Just theoretically....

[conuly]

Is there anything you can't grow in a greenhouse? Like, say, what if we wanted to produce rubber in NY, could we do that with sufficient money? Or cinnamon, or cocoa, or... tea? Obviously this is a little absurd, but could you do that?

Comments

[dragonwolf]

As long as you can control the temperature that's ideal for the plant(s) you want to grow (and the structure is large enough for the plant(s)), I don't see why you couldn't.

[dogstar]

Look up "Moody Gardens" for a really impressive ginormous pyramid greenhouse. :)

[steorra]

I believe there are some plants that are sensitive to day length. (Well, at least there are some plants that are sensitive to day length for whether or not they flower: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photoperiodism ). That might make plants from some latitudes hard to grow in others. (Though it might mean plants would grow but not flower - I don't know that much about it.)

There are also some plants that need things to get to a certain coldness in the winter in order to produce flowers/fruit. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernalization ) That might be an obstacle to growing certain plants in some climates, even in a greenhouse - if the local temperature doesn't get cold enough, it would have to be refrigerated.

[dragonwolf]

Since she lives in New York, I don't think she has to worry about it not getting cold enough. :)

[steorra]

I did think of that, but since it was a hypothetical question, I figured it would also be worth taking into account things that couldn't be grown in greenhouses in other climates.

[dragonwolf]

Fair enough.

[conuly]

Depends on how cold "cold enough" is. Due to our position right on the water NYC never gets that cold in winter. We get maybe two weeks of really bitter cold every year, and that's about it.

[dragonwolf]

I'm no botanist, but I would venture to guess that there aren't many plants that would need much below freezing for vernalization. Such temperatures are easily doable in your area, or should be close enough that a little extra boost from a refrigerant system wouldn't be unfeasible.

[conuly]

Like limes, which can only ripen at a temperature cold enough to kill the tree?

[dragonwolf]

How could is cold enough?

[steorra]

Really? That seems biologically infeasible.

[conuly]

I'm sure I read that somewhere. But now I can't find it to back me up!

[brownkitty.livejournal.com]

I would find a botanical garden and ask them. The only thing that doesn't seem as if it could be worked around is air pressure, and I don't know whether that's something that has to be taken into consideration.

[dandelion.livejournal.com]

I googled it and one guy has said that plums, grapes and nectarines won't grow in a greenhouse (doesn't say why); another says that certain herbs won't grow because they don't like the high heat and humidity (though you could get round that, I'm sure, plus chances are those will grow fine in NY anyway without a greenhouse); and another guy says that it's difficult to grow certain things in large enough quantities.

[marveen.livejournal.com]

High heat and humidity mean you need to put vents and airflow in. "Greenhouse" may be a misnomer, as those herbs would probably be happier in a coldframe.

If y'all throw enough money at the problem, I'm sure climatically controlled greenhouses COULD be built to grow cacoa, or cinnamomum cassia, etc....but the best solution would probably be to work with native plants.

Ceanothus americanus is said to make a quite good tea similar to china tea. Lindera benzoin, spicebush, has an aromatic odor similar to allspice. Cardamom can be grown in pots easily and I happen to love it in sweet foods. Carob trees grow in much colder climates than cacao. (Okay, it's not chocolate, but it's kinda close.)

[redbird]

There's a tea plantation in Charleston, on an island close to the Atlantic, which is relevant at least to questions of elevation/air pressure. So probably doable in theory, but not in quantity, and the quality might not be very good. (But even third-rate tea leaves can be better than no tea at all.)

I also found an article advocating growing cacao hydroponically, but the tone is very "hey, wow, raw foods, no sugar" and I didn't bother watching the video.

Unrelated comment

[redbird]

The wishlist link at the top of your page got an error message from Amazon.

Re: Unrelated comment

[conuly]

Probably because it was so full of old stuff and no intuitive way to fix it that I deleted it altogether. I should change the link, though :)

[velvetchamber.livejournal.com]

There is a greenhouse full of bananas in Iceland. Apparently the largest banana "plantation" in Europe. Good bananas too.

[polydad.livejournal.com]

Look for 'polytunnel' on YouTube.

I haven't personally grown anything but berries in greenhouses, but have no a priori reason to assume there's anything that won't grow in one if you tweak it right.

best,

Joel. Putting up a 40'x100' one next week.

[janewilliams20.livejournal.com]

Since this is hypothetical rather than practical, I'd suggest a look at the Eden Project in Cornwall for an extreme use of the word "greenhouse". They've replicated all sorts of climates in there.

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

Are you getting one of those mini greenhouses? Our experience is they're wonderful for tomatoes, and strawberries.

[conuly]

No, actually, I was pondering the likelihood of still being able to obtain cinnamon after the fall of civilization. Really, that's what I was doing.

[steorra (from livejournal.com)]

I did likewise recently with tea (with reference to the southwest coast of Canada which is my long-term home). I thought I'd made a post about it, but apparently I didn't. I discovered that not only is there a tea plantation in Charleston, as someone above mentioned, but there is also a farm that grows tea in Washington State, which is pretty close to my region. I also discovered that:
-Tea belongs to the camellia genus (Camellia sinensis)
-Quite a few other plants in the camellia genus have a tradition of being used to make tea in Asia.
-It is possible to make tea from an ornamental camellia, which I know grows in my home climate, because my family has one. It's probably not as good tea as tea from camellia sinensis, but it is apparently recognizably tea.

So it is plausible that if civilization fell and I was in my homeland, I would still be able to get access to tea.