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Author Topic: Which Pit Greenhouse fruit is best  (Read 5071 times)

Orinlooper

  • Joined Aug 2015
Which Pit Greenhouse fruit is best
« on: April 22, 2016, 11:28:43 am »
Which fruit grow the fastest and easiest which produce the most grams of edible fruit per square metre?

We are growing apples and ear, plums and a few others outside the greenhouse.

Which tropic/semi tropical fruits would be first choices for my pit greenhouse please?

pgkevet

  • Joined Jul 2011
Re: Which Pit Greenhouse fruit is best
« Reply #1 on: April 22, 2016, 06:52:55 pm »
Quote
Which fruit grow the fastest and easiest which produce the most grams of edible fruit per square metre?

An interesting question since you';d also have to consier what you call fruit an the length of it's cropping season and conditions of growing: toms, cucamelons, strawberries, other melons, courgettes etc. For out of greenhouse grwoing you also have to consider time to mature to cropping size and yield v predators/pests. Victoria plums crop heavy with wasps, cherries and the birds get the lot if not netted. Consider setting up pits to grow figs if your weather is half decent..but you won't compete with imported although fresh picked figs are..just superb. For outside and very hardy consider honeyberries.
For greenhouse grown 'fruit fruit' - if really talking semi tropical  you can't compete but you can grow for yourself. I have citrus..more lemons than i can eat and one of the few that flowers while fruiting. Limes crop heavily but the rootstock on my grapefruit is too dwarfing for heavy crops and my best otange died a few years ago but gave me a dozen a  year.  I growthem in pots and take them out for the summer.
With enough headroom and winter heating then you can go madder. it's perfectly possible to grow bananas (I did once) or perhaps pomegranates. Pineapples take too long UK but easy enough (3yrs) There's lots of passionfruit varieties some will do well outdoors and c rop well. Indoor Kiwi would be more reliable than outdoors.. but probbaly best to stay simple and grow dessert grapes

Orinlooper

  • Joined Aug 2015
Re: Which Pit Greenhouse fruit is best
« Reply #2 on: April 24, 2016, 05:33:39 pm »
Figs and honey berries, good suggestions thanks.

Orinlooper

  • Joined Aug 2015
Re: Which Pit Greenhouse fruit is best
« Reply #3 on: June 20, 2018, 04:29:40 pm »
Lots of talk about cannabis maybe becoming legal to grow?

pgkevet

  • Joined Jul 2011
Re: Which Pit Greenhouse fruit is best
« Reply #4 on: June 20, 2018, 10:29:56 pm »
And when/if it is you'll need a licence and to go through hoops to sell it to limited sources that will either grow their own in larger quantities etc to cut you out - unless prepared to go up against such big boys with the legal bits and go fully commercial. Regulation UK will make the cute idea of a small independant grower offering assorted varieties a non-starter.

Lesley Silvester

  • Joined Sep 2011
  • Telford
Re: Which Pit Greenhouse fruit is best
« Reply #5 on: June 20, 2018, 11:52:09 pm »
I hadn't come across honeyberries before so I've just googled it and had an interesting read. I rather fancy growing some. I put fruit canes in this year to climb up a new fence. I have two blackberries, two tayberries, lots of raspberries, a loganberry and a boysenberry - another one I hadn't heard of before spotting it in the garden centre.  Anyone else tried them?

Steph Hen

  • Joined Jul 2013
  • Angus Scotland.
Re: Which Pit Greenhouse fruit is best
« Reply #6 on: June 21, 2018, 09:46:16 am »
Pgkevet -  please would you tell a bit more about your lemon tree?
I love lemon for my cooking and have never thought I might grow them!
 
