Plantasia Greenhouse update – July 2016

Greenhouse – July 2016

July has been a good month for temperature with night time temps staying in the mid-teens and some really hot day temperatures at this late stage in the month.   This has brought both positive and negative effects to the greenhouse and plants with a subsidence in powdery mildew only to be replaced by localised outbreaks of spider mite.  We have been hitting these pesky mites with a combination of natural mite killers which seems to be keeping a control for now.  The first chilli fruits of the year are starting to ripen and it’s great to see some of the new varieties of chilli taking shape.  Talking of taking shape, the pumpkins are flying along and, after a late start the green pumpkin is catching up with the orange variety in terms of growth and fruit size.  The giant onions are bulking up very well indeed and I expect these beauties to be our best effort yet.  Some of the other impressive plants have been the lemon grass which we started from seed this year and the Datura that were also started from seed this year and are about to start flowering any day now.

Once all the plants had finished being potted up at the end of June the next task is to set up all of the Autopot watering systems that take care of the watering and feeding of our plants.  As soon as that task is complete the plants have grown and we are straight on to installing plant supports.  Maintenance of the plants such as removing leaf and flower drop, checking and treating pests, a regular foliar spraying program, tying up and adjusting supports, seems to fill every spare moment and all the staff and volunteers have been putting in seriously long hours preparing the greenhouse for the upcoming AutoPot Trade Open Day that we play host to.