Author Topic: Different Greenhouse Plants (Read 12096 times)

ajb · « **on:** January 17, 2005, 21:48:57 »

Hi guys,
In addition to my usual greenhouse toms and chillies I'm having a go at growing a fruiting banana, some dwarf pink bananas (yes the bananas are supposed to be pink!) and a passion fruit vine. I've also got some Solanum Muricatum (Pepino Melon Tree) and Guava seedlings sprouting in the spare room. No signs of the Naranjilla (lost fruit of the Incas) yet, though.

What unusual plants are you trying?

Any tips on the above gratefully received too!

A.

Kerry · « **Reply #1 on:** January 17, 2005, 23:19:59 »

probably not unusual-but a first for me this year will be melons.
also toms, chillis, peppers and.......cape gooseberries. grew them outside last year so hoping for a better harvest under cover.

pink banana? now that i would like to see!

Mrs Ava · « **Reply #2 on:** January 18, 2005, 12:51:32 »

I grow my narnars in my conservatory but no fruit....yet! Same with pineapples and am pleased to report they fruit easily and the taste, well you will never buy a shop brought piney again. I also have a small guava tree but this is only year 2 so will have to wait and see what happens, and I have a pepino melon tree which, funnily enough, I watered just this morning. It is still healthy looking, altho it is in my currently un heated greenhouse and has lost all of its leaves, but, grandad has one also and his stays out year round and after the frost got it, it came back twice as big ans strong, so I am not worried. I have an olive overwintering in the greenhouse along with a fig tree and a selection of small seed grown palms. I am trying to overwinter a pot of cape gooseberrys to try and achieve a slightly bigger and earlier crop than last year. My overwintering chillis are in the conservatory and are doing well. The aubs sucumbed to aphids...grrrr >:(. I have pomegranite bushes growing but they stay out all year and don't seem to mind the weather at all, I would love to get fruit, but I fear I will be a grandma before that happens. Flowers in the greenhouse, I have a permanent planter full of chinese foxgloves which are gorgeous, attract the bees and ladybirds and keep my moral up when I am in the greenhouse. My problem is room, by the time the chillis, aubs, cuces and toms are in there, and all of my seeds, I have no room left! The floor is normally covered and to get into my greenhouse I have to lift trays out and move into the garden! Thank goodness for my conservatory as that acts like my tropical house. I have a passionflower in there, but no idea of variety as was given it from a lady in Ireland. I keep trying pawpaws and lychees but they need incredibly high humidity, which everything else hates! Have 2 year old kiwi plants in pots which I must plant out! They may well end up on the allotment over my permanent pergolla thingy. Have tried citrus of all types but they always get attacked by scale insect and then aphids so they end up on the compost heap. I may invest one year and buy a mature plant to see if that does any better.

Right, rambled on long enough, as you can probably tell, love my greenhouse and conservatory and all the interesting things you can grow in them! ;D

aquilegia · « **Reply #3 on:** January 18, 2005, 13:19:06 »

Emma - wow you grow pineapple? Did you start it with a pineapple top? when did you plant it? How did you grow it? when did it start fruiting? How big is it? I'd love to grow one (can you tell by all the questions?!).

Kerry · « **Reply #4 on:** January 18, 2005, 13:20:32 »

crikey EJ, there can be no more room left at your house! ;)
please tell all about the pineapple, i'd love to grow one, it's been on my dream list ever since heligan (sigh!).

Mrs Ava · « **Reply #5 on:** January 18, 2005, 16:12:22 »

Ooo they are easy peasy but will take about 2 years to fruit and one plant equals one fruit.

Buy yourself a good pineapple with a really good top, plenty of leaves, no yellowing and fresh looking. Avoid any limp pineapples. Twist the top off and it comes out kinda like a cork leaving a pointed core. I generally leave this on the side in the kitchen for a day or two. Then peel of a couple of rows of the bottom leaves and you should be able to see some tiny white root. You want to pull off enough leaves to give you a stalk that will hold itself in the ground, as I said, a couple of layers will probably do. Then plant in compost in a pot and water well to start, then sparingly until they start to grow, which could be a couple of months. Some pineapples will grow side shoots and the main plant will die, others the main plant will grow, guess it depends on variety and stress. Once the plant is established and growing, and they can get huge and they are very sharp and spikey so they need plenty of house room, then water from above into the top of the plant creating a resevoir of water. I do however water a little from below also, as they are growing in pots and not the ground. Keep them warm, fed and watered, and within 2 years a little baby pineapple will show itself. They take anywhere up to 3 months to mature and the scent, wow! If you have the room and the patience, go for it! I now have 7 pineapple plants on the go trying to time one or 2 a year really.....if only I could get bananas!

aquilegia · « **Reply #6 on:** January 18, 2005, 16:34:39 »

right - that's it. i'm doing it. Does it matter what time of year you start? should i wait for spring? or can i get one now?

