AusBonsai

Hi Everyone,

I haven't been in the Bonsai game long! So I bought myself a small Greenhut for winter not know how they would go and put a couple of small figs in to
see what would happen. It gets about half a day of sun from the morning and seems to get very hot in there on these warmer days we've been having
in Sydney. I've got a small tray of water in the bottom which keeps the walls covered in condensation.

The Figs have been going nuts in there with shoots all over them so i've decided to put a larger more $$$ fig in there as the little ones survived and are doing well!!

My question is do many of you use greenhuts for your figs or others and if so what have your results been?

I'm kind of wondering if they should have a dormant period during the year??

And don't worry, I'll be taking them all out when the temps rise for good so they don't fry!!

regards
Deemon

Hi Deemon i have only recently built a shade house , greenhouse and wind shelter .The were constructed to protect my booty from the elements .The wind shelter protects from wind and hail the green house does basically the same and maintains a little bit of humidity and warmer air in the colder months and reduces summer heat burn .

The hot house is used primarily for seed raising ,cuttings , and frost protection for Figs which die over night from the extreme cold .As to your question about dormancy mine naturally go dormant ,outside during the day and only into the cold frame/hothouse in the event of a frost .

I do have cuttings of P.J and N.T rock figs in the hothouse at present as i cant be stuffed moving 40-50 figs in and out every day .They have had a small amount of FOLIAGE growth over the winter however no ROOT development . These will no doubt take off about now as the temps warm up .Cheers

Depending on where you live, i wouldn't worry about using a hut. It's a pretty temperate climate, you'd consider using it if you lived out west but any where along the coast is fine - Sydney's covered in figs.

I am in western sydney and never needed to kepp my plants out. Here I am lucky if Elms go deciduos at all so figure it is not cold enough to worry about
Protection from summer wind and leaf burn is our problem

ps I us a mini one for cuttings and seed raising though, but more to keep humidity up

Up here in CQ, I got a small hot house last year to help with a collected Boug. Worked great and I eventually had all my figs in there to combat the extreme cold we were having . This year Ive had issues with the bloody wind, so when it got cool I waited until we had two cool weeks in arow and put the green house back up. In went all my figs( but not the Boug, its to heavy to move much), and away we all went. During my shift at work(4X12 hour shifts) the sun come back and cooked them. Lost three bonsai and a couple of inprocessi. Sux, Im an idiot. Ive since decided that we have just the riight climate, and any tree that dies was probably depressed anyway.
Ron

im in sydney and u guys obviously dont reccomend greenhouses, but how about a hut covered in shade cloth

lougher wrote:im in sydney and u guys obviously dont reccomend greenhouses, but how about a hut covered in shade cloth

Would be useful to stop leaf burn on Maples and such, So long as the wind is kept off too.
I just defoliate after the hottest part of summer and use other trees to shelter them

ken