About 2/3 of the collection summers in the lathhouse...generally, the end of April into mid-October. They come out in sections: those from the sunniest part of the winter greenhouse come out first, plants forced to grow under bench for the winter have to acclimate to the top benches before they can enjoy the open atmosphere.

The lathhouse is 18 x 18, two inch laths with one inch spaces on the left side only; the right side shares the 60% shadecloth covering the greenhouse so that lath was removed to allow all the Louisiana sunshine the plants can take.

Summering the majority of the collection gives opportunity to spring and fall cleaning of the greenhouse, the lucky ones that make it outside love it, and it's much easier to give them lots of water and fertilizer because you don't flood the greenhouse.

I constant feed at about 1/3 strength using a Dosatron. Fertilizer of choice is Dyna-Gro's 7-7-7 and bloom formula. I make up 5 gallons of concentrate at a time, watering til it's gone - generally two waterings. I don't try to determine what needs bloom booster when...I make up three batches of the 7-7-7 to one batch of the bloom booster. Seems to work for me.

I'm currently using a fertilizer, new on the market, replacing the bloom booster Dyna-Gro. Expect to report on it later.


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