Greenhouse raspberries

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M

mcdonals

New Member
Hearth Supporter
Aug 9, 2009
7
Southwestern Ontario
I'm becoming serious about a gasification boiler. We've got lots of wood on our place. Not to mention the emerald ash borer is just down the road from us, but seems to be at bay for the last 3 or 4 years.

Sooooo .... how can I save/make some money with free fuel and some work ?
Raspberries grown in high tunnels may sell. The grocery store seems to think they have a license to steal, pricing them at $5/half pint in the winter, shipped in from somewhere far off. But people happily pay for them ! Has anyone ever tried it. We're in SW Ontario near London. Same latitude as Erie PA, Port Huron MI.
Winter temps 0-30 degrees F. A few nights might go as low as -10. Our natural growing season is from mid April to early October.

Other ideas I've read/thought about but haven't put up the time or money to try:
Wood gasification to make producer gas for gasoline engines.
Heat for drying lumber.
Other greenhouse crops

........ what else can you do with overly abundant fuel ?

Steve
 
Other than trying to sell the firewood direct, which might not be worth it if you have a lot of local competition, a greenhouse doesn't sound like a bad idea, especially if one can design something that doesn't take a lot of fuel to keep warm enough (standard designs need a LOT of fuel!) However I'm not sure about using it for raspberries - might work, might not, but my feeling is that you might do better to see if there are other crops that will get you more yield and money out of the space...

Seems like the raspberries I'm familiar with take a lot of room, all year round, and don't put out all that much fruit per volume of vine. Instead it might be worth looking into other crops that can be planted more densely, possibly using hydroponics, and that can be done with high density, along with regularly replanting as each crop finishes producing... I haven't done any greenhouse stuff myself, but logically greenhouse space must be a precious resource, so you want to get as many crops a year out of it as you can... Raspberries will make 1-2 crops / year, while I've heard that with intensive farming techniques (which can be done organically or semi-organically) you can get 5-6 crops year out of the same space from other kinds of plants...

The other thing that would probably be worth looking into before trying to build a greenhouse is the question of what to do with the crops after harvesting... Around here, most "farmer's markets" shut down in the winter. Grocery stores might be interested, but my understanding is they may only want to carry stuff that you can get them in LARGE volume (especially the chains)... Before you start, make sure you have someplace to sell what you grow...

Gooserider
 
(broken link removed to http://www.fruit.cornell.edu/Berries/ghrasp.html) Should get you started. Beware, Cornell has some great horticultural web sites. A gardeners delight.
Ed
 
you may also wish to consider growing a mix of minor crops for specialty market, like blackcurrant, or black mustard. Something you can market to healthfood store or local farm store. Oh, what about poinsettias (sp?)?
 
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