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[Crunching snow]
Well, hello there Youtubers,
it's december the fourteenth and we've got our first real decent snowfall today,
so it seemed like a really good time to discuss something I've learned recently,
and that is, there is a significant difference between a hoop house
and a green house.
Let me explain.
What I have here,
and I call my greenhouse is in fact a hoop house.
It's not a controlled environment
by any means,
and basically it simply shelters my plants from the wind
and the falling snow.
Whereas
in the greenhouse you're looking at a much more controlled environment.
Not only will it block the wind, not only will block the rain and snow and all of
those things,
you're gonna find in a proper greenhouse,
it maintains the adequate temperature needed for the plant.
Now when I say adequate temperature
most plants
most, not all,
but most plants are looking for somewhere in the vicinity of twenty degrees celcius.
Which would be
well, twenty times two is fourty, plus thirty-two is ...
seventy-two. So, you know, the early to mid seventies fahrenheit
for my American friends.
At this temperature plants tended to thrive.
Now whether that's because of the bacteria active in the soils or
in my case the aquaponic medium,
whether that's just because of the ambient temperature I don't know. I'm not
a botanist.
I'm learning as I go here and I'm trying to share what I've learned
so that other people
maybe don't have to stumble were I did along the way.
One thing I have discovered about having a simple hoop house,
is that it can make a significant difference how well your plants to in
general.
That simple protection from the wind, the protection from the snow is provided,
without even having the necessary heat for ample growth,
still allows the plant an opportunity to grow a little bit as it warms a little
bit during the day.
In the case of my golden oregano which is the perfect example. My poor highly
abused golden oregano.
In the mornings, when I come out and it has frozen outside,
you know, I've noticed that
the leaves are all very wilty,
they even change color somewhat
because of the frozen nature of the leaf. I mean
the perfect example um ... take piece of lettuce
throw it in the freezer, you know, look at it a few hours later
and you can definitely see some physical changes to that lettuce.
Now when the lettuce comes out of the freezer it's never going to be quite the
same again which is
why a lot of people don't bother to freeze their lettuce.
I would be one of them.
Now Chard on the other hand, but
that's a different story.
Since the oregano is still living,
when it thaws out again it's got enough
of uh... natural antifreeze in there that the cells haven't been destroyed
so it comes back, it grows again he continues to be healthy
and it will grow for me all winter long under these
adverse conditions.
Certain other plants that I have in my hoop house will probably need to be
taken indoors in order to survive the winter,
I have a Bay plant that I've taken inside, I've got my Key-Lime that I've taken
inside, I've got a few lemons that I'm gonna transplant to take inside today.
I'd like to see these grow to be larger healthier plants.
In the case of my oreganos they'll all be left out for the season, most of them
were around last year
and they did ok. I'm a little surprised to say it but it's true, that they did
okay.
I'm not gonna bother taking in the strawberries, I managed to keep my strawberries
green all year last year.
I'm not gonna bother taking the mints.
Even though it doesn't necessarily have the controlled environment of a proper greenhouse,
my hoop house allows me the opportunity to continue growing late into the season,
and in many cases all year anyway,
simply because it does have that extra sheltered effect.
Among the some of the plants that I will continue to try and grow all winter long
in my hoop house,
are my Leeks,
my Chards
I'm thinking about starting some carrots, not quite sure how that's going to go, but I
will definitely let you know.
I'm hoping to get my hands on some kale seeds, I might try those,
it my understanding that kale produces a natural antifreeze inside it's leaves
and therefore even in the harsh Canadian winters even if it freezes it's still
not gonna
'freeze'
and it should be ok keep growing.
Unfortunately kale is one of the seeds that I wasn't able to pick up last spring,
so I'm either gonna have to pay way too much for it in the winter,
or I might just have to wait until the spring.
For those of you in warmer climates I strongly encourage just building a
hoop house to start with. You might not even need the full on temperature control of
the greenhouse.
In cases such as my own find that the hoop house is
probably not quite enough.
I'd like it to be that little bit warmer here in the winter, I'd like it to be that
little bit cooler in the summer.
In the summertime, this little thing gets upwards of forty degrees celcius which
is
a hundred and twelve, a hundred and twenty fahrenheit. So as you can see
that a little bit higher than the twenty to seventy
that I was looking for.
In some cases that extra heat killed a few of my plants,
that's part of why I have so many windows in my hoop house and such a large
opening for my door.
The only problem I find from that is that, as the wind takes it, it kinda makes
the whole thing act like a sail.
When I get the opportunity,
I intend to build a more permanent structure and something that will be much
closer to a greenhouse
so that I can maintain an adequate temperature for my fish
and my plants
all year long.
There you have it, in a nutshell and from a nut case
the main differences between a hoop house and a greenhouse. If I've missed anything
really important please feel free comment below.
I'm always interested in learning new things and I'm always interested in the feedback
that I get from my viewers.
So thanks for watching, have yourselves a great day!