What variety and rootstock? Pollination?  Pot or soil?  Whats your greenhouse like?

pgkevet

  • Joined Jul 2011
Re: Which Pit Greenhouse fruit is best
« Reply #7 on: June 22, 2018, 07:25:09 am »
I don't know what variety or rootstock - bought it years ago (12+) from the palm and cycad centre at syon lodge 'cos it was going cheap. I have other citrus too from assorted sources.
The lemons it grows are superb.. thicker skinned than the usual sort in shops and a little sweeter. But that may be UK growing conditions.
It's in the largest tub I can lift solo (just) and then drag along. I guess it's self fertile cos sometimes it the only citrus flowering and in the greenhouse and still sets fruit.
It did suffer last winter and dropped a lot of leaves.. probably cos it was too close to the heater air flow and dried the leaves when we had a realy cold spell. but is recovering with hundreds new leaves.You can get fruit and flowers at the same time but typically flowers most dramatically around April in the greenhouse and then the aroma is amazing when confined.
citrus house is twin wall polycarbonate (only 10mm) and it goes in usually november and comes out here around May. Down south it used to come out earlier than that.
One problem here compared to my previous place is that it tends to suffer from some botrytis type fungus over winter unless I pre-spray it with DIY bordeaux when i pack it away for the winter.
Citrus take many months to mature fruit so size of crop depends on when it flowers so that the fruit can grow over the better months. the later flowering and smaller fruit may dry off and fall over winter.
I keep citrus house temps just off freezing - to keep cost down and because the fan heaters dry air isn't kind to them. If kept indoors in conservatories then they like a large pebble tray but with the botrytis problem here I can't go soaking the area.
My lime also produces lots of fruit most years, the kumquat for some reason hasn't flowered often and never fruited since the first year I bought it with fruit on - no idea why cos it's grown in size very nicely. I have a pink grapefruit on dwarfing rootstock that's flowering prolifically as it always does, sets fruit and then ends up with only one or two small grapefruits reaching ripeness in good years with not a lot of flesh (but edible) - that came from 'the citrus centre' but would have been better on a more vigorous rootstock since also potted.
I give them an iron feed once a year and then vary a mix of waterbutt or borehole water, miracle grow rhodadendron/azalea (used to be called miracid) or tomorite or lain water... it's a bit of a whim as to which it gets when.

Steph Hen

  • Joined Jul 2013
  • Angus Scotland.
Re: Which Pit Greenhouse fruit is best
« Reply #8 on: June 22, 2018, 02:29:01 pm »
Thank you! Loads to think about there! We're moving house soon and thinking about garden /greenhouse  /out building requirements. Good to be able to think about what'll go where.
I do use limes in cooking quite a lot too. Thanks!

Orinlooper

  • Joined Aug 2015
Re: Which Pit Greenhouse fruit is best
« Reply #9 on: June 26, 2018, 05:03:21 am »
And when/if it is you'll need a licence and to go through hoops to sell it to limited sources that will either grow their own in larger quantities etc to cut you out - unless prepared to go up against such big boys with the legal bits and go fully commercial. Regulation UK will make the cute idea of a small independant grower offering assorted varieties a non-starter.

I only want for own use

pgkevet

  • Joined Jul 2011
Re: Which Pit Greenhouse fruit is best
« Reply #10 on: June 26, 2018, 06:41:41 am »
I only want for own use
Buying and owning a few seeds is legal UK - daft but true and plenty of sites selling seeds to 'collectors'. With our insipid laws I doubt whether there would be any real consequences of being caught with two plants for own use unless you happen to live next to a primary school or gov wants to catch you for something else or make an example of you or you make the mistake of selling or supplying to others.
Personally I don't like the stuff. Back in my youth pot was a fun mild buzz and giggle and now it's full skunk hallucinogens. The potent part from the female resin glands is the pinnacle but all of the plant has thc and can be harvested. A well grown plant is huge and a couple of seeds (dropped by birds?) growing near the compost heap over a warm summer... I didn't know what it was...

Orinlooper

  • Joined Aug 2015
Re: Which Pit Greenhouse fruit is best
« Reply #11 on: July 02, 2018, 05:09:18 am »
I don’t understand the changes recently but some people are saying the law has just got even lighter

Some can now get cannabis on the nhs

So in reality if I am found to be growing a few plants on my land for personal use, what would actually happen?

If you have no record of anything, would you get away with it?

pgkevet

  • Joined Jul 2011
Re: Which Pit Greenhouse fruit is best
« Reply #12 on: July 02, 2018, 10:55:36 am »
https://ukcsc.co.uk/cannabis-law/
Sentencing Guidelines for 9 plants and under is recommended as a suspended sentence for first time offenders. See the UKCSC Tagged Plant Collective Model for more advice.
However consider other aspects such as posessing a criminal conviction can lead to problems with visa applications for holidays etc

 

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