Portable green house

[Drfig]

I have 2 ghetto portable green houses which I plan on using this year for select figs and tomatoes in pots. However the question i Have is when do I know its time to transition to green house. I obviously dont want to wait too long when the figs are going to sleep.

[Joshawa]

i have the same question here.
bought a poor man's greenhouse from Costco

my dream one is:

[eboone]

The dream greenhouse is too small 😃

[ginamcd]

With tomatoes it's not as critical because you don't need to factor in time for them to come back out and go dormant -- move them in when temps start to consistently drop, pick what ripens, and leave the plant in there to die once it gets too cold.

With figs it's s balancing act -- you can move them in when temps get cooler to push a few more figs to ripen, but you want to pull them back out early enough that they have time to go all the way into dormancy by the time winter sets in. If the trees are still awake and then suddenly exposed to freezing temps, they can sustain major damage. Remember, dormancy is not a switch that gets flipped, it's a process that takes weeks of exposure to increasingly cold weather.

[Citicodays]

Ripening figs with waning light conditions of Fall, kinda sucks. The leaves are beat up with rust. Spider mites are waiting to go wild. I’m not saying it can’t be done. By far, the best use of a seasonal greenhouse is to get the figs an early start, so your late varieties can ripen in the heat of August. I am ripening BMKK, Adriatic JH, Socorro Black now, thanks to an early start. Another bonus of using a greenhouse early is that the trees aren’t picky. They just need warmth. Lower light conditions aren’t a big deal for budding trees.
One word of caution: your greenhouse will get very hot on sunny days. Extreme heat is obviously bad, but even moderately hot temps seem to force the trees to set fruit and stop growing. So I have several trees that should have grown 4-8 feet this year, that only grew one foot. That 12 inches of growth is packed with fruit, but not as much as I would have if I’d had more moderate temps in my greenhouse.
Attached is a picture of a plate of Black Madeiras finished in my greenhouse, under grow lights. Beautiful fruit, but low in sweetness and flavor.

[Joshawa]

Do you heat up your greenhouse?

[Citicodays]

Yes, with a small electric heater. I also have a $100 ventilation fan for cooling

[ZingsFigs]

What type of greenhouse are you using, I built a cattle panel greenhouse it is 10x16 and was considering some type of heater for it. Any recommendations?

[Citicodays]

When I bought my home, it came with a 8x16 potting shed with skylights and windows. It doesn’t get as much light as a greenhouse. A cheap electric cube heater works fine for me. It really depends on your application. Are you trying to grow citrus in winter, or are you just trying to boost figs in March and April? Your greenhouse will get very warm on most spring days.

[Drfig]

thanks for the info guys. I see the point made about using it for early start not delaying end. I can see how that could become an issue. Oh well. I will try the early start method next year and use this year for tomatotoes in pots.

[Rudy]

Overstock.Com has greenhouse heaters, not sure if it fits you need