Kerry · « **Reply #7 on:** January 18, 2005, 16:49:38 »

just got back from shopping at morrisons, having bought a pineapple, anticipating your answer, EJ. so now i am excited, i am definately giving this a go!

Mrs Ava · « **Reply #8 on:** January 18, 2005, 18:07:29 »

Don't think it matters when you do it Aqui, do mine whenever I buy one. Good luck! ;D

Later addition....just found some pics I took of my first pineapple in all its stages.

As you can see when it first develops it has purple flowers in all the 'scales', then it turns green and looks more like a pineapple.

Mrs Ava · « **Reply #9 on:** January 19, 2005, 00:04:15 »

From green it soons colours up.

aquilegia · « **Reply #10 on:** January 20, 2005, 09:34:16 »

Fantastic pics. Unfortunately they didn't have any at the shop yesterday, but I'll keep my eye out for one. Very excited about this!

Kerry · « **Reply #11 on:** January 20, 2005, 21:28:57 »

EJ, those pictures look fabulous! the colour on the baby pineapple! i will grow my own, i will, i will!

Roy Bham UK · « **Reply #12 on:** January 20, 2005, 22:33:01 »

You definitely have the magic touch EJ those pineapples look divine. 8)

Noozan · « **Reply #13 on:** January 23, 2005, 20:06:24 »

Wow :D I'm off to see if I can find some pineapples tomorrow! I vaguely remember growing a pineapple top when I was a child but can't recall what happened to it...

Jesse · « **Reply #14 on:** January 23, 2005, 20:12:59 »

Did you see the article in Kitchen Garden mag with Bob Flowerdew, can't remember which issue it was in now, perhaps Jan 05? He was growing pineapples.

ina · « **Reply #15 on:** January 23, 2005, 22:27:35 »

EJ, you keep amazing me.
This must be one of the most interesting things of all times that I've seen on this forum!

Oh if only I had the indoor space, I would grow pineapples for sure.

Mr. C. put a seed from a pomegranate in a pot several years ago, it grew and we planted it in a corner of the greenhouse and it grew and grew. Just last month we dug it out, it had reached the roof, and planted it outside. We knew it could stand cold because we remove the windows from the greenhouse every winter and it survived. Last summer it had two flowers but we don't really expect any fruit, how would it get fertilized? Boy, does it have long and nasty thorns, spikes really.

aquilegia · « **Reply #16 on:** February 08, 2005, 09:33:45 »

Got a pineapple from the shops at the weekend, so am hoping the top, which is now sitting in my fruit bowl, hopefully rooting away!

And I also bought a mango (farm shop 25p each, not sainsburys at reduced to £1.09 each!) can I grow from the stone?

Linda Tal · « **Reply #17 on:** February 08, 2005, 21:27:27 »

Only just starting out with my greenhouse, so only intend to grow cucumbers, tomatoes and sweet peppers this year.

EJ - thanks for the info on the pineapple - I'm also going to buy one and try it, it'll be fun to get the kids involved in this one!!

Linda. :D

Mrs Ava · « **Reply #18 on:** February 08, 2005, 23:54:36 »

Mum has had good success with Mangos Aqui, but they never seem to last terribly long. I had 2 in the conservatory last year but one got scale insect, and do you know, for the life of me I don't know if the other one is still there or no! Bad plant keeper!! Mum cleaned the hairy stone up completely and planted the entire stone and pretty much..........forgot about it. It sprouted after a few weeks and away it went. I don't like mango's at all, so will have to get her to have another go on my behalf.

aquilegia · « **Reply #19 on:** February 15, 2005, 11:46:31 »

hmm. Well. My pineapple top went moldy. :-\ I'll have to try again when it's less chilly in the kitchen.

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Author Topic: Different Greenhouse Plants (Read 12096 times)