mikethecactusguy wrote: ↑Mon May 24, 2021 3:42 am
Which one? Over the past 4 months I have been repotting quit a few plants. My wife will usually help with filling in the larger pot while I hold the plant upright. All the smaller plants are easy. I just repotted 3 devils tongue's today Whet from 10" to 14" bowls. I usually fill the pot a little , transfer the plant and then fill in around it.
The big one , like this wonderful Cereus. OK, team work makes it easier . Thanks.
The cereus was transplanted into a larger pot 2 months ago. I did it by myself. I usually remove the dirt around the perimeter of the plant which breaks it loose from the pot. I'll then lift it out with my handy dandy Hex Armor Thorn Armor gloves. Lay it on its side on cardboard. Spines will catch a blanket. A layer of dirt on the new pot bottom. Stand the plant back in the new pot. Hold with one hand while I fill the pot with dirt. Easy peasy.
Shade cloth. I think I went overboard with the shade cloth. The black is too much. Growth in the greenhouse on the lower shelf has slowed down a lot.
I'm going to shorten the area covered on the north/right side to start. It receives no sun from there so covering it was not necessary. On the West end, I'm going to replace the black with brown but only bring it down 4 feet, so half way. This will block most of the west afternoon sun.
Its 108 degrees today here in Indio and the greenhouse is 103. That's with only one roof vent open(the automatic opener failed) only the south side lower vent open. The door open and the fan running on medium.
The Greenhouse is getting hot. I have been leaving the door open all day and closing it at night to keep night time critter out. Last Sunday a hummingbird flew in during the afternoon heat. It took 10 minutes to get it to find the door again. I was going to replace the existing door with a screen door and then last night I realized I could replaced 2 of the plastic panels with screens. A trip to home depot for screen making supplies and 2 hours later I have a screen door that can now stay closed all day and night
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I also just bought a swamp cooler. It only 10% humidity here. This one is designed for 400sq foot spaces and smaller. Lets see how it works at keeping the temps in the low 90's. It even mentions greenhouses in the description.
nice to see some of your plants!
The solution for the ventilation is great. (Could have been mine. . . )
I'm very interested to see how the cooling works.
Here in Köln the summers are getting warmer and warmer.
With shading it is soon no longer done.
Best regards and good luck,
K.W.
We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
It is supposed to hit 11f next week. As it heats up I'll start experimenting with the swamp cooler. I tried it this morning in my garage. It did cool it down by 10 degrees but the humidity went way up. It will probably work differently in the greenhouse.
Yes, the plants are moving along.
Hi All
115 degrees today. Been like this for 4 days. The swamp cooler is working. Final placement was right up against the screened door.
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When I modified the door I installed screens top and bottom
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As an experiment I covered the upper screen to see if the cooler worked better without the hot air from above getting in. The effect was the complete opposite. Temps ended up being 10 degrees hotter. As soon as I removed the panel, the temps started to drop.
Even with the intense heat inside and out, the plants are thriving like crazy. Some have popped new arms. Watering has been a challenge. The larger pots I double water. A complete soaking and then an hour later another complete soaking. This seems to last 3 to 4 days. The smaller inside pots are random as to when they dry out and then when I have to water. It has been averaging out to every 2 days. A few like the Discorea that are active are almost everyday. With both a fan running and the cooler, evaporation is high.
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All the larger euphorbia have gone nuts since I removed the double layer of shade cloth from the east end of the deck.
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Mike- I am impressed by all your plants and your greenhouse, etc. setup. It's amazing how much water your plants are using. Have you considered coating your terra cotta pots to make them less porous?
Los Angeles, California (USA)
Zone 10b (yearly minimum temperature 1-5° C)
Fishhook cacti are like cats, they only like to be petted in one direction
, like this wonderful Cereus. OK, team work makes it easier 
) 