed the >> bibliography in the back of the book that lists about 28 historical books >> used as reference and 36 books she called 'Reference Books', most of which >> are now on my wish list. Outdated, of course, but the physics should be the >> same. Many are 20th C. books such as 'The Cool Greenhouse and >> Conservatory' Gould-Adams (1965), the 'Unheated Greenhouse' (1907) K.L. >> Davidson. And others. >> >> There seems to be increasing interest with cool and unheated greenhouses >> lately (with COVID perhaps and the rise in popularity of flower farming, >> slow flowers and hoop houses being more efficient). I do think many home >> gardeners are misguided when buying pre-fab smaller greenhouses that >> inevitably end up being seasonal 'she sheds,; but I have had at least 15 >> emails this year on real, home glass greenhouses from folks who want to >> raise camellias, force bulbs or for garden seedlings. I doubt that it's a >> true trend, (UK style) but part of me wants to believe that this other >> house plant trend with younger people (plant dads and plant moms) might >> result in some percentage of folks who eventually might be more interested >> in plants for the long-term. It's a wish, anyway. >> >> I will add that I found Jim Jones book useful. >> >> Lastly, to add to the thread - I heat my 23 x 26' glass house with >> propane. My burner is a newer Propane Modine heater, one without a pilot >> light and with external air feed (not sure what it was technically called, >> but our older Modine would explode when igniting on colder evenings which >> was scary). I was told that ours was overkill for the size greenhouse we >> have, but it does the job. We replaced it 5 years ago and some of the >> burner pipes had to be replaced last year as they rusted which also caused >> explosions (when igniting). IT has a fan and external exhaust so I think >> that might have helped with any gas issues - I mean, we could grow tomatoes >> and orchids without any problems that I can see. >> >> I keep my house at 40º F at night, probably 34 deg. F near the foundation. >> There is a 4 foot concrete foundation wall, and gravel/soil on the floor. I >> live about 20 miles from fellow member Roy Herald outside of Boston in Zone >> 5b or 6a depending on what map you look at. Firmly in the north Atlantic >> Snow Belt according to Wikipediae where we can get 36" of snow during one >> nor'easter. >> >> I did build a sort-of alpine house about ten years ago. I used a kit >> greenhouse, a Juliana I think, with aluminum frame and twinwall walls. I >> bought those aluminum raised sand plunge beds from the UK where I kept >> ariculas, other alpine primula such as alonii and tried bulbs (narcissus) >> as well as saxifrages. I was ignorant about so many things, but maybe that >> allowed me to experiment more. In short, I learned from the few alpine >> houses in North America that I needed more ventilation, so in the winter I >> would keep the top vents open and the door always open. I discovered that >> the auricula did fine, as did the saxifrage but they tended to bloom too >> early as the house would heat up on warm February days. I later learned to >> remove the sides of the alpine house in March or April, but often that was >> too late. >> >> Bulbs were a disaster as the elevated beds froze. Later I learned to >> improvise a keep bulbs on the floor of the larger greenhouse just above >> freezing, and relocate them to the sand plunge beds in March and that >> worked. In January and February, I only kept primula and saxifrages in >> there. I would only close the vents and door on snowy nights. If I built >> one again, I would build solid plunge beds that went completely to the >> ground, maybe heating cables? Better vents. I always had to use shade cloth >> in late spring, which was problematic with high alpines that needed strong >> light. Summer was always the toughest time, keeping root aphids off of >> alpine primula was a constant battle, and over heating was always an issue. >> I think some afternoon shade might have helped, but out humid summer >> weather made things challenging. >> >> In the end, I just accepted that a true alpine house was more of a fantasy >> than a reality in my location. I'm still hashing out ideas, but think that >> ventilation is always key, as is controlling winter temperatures. A larger >> structure might have allowed me to keep the sand beds just above freezing >> which would have been ideal, as would allowing beds to freeze solid as >> primula growers do in Alaska. Here, soil would thaw too many times given >> sun angles and unpredictable winter weather. Keeping such a space within a >> range of acceptable temperatures is a real challenge. >> >> I now grow a few SA bulbs in the bigger glass house (nerine, oxalis) along >> with far too many other plants that I shouldn’t be trying to grow in the >> same space (camellia, cacti, orchids, veg seedlings and anything else that >> excites me). >> >> Matt Mattus >> Worcester, MA USA >> Zone 6a, or 5b >> >> On 11/1/21, 3:08 PM, "pbs on behalf of Judy Glattstein via pbs" < >> pbs-bounces@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net on behalf of >> pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> wrote: >> >> Jane, it is "Winter Flowers in the Greenhouse and Sun-heated Pit", as >> I >> mentioned up thread. >> -- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus/ _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net>