Greenhouse - is this the norm?

[Lifesapurpledream]

I love gardening and used my savings to buy a lovely greenhouse. This has been my first year with one. I enjoyed spring and nurtured my little seedlings. All my flower seedlings have done really well when planted out in my cutting bed.

However! The veg oh my. Had snack cucumbers that were doing really well and I was delighted with but they succumbed very rapidly to spider mite. My big cucumbers hadn’t even started producing properly yet and I’ve just had to move them outside today as they are also covered. I was misting every day sometimes more but just couldn’t get on too of it. Aubergines also have spidermite. I have a few baby aubergines but the plants are looking sad despite my efforts with misting. One has totally wilted today maybe I’ve made it too wet now. I’ve tried hard with the misting but I’m in Scotland and honestly even the automatic vents have hardly opened it’s been so cold grey and wet. Damp more than humid.

Lots of peppers that are in various stages of black or green but I’ve noticed something is eating holes in some of them and they are rotting now before turning red. I used my greenhouse to start off some dahlia tubers. I’ve never had dahlia before but every earwig and it’s dog seems to have moved into the garden and greenhouse.

On the plus I have lots of green tomatoes that are starting to turn. But on the whole I’m feeling pretty disheartened. It was a lot of effort in spring and all falling down before even getting any produce. Is this a usual in greenhouse gardening or has this year been worse than usual. I feel like everything is rotting/ dying waiting for some sun to ripen it.

I’m in the north west and on my second greenhouse. The first one was easier to be hones, it was bigger and stuff did better. This new house it’s a 6 x 8 and I have everything crammed in. so I’m having to relearn how to best use it. I think it can be a bit of trial and error at first.

the seedlings sound exceptionally good.

it’s also not been a brilliant year weather wise.

I leave the doors open all summer that helps with ventilation, it’s also got 2 roof vents and 2 side auto vents. The floor is also always wet due to a drainage issue!

you can keep the floor wetter and use larvae that eat red spider mites.

don’t give up.

https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/solve-problems/red-spider-mites/

Yes the doors of my greenhouse were opened in June and left open til October.

It is extremely hard to grow aubergines and peppers in the UK unless you are down south, certainly in all the years growing in the UK I only ever had one measly fruit off one aubergine and I gave up peppers due to them not ripening in the short summer.

What I found best in the UK and that was in Derbyshire, was to pick varieties of tomatoes that were early, so that they got a good shot at ripening. And growing them in the ground rather than pots. [I have no idea if yours are in pots or not]. I also found a better crop if I stuck to chillis or small snack peppers than large or pointy ones.

The thing making the holes is a tiny caterpillar, which will abseil to the ground if it feels any vibrations. I used to sit there and slowly turn over each leaf to find them. They will bury straight through to the centre of the fruit and it will be useless after that.

Spider mite I rarely got but I was pretty religious about the airflow. I never closed the windows even in the depth of winter.

And this year is probably the worst to have started. We all lose more than we ever eat in veg growing when we start out.

I don't get spider mite. I've only had it on indoor plants.
I am wondering if it will be killed off over the cold winter so you won't get it next year. I am in Scotland.
I concentrate on tomatoes and a cucumber plant. However the cucumber plant died off - not sure what of. Went yellow. My tomatoes look awful, drooping, brownish and yellow mosaiced leaves but still lots of tomatoes.

Also in Scotland.
If things are rotting then there isn’t enough ventilation. I’ve never misted my greenhouse. We open the door each morning and leave it until the evening. We have one automatic window opener and one manual. The manual is also opened wide every morning.
The secret is to allow the soli to just dry out before watering again. If it feels moist to the touch,don’t water.
Big cucumbers need sideshooots nipping out, so do tomatoes.
if you’ve a short growing season, start things off on the house. We plant up the greenhouse in May, any earlier and it will get frosted. At this stage my tomatoes are about 15-20 cm high.
Never had success with aubergines, and peppers can be tricky with blossom drop.
Don’t get disheartened! Keep a diary of things (seed types, timings of planting, weather) so you can look back on what’s working/not working. We’ve been growing for a long time and still have good and bad years.

Oh and trim off diseased leaves when you see them so it doesn’t spread. Feed with Tomorite when fruit starts to form.

