# Hoop house build.



## stanb999

I'm building a hoop house/ poly tunnel. The reasons and benefits are many. For me the main reason is moving part of my growing environment 500 miles south(It is claimed that growing conditions can be moderated that much. We will see). I should get vine ripe tomatoes. Peppers that grow amazing. Maybe just maybe water melon.  I have included prices so you can get an idea if it's worth it for you.

The big hurdle was watering. The hoop house will need all the water for it pumped to it. Carrying it was thought of but 100-200 gallons a week for most of the year put this out of the question. A state road is in between it and the house. So I had to get an alternative to house water. I have a pond. It's down hill 50ft and 500 ft away. I have worked out a solar pumping system for it that will give enough water easily. It wasn't cheap, well it was ok at approx 400 bucks with 1/4 of that being pipe. 

The hoop house will be 19'x12' for a total of 42' of 4 foot wide grow bed. It's made of 1 1/2" conduit. I chose conduit due to it's natural UV rating and rigid nature. I was concerned with snow loads but believe i have created it in such a way that it won't be an issue. I used two 10 foot lengths with a 90 degree sweep at the top. Each hoop cost 12 bucks or so. I needed 6. You will also need 2 for the ridge purloin. If you get 15 at the depot, they give a discount... 2 are free so get 15.  The cover plastic is 4 year 6 mil greenhouse poly. At a cost of 100 bucks for 25 x 36. You will need 4 2x6x10' for the side boards, 1 2x6x12' and one 2x6x10 and a dozen 2x4x8 for the hoop house ends. Cost is maybe 50-60 bucks. For hardware I got a box of each 3 1/3 x 1/4" bolts, 1/4" nuts, flat washers. 20 bucks. 12 1/12" conduit 2 hole clamps. They were 50 cants a piece. A box of 2 1/2" deck screws. To anchor it to the ground I used standard solid 6' T posts cut in thirds(24") I had them so they cost nothing but they are 6 bucks each you would need 4. These worked really well because the pipes just fit over. Just. So the pipes were locked in place before the wood was added. You could use rebar, metal pipe or what ever else you have laying around. Just make sure it is the right length and strong enough to take the pressure.

To build you lay out your corners. Make sure it's square. Diagonal measurements. The use string to set the rest of the posts. Set your posts strait up and down, and 12" in. Glue your pipes together and let them sit a while. You will be putting a lot of force on them to get them on the anchor points. To set the hoops. Two people are preferred. Get it on there. All the way down. Yes it's hard. It's a pain. Especially if you used the T posts and their tight fit. Cut the side boards to length use the left over to join the pieces together. Attach them to the hoops with the clamps with the nut and bolts.



This is how far I am along now. I will update the thread as I go.


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## lilmissy0740

Nice! I always wanted smaller ones, but haven't done it yet. Can't wait to see the progress.


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## cnsper

a t-post is a green metal fence post you see on all kinds of farms.


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## stanb999

masterspark said:


> Nice job. I have a couple of questions though. What is a t post? I probably have seen it, just don't know it by that name. 2nd, how do you plan to attach the ridge pole? 3rd, will there be an issue with wind on the ends or do you have something to mitigate that? 4th, what kind of door will you be using?
> Keep us posted on your progress.


As said above a t post is a heavy duty steel fence post. Used commonly for electric fence. They are a solid T.

I drilled the hoops and used the bolts. You need to make the hole on top bigger so the bolt head can go thru and not stick up.

The ends will have 2x4's for support.

I'm planning on a pvc pipe door. But I haven't fully worked it out yet.

here is a picture of a t post.


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## stanb999

Ok, today went well.

First the purloin.


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## stanb999

I notched the 2x4 side rails to fit the pipe.


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## stanb999

Added cross bracing.


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## stanb999

The hoop house so far. I added a few 2x4's to the ends and also added planks for the raised beds.


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## Locutus

Very nice. I like your use of conduit with the ELs at the ridge line. One caveat: Four feet wide beds are usually intended to be accessed from both sides, so that one only has to reach two feet to the middle. But it looks like yours will only be able to be reached from one side. That would make it difficult to reach the far side. I've found with my own raised beds that 2 1/2 feet is my maximum comfortable reach.

If you put notches in your bed every four feet and two feet deep you will be able to reach the back. Here's an example from my own greenhouse:


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## Neec0

Locutus said:


> Very nice. I like your use of conduit with the ELs at the ridge line. One caveat: Four feet wide beds are usually intended to be accessed from both sides, so that one only has to reach two feet to the middle. But it looks like yours will only be able to be reached from one side. That would make it difficult to reach the far side. I've found with my own raised beds that 2 1/2 feet is my maximum comfortable reach.
> 
> If you put notches in your bed every four feet and two feet deep you will be able to reach the back. Here's an example from my own greenhouse:


What type of soil did you put down in there? Great looking house.


