Outdoor Greenhouse Orchard...

hey, never posted to this side before.
I'm supposed to be getting a new house in october. In addition to my indoor grows (fruits, veggies, weed) I want to start an orchard in a greenhouse in the backyard. I've never worked with fruit trees or a greenhouse before and was wondering what considerations I need to make for these in regards to year round growing.

I want to grow grapes, raspberries, blueberries, gooseberries, bananas, apples, peaches, pineapples, and maybe pecans, almonds, and/or avocado.

Will I be able to grow these in the same greenhouse? can I grow trees hydroponically or with DWC? That doesn't seem like a lot considering I'll only have 1 or 2 trees/plants per item but are there considerations i'll need to make for space?

Just trying to collect info so if you've got something constructive to add, I appreciate it.

nobody has any info on this?

well it would have to be a big green house to have trees in theri, unless you plant on trying to keep them very small witch would mor then likely mean less fruit, i would put the trees outside, same goes for grape, rasberries and th4 blue berries, they can all go outside as they can survive winters outside. if you wanted year round growing you will most likely have to give supplemental lighting in the GH. as for your other fruits well it wouldbe hard to grow them at in the same environmental some of them require different climates, soil, temp, humidity, flowering times, day light ect... i think it can be done but i think it would cast you an arm and a leg to get it all dialed in.

and i think the more tree plants and the bigger bush plants will more then likely benefit from being in soil more then hydro, to big of roots unless you got a 100 gal res for each plant,

Woo! a reply!

I know some of the stuff I wanted to grow was exotic so I was thinking about building a hot room on the side of the greenhouse just for those.
I was thinkin about these for my DWC. or these

This is a project that is at least a year away but I wanted to get most of the planning done right now. Mainly space and grow conditions. Winter can get pretty harsh here in the midwest so I just want to make sure nothing dies. I like the idea of year round growing but I'm not married to it.

sorry bro i only grow weed i got fruit tress but there just in the yard

This is the stuff I wanna grow. Lots of planning to do.

• grapes - Red Flame
• raspberries - Redwing|Heritage
• blackberries - Apache
• goji berries - Lycium Barbarum
• Strawberries - Sweet Charlie
• kiwi - Red princess
• bananas - Manzano
• apples - Starr|Gala|Honeycrisp
• peaches - Red Haven
• pineapples - Kona Sugarleaf
• pecans - Oconee|Candy|Osage
• almonds - Texas Mission
• avocado - Hass

I've decided against greenhouse for the whole thing. just a hot house for the bananas and pineapple. I don't mind the trimming of the plants/shrubs though. I just figured it would be nice to have fresh fruit year round and maybe make a few extra bucks selling the extra at a farmers market.
I'm in zone 5/6.

I don't think you realize just exactly what you're getting yourself into. Pineapples plants take several years to mature and produce fruit. If you're lucky. Plus, they both take up a lot of space. To get the kind of pineapples you see in the market you will need a height of 6 feet and circumference of 6 feet for each plant. Banana plants take about 9 months to grow and produce fruit. They cannot take extreme temperatures (hot or cold), They need lots and lots of nitrogen and potassium, lots of mulch, lots of water (both in the soil and in the air), they need the shelter of other banana plants to grow healthy and do well. They take up a LOT of room. They produce one crop and die. You have to dig out the suckers on the old plants and plant them for more bananas.

Good luck

I haven't quite made it to the pineapples and bananas. still reading about grapes and goji berries. Most of these trees take a couple years to produce fruit. but I'd like to go full on gardener in addition to the other illicit growings. Maybe even some general landscaping. A zen hobby to take my mind off the inadequacies of life in general and my life in specificity.

Victus said:

I haven't quite made it to the pineapples and bananas. still reading about grapes and goji berries. Most of these trees take a couple years to produce fruit. but I'd like to go full on gardener in addition to the other illicit growings. Maybe even some general landscaping. A zen hobby to take my mind off the inadequacies of life in general and my life in specificity.

Click to expand...

I love gardening. It's productive and the results are beautiful and tasty. I grew up in a Mormon family and we had a one acre garden. We spent a lot of time watering and weeding that monstrosity and then canning the proceeds. The wonderful part was going out in the garden just before sun-up and seeing the deer and squirrels running around the garden. We would weed or water from sun-up to about 10am and then went inside to escape the heat. Then we would start up again around 7 in the evening until the sun went down. My favorite time is twilight when the crickets first start up and the robins are saying goodnight. Watching the stars come out and sometimes, on rare occasions, watch the mist rise off the ground as fog begins to form (very rare occasions). We're close enough to the river that sudden long drops in temperature will produce a misty fog. It was almost creepy watching it form and then slowly make it's way up the valley.



I used to lie in the garden and watch the sky for hours. I know what you mean about it being zen-like. I sure feel at peace when my hands are up the wrist in soil.

i now want to go to were ever that pic was takin at

That is along the San Juan river in New Mexico.

Take a look at the dwarf bananas - I have a dwarf cavandish that should produce this year (if not then next year). I also just purchased a dwarf mango tree and that should produce in about two years. The banana is in a large pot on the deck (can move inside), it should only get to about 8'. The mango should only get to about 6' and it is in a 7 gallon pot now, grower said replant next spring into a 10-15 gallon pot. There are a number of fruit trees that you can get that are the dwarf variety which would be suitable for a greenhouse if you have the height for them. You can do an internet search for any type of dwarf fruit tree and you should be able to find information and growers.
Just an FYI - you will probably not find anything that will provide fresh fruit year round. Strawberries are an easy grow and if put into vertical towers take up little space for a decent harvest.
Good luck and hopefully you will find something that interests you.

Thanks for the info. I looked at some dwarfs for my nuts (lol) but my selection process for the fruits was rather tedious process. Size doesn't really matter. The backyard of this place is huge and I only want to grow 1 or 2 trees of each exotic. I figure since I'll only need a greenhouse for things I'm trying to grow out of zone.