Greenhouse failure

My new greenhouse is giving me a few growing conundrums. The first is that some things are doing great in it and some aren't. The melons aren't doing anything. What's up with that. The peppers as well. They're the same size as when I planted them. The tomatoes are doing really great though and so are the basil and noodle beans. I had a basket gourd that was ok but then I noticed ants on it. I think they're sucking stuff out of it. So it's dead now.

The next issue is that the tomatoes aren't getting pollinated. A local friend of mine said she just opens the door to her greenhouse and bees come in and pollinate all of her stuff. She doesn't even own bees. I do and they aren't doing anything for me. So I was out hand pollinating. It's a bummer.

Then the last, most devastating issue. I had installed a gate on one door so that when it was open for air flow the dogs could not get in. It's been working well all summer. Yesterday there was a pretty good storm. Our oldest dog is terrified of storms. We weren't home. He freaked out, broke the gate down, went in and just dug. He dug some things up entirely and some things are ok. Very random panic digging.

So I cried and cried. It's the one space I actually had things growing and now it's nearly dead.

I want to go live somewhere things can grow. Living here is just breaking my heart.

Right lets start with the easy bits, tomatoes don't need bees or insects, just go in once a day and give the supports a sharp tap with a stick, enough to shake the plants. If they are getting wind from the open door and still not setting then how hot is it getting in there? If they get to hot they won't set fruit.
Peppers.. Peppers take forever to get going but they do eventually, mine are still only 6 inches high and right on target.

Just put everything back he dug up and water it well, if tomatoes have snapped off, take the top remove most of the leaves and bury as much stalk as you can, water well, they will set new roots and carry on. The ants are unlikely to have killed the gourd but they may have been farming whatever did, or they could have made their nest right under it and removed half the soil, I lose at least one cucumber each year to that.

If you are struggling with growing things, maybe you should try growing some nice things that can grow unprotected in your area. just start small, and build a better gate for your greenhouse!

Skandi Rogers wrote:Right lets start with the easy bits, tomatoes don't need bees or insects, just go in once a day and give the supports a sharp tap with a stick, enough to shake the plants. If they are getting wind from the open door and still not setting then how hot is it getting in there? If they get to hot they won't set fruit.
Peppers.. Peppers take forever to get going but they do eventually, mine are still only 6 inches high and right on target.

Just put everything back he dug up and water it well, if tomatoes have snapped off, take the top remove most of the leaves and bury as much stalk as you can, water well, they will set new roots and carry on. The ants are unlikely to have killed the gourd but they may have been farming whatever did, or they could have made their nest right under it and removed half the soil, I lose at least one cucumber each year to that.

If you are struggling with growing things, maybe you should try growing some nice things that can grow unprotected in your area. just start small, and build a better gate for your greenhouse!

I actually just watched a video from Roots and Refuge where she talked about that. It does get windy in there, things blow off the shelves. I'm in a very windy area. I don't know how much wind the tomatoes are experiencing but I'll start shaking them daily!!

It might be a bit late for replanting now. I had thought I should replant things but after a long day to come home at night to the greenhouse like that I just cried and went to bed.


There isn't anything I haven't tried growing. I live in the saddest area ever. Even if I manage to get it to grow one year it'll die during our winter. Experiencing gardening depression.

elle sagenev wrote:

It's been working well all summer. Yesterday there was a pretty good storm. Our oldest dog is terrified of storms. We weren't home. He freaked out, broke the gate down, went in and just dug. He dug some things up entirely and some things are ok. Very random panic digging.

I'm totally not in your growing ecosystem but I feel your frustration with struggling to get anything to grow. Hopefully some permies with similar climates will pitch in.

However, helping your dog might be a worthwhile mini-project. Clearly you need some sort of outdoor "dog safe house" - solid, secure and storm-proof. Used packing skids could form at least part of the structure, but if the dog's "panic digging," leaving it with a dirt floor might be best. You're pretty much south of Saskatchewan and I know its storms can be sudden, violent and epic! I'd be frightened and seeking shelter. Maybe you already have something and the dog was just too frightened to use it, if so, please don't take this post the wrong way, but maybe look at what you have provided already from a scared dog's point of view in case you can think of ways to improve it.

One question about the greenhouse - how consistent is the soil inside it? Could that explain part of your inconsistent results? Is there *any* chance you're at least partly dealing with an herbicide residue issue? I got one bad batch of something and *nothing* useful grew in that spot for several years and I haven't had the heart to test it again. What I'd like to do is get some really good mushrooms to grow there in the hopes they'll heal the soil, but too many other priorities!

Jay Angler wrote:elle sagenev wrote:

It's been working well all summer. Yesterday there was a pretty good storm. Our oldest dog is terrified of storms. We weren't home. He freaked out, broke the gate down, went in and just dug. He dug some things up entirely and some things are ok. Very random panic digging.

I'm totally not in your growing ecosystem but I feel your frustration with struggling to get anything to grow. Hopefully some permies with similar climates will pitch in.

