Are we there yet?!

M

MFJFIGS

Well-known member
@TorontoJoe
@Figgin' A
@MJFIGS

I wonder when you guys are starting the season this year.
It has been a cold winter here in Massachusetts, with temperature inside the garage fluctuating between 40 F and 50 F (three car garage under the house)
I framed out a 10’ X 18’ grow room inside the garage (one stall) and enclosed it with reflective roll and put on R-30 fiberglass all around, then wrapped it all with heavy duty tarp.
I have 1,800 watt LED lights inside (mostly T8 tubes), electric heaters, dehumidifier, and two fans… and, a rocking chair.
All is in place, I just need to crank the heat up and I have been getting real itchy about it.

Who else is planning an early start inside a grow room?
 
Last edited:
MFJFIGS said:
@TorontoJoe
@Figgin' A
@MJFIGS

I wonder when you guys are starting the season this year.
It has been a cold winter here in Massachusetts, with temperature inside the garage fluctuating between 40 F and 50 F (three car garage under the house)
I framed out a 10’ X 18’ grow room inside the garage (one stall) and enclosed it with reflective roll and put on R-30 fiberglass all around, then wrapped it all with heavy duty tarp.
I have 1,800 watt LED lights inside (mostly T8 tubes), electric heaters, dehumidifier, and two fans… and, a rocking chair.
All is in place, I just need to crank the heat up and I have been getting real itchy about it.

Who else is planning an early start inside a grow room?
Click to expand...
It’s not just cold in Massachusetts but think you’re getting snow there today also.
 
MA has many high qualities, best one of them all is the perfect climate to grow figs 🤣
Several days of snow too.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_1174.jpeg
    IMG_1174.jpeg
    126.2 KB · Views: 20
  • IMG_1173.png
    IMG_1173.png
    136.2 KB · Views: 12
  • IMG_1176.png
    IMG_1176.png
    110.3 KB · Views: 11
  • IMG_1175.png
    IMG_1175.png
    114.9 KB · Views: 15
TREES ARE JUST STARTING TO BREAK BUDS MOST STILL DORMANT, FIRST TO HAVE FULL ON NEW LEAVES IS "ACE OF SPADES " OUT OF 150 VERIATIES ! USED TO LOVE RUBBING YOU FOZEN NORTH/EAST FOLKS NOZE IN 10 A WEATHER AND EARLY SPRING BUT GOD PUNISHED ME FOR MY ACTIONS AND SENT ME BLACK FIG FLY ! SO THIS IS FYI NOT HA,HA ,REALY !
 
In the meantime, we Northeastern men spend our snowy days rooting a few more fig cuttings, and a persimmon!

White Madeira #1
I-258 (started on January 16th)
DTE ( started on January 5th)
Hybrid Persimmon seedling (Chocolate / Kassandra)
 

Attachments

  • IMG_1180.jpeg
    IMG_1180.jpeg
    382.9 KB · Views: 10
  • IMG_1179.jpeg
    IMG_1179.jpeg
    349.8 KB · Views: 8
  • IMG_1178.jpeg
    IMG_1178.jpeg
    266.4 KB · Views: 8
  • IMG_1177.jpeg
    IMG_1177.jpeg
    376.4 KB · Views: 10
I’m not there yet. I’ve got some big lights coming. I need to find the optimal time to crank the heat in the garage.

I’m exploring if there might be cost advantage to a gas shop heater. It’s cheaper to heat but the initial investment is high
 
I like propane heaters too, but already have two of these electrical ones that I picked up real cheap last year and have never used (paid $19 on prime’s day down from $75). We happen to also have a power generator in case…

 

Attachments

  • IMG_1182.jpeg
    IMG_1182.jpeg
    130.8 KB · Views: 13
Stopped snowing… until Saturday when we will get another 10”
 

Attachments

  • IMG_1183.png
    IMG_1183.png
    945.9 KB · Views: 13
Figgerlickinggood said:
You wrapped that tree very nicely. What did you put on the tree under the tarp?
Click to expand...
That's my usual electri-fig-ation method.

TorontoJoe

Thread 'Electri-fig-ation'

It's still a bit early for me so forgive the older mix of photos... I wanted to make available my method for overwintering in-ground fig trees in cold climates.

I allow the tree to get hit by a few frosts and drop its leaves naturally. This is generally going to happen later than potted trees as the soil temps need to dip for this to happen.

The first thing I do is prune back.... With larger trees it can be more challenging and you may need to take the tree down further. Once one pruning I use the strongest cord I have... in my case polypropylene twine... and I tie the tree up as tightly...
  • Like

The extension cord currently buried under the snow :)
 
TorontoJoe said:
That's my usual electri-fig-ation method.

TorontoJoe

Thread 'Electri-fig-ation'

It's still a bit early for me so forgive the older mix of photos... I wanted to make available my method for overwintering in-ground fig trees in cold climates.

I allow the tree to get hit by a few frosts and drop its leaves naturally. This is generally going to happen later than potted trees as the soil temps need to dip for this to happen.

