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Old March 11, 2017   #76
sjamesNorway
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Following your threads, as always. You're a miracle-worker Mark! I have seedlings up for AK Sunrise and Mat-Su Express for my greenhouse. I'll also be starting Mat-Su for my garden and give-aways later.

Steve
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Old March 11, 2017   #77
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Following your threads, as always. You're a miracle-worker Mark! I have seedlings up for AK Sunrise and Mat-Su Express for my greenhouse. I'll also be starting Mat-Su for my garden and give-aways later.

Steve
Good luck with those. Which plant of M-S E did you get? I have found with my f6's that plant 11 has the most consistent early specimens from the A. family, while Super B. F6 is the most consistent of all.
I am curious what you think of the taste of AK Sunrise, it is not early, no super yields, medium size fruit, but that taste...........
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Old March 11, 2017   #78
Labradors2
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The Super-B that I started look to be some of my strongest-growing seedlings, just a couple weeks old right now.
Woo hoo! I can't wait to start my Mat-Su Express seeds that Cole generously shared with me

Linda
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Old March 12, 2017   #79
sjamesNorway
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Good luck with those. Which plant of M-S E did you get? I have found with my f6's that plant 11 has the most consistent early specimens from the A. family, while Super B. F6 is the most consistent of all.
I am curious what you think of the taste of AK Sunrise, it is not early, no super yields, medium size fruit, but that taste...........
My M-S E seeds are "F6A, plant 11", and I'm really looking forward to them, as well as AK Sunrise. Thanks again for the seeds! I'll definitely be reporting back to you.

Steve
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Old March 20, 2017   #80
AKmark
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Plants are perking up, I can finally keep the temps around 60 at night, daytime getting closer to 80. We are 58 days from seed sprout now, should see lots of stuff happening soon.
I have a couple of good surprises. (Cowlick's BW X Bloody Butcher F2) X (Bloody Butcher X Dester F1) F2 is super early, beat M-S E by a bit. The fruit that these seeds came from was excellent, so if that sticks, this is going to be an interesting line to work. I am also very impressed with BB X Delicious F2's nice shaped fruit, it seems it may have some size too, and it is also very early.

We now have many fruit set, the stuff done up here certainly tolerates the cold better than the original parents, but they are bouncing back nicely. I like looking down the rows of Chapman and Delicious,and dreaming, that should be quite the show.
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Old March 20, 2017   #81
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The most impressive part of the pics is the foot of snow on the ground outside. I can't imagine running a greenhouse in those conditions. No wonder you get $7 a pound.
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Old March 20, 2017   #82
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Wow! Just 58 days from seed to this. There is snow outside and the plants are setting fruit already. That is one very clean, well thought out greenhouse.

Is the left side of the greenhouse sharing a common wall with another greenhouse. It looks like there are some flowers blooming over there or some type of storage space?
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Old March 21, 2017   #83
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Cole, it is hard, but it is worth it for me. I also grow flowers, and we start them early, so they support the tomatoes, and make it possible to start them early. I also have trays of flowers in that greenhouse at times for over flow.
There is snow 4 feet up the sides of the GH's still where it slid off the roofs. The worst thing this year has been the cold, many 0 to -10 nights. Worse yet, the wind has been bad this year, many days and nights of 20-60 mile an hour gusts. The plants have suffered, but I do see some cold tolerance in some lines, so that is noted. Good luck this year, I noticed you have had your share of weather too.

Patti, In AK many people just block off the north-ish walls, we get plenty of light. There are some flowers behind, and a bench with HPS light for growing and planting up tomato seedlings after they are sprouted inside. Right now the other GH's are all flowers until June, then I move in more tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, green beans, etc.
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Old March 21, 2017   #84
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The next structure I build is going to use the Chinese design of having a blanket that rolls down over the top at night, and permanent insulation on the north and end walls.

Here is a rough approximation of the idea:



https://energyfarms.wordpress.com/20...chinese-style/
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Old March 21, 2017   #85
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I'm enjoying the pics and work Mark, looks like the string section is tuning up.

Cole, Similar designs that inset to a hill on the north wall interest me too, I wish I had a little more land.
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Old March 21, 2017   #86
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I would think one would still have to insulate the north wall, even if it was buried in a hillside, because the dirt would act as a cold sink and suck away heat energy. But that is just a guess, and could also be valuable to prevent over-heating. If one is paying for heat, mass can work against you, because when the mass is cold, your heat has to run more.
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Old March 21, 2017   #87
AKmark
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The next structure I build is going to use the Chinese design of having a blanket that rolls down over the top at night, and permanent insulation on the north and end walls.

Here is a rough approximation of the idea:



https://energyfarms.wordpress.com/20...chinese-style/
That is interesting, I bet it would be a great energy saver, and good for potting up early plants and getting them going..
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Old March 21, 2017   #88
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The expensive version would be something like a retractable roof baseball stadium.
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Old March 21, 2017   #89
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That is interesting, I bet it would be a great energy saver, and good for potting up early plants and getting them going..
Mark, how many nights do you have that don't require heat?. Do you get summer nights where you don't have apply heat at all?. . Jimbo
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Old March 21, 2017   #90
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It makes great sense to have a common wall between greenhouses. Less heating costs and yet a barrier to help control insects and disease from crossing too easily.

The Chinese design seems quite practical provided that you build it tall enough or just use the concept for the roof. Otherwise you would have some useless space, too low for growing tomato plants.
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