However, helping your dog might be a worthwhile mini-project. Clearly you need some sort of outdoor "dog safe house" - solid, secure and storm-proof. Used packing skids could form at least part of the structure, but if the dog's "panic digging," leaving it with a dirt floor might be best. You're pretty much south of Saskatchewan and I know its storms can be sudden, violent and epic! I'd be frightened and seeking shelter. Maybe you already have something and the dog was just too frightened to use it, if so, please don't take this post the wrong way, but maybe look at what you have provided already from a scared dog's point of view in case you can think of ways to improve it.

One question about the greenhouse - how consistent is the soil inside it? Could that explain part of your inconsistent results? Is there *any* chance you're at least partly dealing with an herbicide residue issue? I got one bad batch of something and *nothing* useful grew in that spot for several years and I haven't had the heart to test it again. What I'd like to do is get some really good mushrooms to grow there in the hopes they'll heal the soil, but too many other priorities!

We do have a safe space for the dogs. I'm not sure why he chose to break into the greenhouse except to maybe devastate me. :"(

I think my soil is pretty consistent. It's clay and not great. I've mulched it with leaves. It's not great soil. Certainly needs improvement over the years but I think it's pretty consistent there. This area has been our yard for 11 years and we haven't put anything on it. Before that it was horse pasture and before that wheat field which was organic.

I’m sorry for you. I have had more than a few green house frustrations this year. My dad shut the greenhouse door one evening because he was worried it was going to rain. I didn’t know, and didn’t get to the green house until after midday. Half my peas had cooked in the heat.

Tomatoes missed a couple of days of watering.

I stalled planting beans out because of rabbit issues, then they were so leggy they snapped when moving them.

I feel like I’m beginning to get the hang of it now. My routine includes a 60 second check every morning on the way to the hens.

I don’t have any specific answers for you. Maybe you can describe your climate and particular issues? I’m basically using mine to start plants to put out elsewhere - but I have a few things staying in (cucumbers, and I’m training a grape vine that is planted outside in soil to grow inside)

It sounds very frustrating!  I don't have dogs to contend with, but I do have gophers that eat my garden plants whole and children who trample (and who don't have the patience to let any tomatoes get red).  I have yet to develop sufficient detachment from the plants that I have cared for from seedlings on to keep my cool when they disappear overnight or when someone accidentally steps on one.  One day.

I don't have a greenhouse, so I don't have any greenhouse advice, but coming from a place where plants struggle (soil with all the properties of lunar regolith, short growing season, humidity that stays below 10%), my general gardening approach is to embrace what grows and plant more densely than books or seed packets would generally recommend because things won't make it.  Almost everything is marginal for this area so if I want things to grow well, I need to find seeds adapted to this local environment.

But, I still have to work on my anger over the gophers eating my best chiles...

I feel for you Elle!  I'm finding that it takes a modest amount of learning and challenges to get good at gardening outside.  Double them both when trying to grow in a greenhouse.

My problem is bugs.  Last summer I had great tomatoes and peppers and then white flies devoured them.  This spring it was aphids (my guess as to what the ants were farming on your plants).  Now I have a mite on some plants.  I'm trying to let it all balance out with the natural predators but it does suck.

The melons do need a pollinator and as Skandi says the tomatoes shouldn't.  If it's that windy in there I'm guessing it's not a pollination issue.  How hot is it getting?  I think they have issues if it gets too much over 100F.  

How long have the peppers been in the ground?  I'd expect them to start growing within a month of being transplanted.  Maybe water or fertility is their issue?

Creating a protected environment has its pros and cons for sure.  Good luck!

We had the tomato's in our greenhouse one year. My gosh they grew and grew, enormous things, no blooms , tried shaking , tried store bought pollen, nothing worked. We left them alone.
We finally gave up and went down to the farmers market and stocked up.
Later in the summer it got cool enough to remove the shade cloth.
Amazing thing, as soon as the shade cloth was removed , look out those tomato's bloomed!

Who knew that shade cloth would keep tomato's from blooming!
Is there a shade cloth over your greenhouse?

I'm surprised no one has posted a link to Joseph Lofthouses amazing tomato pollination tool.
I can't remember where that post is.

Drew Moffatt wrote:I'm surprised no one has posted a link to Joseph Lofthouses amazing tomato pollination tool.  

Best thing about this design, it that it costs 1/10th the price of an electric toothbrush.

I can imagine how frustrating that would be Elle.  I’m planning a greenhouse for next year and though I’ve had one before, I only grew transplants in it versus growing until maturity. I’m sure that will be a learning experience.

This is my first year growing extensively in raised beds and using what I could find for soil.  I started with a nitrogen deficiency in a few beds and determined that my beans and corn were languishing from a lack of water even though they were heavily mulched.  Pulled some potatoes out early because the stems were rotting.  Birds ate about half my cucumber seedlings before I figured out what was responsible.  But it’s still been a pretty good year so far.  I’m taking notes and hopefully I’ll learn from my mistakes this year.

Replant what you can and root the tomato stems if they broke off. You’ll probably need to baby them for a bit but they should do fine.