Bloody mice got into ours and have eaten all the cucumbers and the entire pepper plant. Destroyed all 6 massive cabbages too 😑.

Caught them on wildlife camera and as we were grumbling about them, one brazenly climbed onto the step at the side of me.

We planted a grape vine and it's doing brilliantly! Already have lots of bunches and they're just starting to change colour.

The bloody weather has made things hard, I've just been in my polytunnel pulling up what was my best ever tomato harvest because of blight. The tunnel is new this year and was doing so well. Absolutely gutted, even had a little angry cry doing it. Off to the garden centre tomorrow to cheer myself up.

I lay fleece over the small plants early in the season in case of frost. Seems to work.

This has been a difficult year.

Aubergines are a magnet for spider mite. I’ve given up with them, I reckon in Yorkshire our growing season is too short for them. You need to get baby fruit before August.

You can get a predator for spidermite, but it needs a certain temperature to survive. I usually chuck things outside if they get a noticeable infestation.

I hang the yellow sticky traps in mine to catch pests. I also agree with ventilating as a necessity.
in the Autumn, empty the greenhouse and put in a smoke bomb. This kills all the nasties hiding in the crevices. I also give the glass a clean with greenhouse disinfectant.

I have success with Aubergines in the Midlands. These are mine from one plant. You can’t expect huge ones, but they are delicious. It’s not white fly on the leaves, just specks.

Why are you misting?
You're just creating a humid/damp atmosphere which won't do your plants any good.

You also need to keep your greenhouse well-ventilated.

Thanks everyone for the advice, I was half thinking I can’t be bothered next year but some good tips here and will look for early varieties as that might be the way to go. I have a couple of aubergine that are mini patio type with some fruits but will give up on the big types. I’d been just misting my cucumber and aubergine plants to try and control the spidermite. I know that’s not great for the tomatoes hence making the call to give up on the cucumbers and move them out

@Beebumble2 they look fabulous you must be pleased certainly a lot of them too 🙂

Sorry should have clarified the stuff rotting is mainly peppers that have had holes eaten in them first while I’m waiting for them to turn red. The snack peppers might be a good way to go

@ThroughTheForestUpTheHill oh no so sorry to hear that. I hope you’ve managed to salvage some tomatoes. It’s such a lot of work to then have it come to that

Another one here who has abandoned aubergines and peppers ( and I was 300 miles south of you). They just don’t get enough warmth and light to flourish) and they are so cheap to buy it’s a load of hassle.

however, you need to look at the variety of things you grow. Some of the tomatoes that have Russian or Crimean or Black Sea in their names are very tough and grow quickly . Courgettes and marrows developed for UK are a better bet than the more southerly ones. Early season salad, especially cut and come again are good in a greenhouse.

I more or less abandoned the greenhouse in the ‘high’ summer and used it for over wintering and raising bedding plants.
it’s been a rubbish year everywhere though, even in Spain I believe.

Yes I've lost 38 of my 41 outdoors tomatoes to blight so far and I'm in the South of France. Luckily I have a load more in the polytunnel to keep us going.

Unfortunately growing your own food doesn't come with guarantees.

It has been a rubbish year. I have never had success from aubergines grown from seed, but you can buy grafted plants (expensive) that do really well. I grow courgettes outside in growbags. Cherry tomatoes like red cherry and Sungold do really well in the greenhouse. I agree about a smoke bomb at the end of the season. A good scrub down with Jeyes Fluid also works in killing white fly/ spider mite.

@Allthegoodnamesarechosen thank you this winter I’ll do more research into what varieties are best for the Scottish climate and hopefully have a better year. The quicker they grow and ripen I guess the less change of them being demolished by pests. The snack cucumbers were doing great before the spidermite infestation. @Soporalt will definitely be needing some of that then!

Because red spider flourishes in dry atmosphere, and misting plants is a recognised method of keeping it at bay and reducing the reproduction rate.

Yellow sticky traps are excellent for whitefly (as are butterwort (Pinguicula) with their yellowish leaves) but I don't think they're any good for red spider are they? Unfortunately they also catch lacewings which are most definitely good guys, which is why I don't use them.

Yes I’m sad about the lacewings. The smoke bomb does for the red spider mite.

The other thing that we do is use a sulphur candle every year just before we plant up the greenhouse. It’s meant to kill off fungal spores. 🙂