The first thing I do is prune back.... With larger trees it can be more challenging and you may need to take the tree down further. Once one pruning I use the strongest cord I have... in my case polypropylene twine... and I tie the tree up as tightly...
  • Like

The extension cord currently buried under the snow :)
Click to expand...
Ok. The way it looks I thought you put some kind of thick quilt then the tarp. My husband made me laugh when he said he doesn’t think you have more than 2or 3 inground to wrap that way. 🤣 By that way I mean the way you wrapped it.
 
I can't not grow something ;) It's a sickness, really.

A bunch of cuttings rooting on my veg grow table. A very young Vince #3 was woken up Dec 1st ?... next to my veg grow table. It needs some fattening up before the outdoor season kicks in. I am quite excited about it. I want to get a good taste of this fig next growing season. No 'one-two or even a handful of figs'... I want lots :D Here it is... growing good...

figs-789.jpg

Some figlets formed.... If this variety is as early as they say, even at an early age, I may be tasting it in April? Early May?
figs-790.jpg

I didn't expose it to hard frosts as it was very young and had lots of unlignified wood.... I brought spider mites in with it... As well, it had a large number of fig mites on it last summer, which I treated with sulfur, but I am sure some survived :eek: Had to give it a serious, hardcore treatment that no doubt eliminated 100% of the little buggers... The tree is fine.

The tent in the basement is... starting to look like a jungle... :eek:

figs-792.jpg


Some more trees will be started soon.... most in March sometime, depending on the weather outside. Too cold outside -> condensation in my unheated garage on the walls. Mold can begin to grow... not good. It's a balancing act. Not even a big dehumidifier helped last spring.

Some won't be headstarted.
 
Figgerlickinggood said:
Ok. The way it looks I thought you put some kind of thick quilt then the tarp. My husband made me laugh when he said he doesn’t think you have more than 2or 3 inground to wrap that way. 🤣 By that way I mean the way you wrapped it.
Click to expand...
LoL! No, I haven't done more than 3 like this at a time.... but the trees are all bigger and produce more than anything I have in pots. I wish I had more time to do more in the ground. Actually, about now I'd like to be in Italy where they can all be in the ground and I don't need to do anything but prune them.
 
Figgin' A said:
I can't not grow something ;) It's a sickness, really.

A bunch of cuttings rooting on my veg grow table. A very young Vince #3 was woken up Dec 1st ?... next to my veg grow table. It needs some fattening up before the outdoor season kicks in. I am quite excited about it. I want to get a good taste of this fig next growing season. No 'one-two or even a handful of figs'... I want lots :D Here it is... growing good...

figs-789.jpg

Some figlets formed.... If this variety is as early as they say, even at an early age, I may be tasting it in April? Early May?
figs-790.jpg

I didn't expose it to hard frosts as it was very young and had lots of unlignified wood.... I brought spider mites in with it... As well, it had a large number of fig mites on it last summer, which I treated with sulfur, but I am sure some survived :eek: Had to give it a serious, hardcore treatment that no doubt eliminated 100% of the little buggers... The tree is fine.

The tent in the basement is... starting to look like a jungle... :eek:

figs-792.jpg


Some more trees will be started soon.... most in March sometime, depending on the weather outside. Too cold outside -> condensation in my unheated garage on the walls. Mold can begin to grow... not good. It's a balancing act. Not even a big dehumidifier helped last spring.

Some won't be headstarted.
Click to expand...

That is so bloody impressive!

I'm still trying to figure out exactly what lights those are 🤔

Have you considered an HRV for the garage. I've been thinking of a gas shop heater with some sort of hear recovery ventilation to fight humidity.

I've been talking to this guy Smith at this place. https://accuraseemechanical.com/. He's seems extremely knowledgeable.
 
TorontoJoe said:
That is so bloody impressive!

I'm still trying to figure out exactly what lights those are 🤔

Have you considered an HRV for the garage. I've been thinking of a gas shop heater with some sort of hear recovery ventilation to fight humidity.

I've been talking to this guy Smith at this place. https://accuraseemechanical.com/. He's seems extremely knowledgeable.
Click to expand...
@TorontoJoe

Joe, I know very little about HRV systems, had to look up the acronym, so... I am not sure how the gas shop heater would help... probably because I know nothing about that... :) that said, my 4x8 garage tent has two sets of lights in it, and both generated a pretty decent amount of heat inside the tent, like low 30s (C) when the lights were on, and slowly went down to 18-20c towards the end of the day (when lights were off). When the lights go off, I'd run the dehumidifier to keep the humidity at 50%. Some heat and humidity would inevitably spill out outside the tent and into the garage. When it's very cold outside, condensation would form on the garage door windows and the walls - both are uninsulated. I fought that by opening the garage window to let some cold air in and drop the humidity. Seemed to help when temps outside got higher, but in mid-March, it was a bit of an issue. I need to do more testing this year.

I need to run a separate 20Amp circuit so I can run the lights and the dehumidifier at the same time. Not easy, but I will do that eventually and it should help with humidity buildup, which should help with the humidity transfer into the garage....

So, let me ask, what do you need the shop heater for? It's likely that your setup will be different from mine, maybe that's why I am puzzled.

Anyway, its all doable, just needs some testing and designing... and a dedicated 20 amp service for sure.... at least in my setup.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top