MIRLITON.ORG

MIRLITON.ORG

Ervin Crawford’s Winter Vine Enclosure

Bad photos of Ervin Crawford's frost protection on this trellis. I used a phone camera and got a lot of polarization. See the earlier Crawford album on his trellis which is 100' by 16' and has 10 second-year plants He uses fence wire on top which supports the coverings, though he recommends a larger fencing with 4" x 4" squares so mirlitons can hang down. The coverings are comprised of one insulated row cover that provides 4 degrees protection, cut to 100 x 30 feet. Then he added a sheet of 6-mil plastic the same dimensions. He sealed the edges with heavy concrete bricks and bags of hay. He added a propane heater and the temporary greenhouse maintained inside temperature 10 degrees higher than the outside temperature and protected the fruit. He found that rain water ran off naturally or through holes in the coverings. The hardest thing was protecting the covers from wind. The covers allowed enough light through to stimulate new growth. He estimates that he harvested 1,000 fruit this fall. The insulated row covers and greenhouse plastic is available on-line or from farm and feed stores. He now uses a wireless remote thermometer to monitor temperatures.
These are photos inside the enclosure. These are the fruit that naturally dropped to the ground. All of them are 2-3 pounds.
Outside of trellis with bags and bricks holding down edges.