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## stanb999

Locutus said:


> Very nice. I like your use of conduit with the ELs at the ridge line. One caveat: Four feet wide beds are usually intended to be accessed from both sides, so that one only has to reach two feet to the middle. But it looks like yours will only be able to be reached from one side. That would make it difficult to reach the far side. I've found with my own raised beds that 2 1/2 feet is my maximum comfortable reach.
> 
> If you put notches in your bed every four feet and two feet deep you will be able to reach the back. Here's an example from my own greenhouse:


I agree. But She who will tend to it and requested it be built. Seems to think I'm worrying over nothing. She will be able to get to the outside with the sides up and she wanted room for watermelon and Amish melon which she plans to plant at the end. So it may be ok for her. I will note your suggestions if things don't work like expected.

Do you like the stone? I was thinking of doing the same. If you don't mind i do have a question for you? Do the salts really build up in the soil like they claim or is it not such a big deal? I have never had to water on an ongoing basis so this will be new. I will also be using pond water for irrigation if that makes a difference.


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## Locutus

stanb999 said:


> I agree. But She who will tend to it and requested it be built. Seems to think I'm worrying over nothing. She will be able to get to the outside with the sides up and she wanted room for watermelon and Amish melon which she plans to plant at the end. So it may be ok for her. I will note your suggestions if things don't work like expected.
> 
> Do you like the stone? I was thinking of doing the same. If you don't mind i do have a question for you? Do the salts really build up in the soil like they claim or is it not such a big deal? I have never had to water on an ongoing basis so this will be new. I will also be using pond water for irrigation if that makes a difference.


If you can roll up the sides of the plastic covering then that should enable access. I've only had my greenhouse one year so no noticeable salt buildup so far, but thanks for the tip--I'll be watching for it now. I use city water, which comes from snow melt reservoirs in the Cascade Range. Very high quality water. The gravel in the walkway is 5/8 Minus crushed rock. Works for me and looks okay. The soil is native soil (mostly broken up hard pan) Which I loosened down to about 18-24 inches depth, plus I added compost, peat moss, dolomite lime and organic fertilizer. This year I'm planning to take off the top 2 inches and replace with compost and mix it in. I'll probably also throw a bit of triple phosphate and muriate of potash (Hi-Yield brand) on top.


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## stanb999

Have the raised beds half full of soil. I'm using native soil from the farm and bags of "top soil" from home depot(the cheapest they have, 1.50 a bag). I'm filling the boxes loose with my soil. Then adding a loose 2" to the top. After I get it full and get the soaker hoses in I plan to add mulch to keep things moist.


On a side note, My soil is much nicer to work with than the purchased soil. It seems to be just screened rotted wood chips. More of a compost really. Which for me will work but I doubt anyone would like just this stuff for growing.


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## Locutus

I see you're putting the soil right on top of the grass. You may find that the grass will grow up through the soil and take over your raised beds.


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## stanb999

Locutus said:


> I see you're putting the soil right on top of the grass. You may find that the grass will grow up through the soil and take over your raised beds.


Could happen the grass will be covered with about 6" of soil and 2-3" of mulch.

My reasoning for it was like this. If I till it, it will mix weed seed to the surface. Now it is just pasture grass timothy and orchard mostly. Both not known to be terribly tenacious. It could be dandelion, milk weed, thistle, and who knows what else. That will gladly grow thru 6" of soil. If I cover it with a barrier roots wont go down thru it well and I'd limit the soil depth. So I figured I would risk it.

I guess the best would be to spray it clean with roundup or cook it with clear plastic for a few weeks in mid summer heat.


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## stanb999

masterspark said:


> Great project. Keep up the posts please.


I will. Hopefully all the way thru the first season.


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## HomegrownGal

stanb999 said:


> Could happen the grass will be covered with about 6" of soil and 2-3" of mulch.
> 
> My reasoning for it was like this. If I till it, it will mix weed seed to the surface. Now it is just pasture grass timothy and orchard mostly. Both not known to be terribly tenacious. It could be dandelion, milk weed, thistle, and who knows what else. That will gladly grow thru 6" of soil. If I cover it with a barrier roots wont go down thru it well and I'd limit the soil depth. So I figured I would risk it.
> 
> I guess the best would be to spray it clean with roundup or cook it with clear plastic for a few weeks in mid summer heat.


I lay a heavy piece of cardboard under my raised beds. It kills the weeds. Then I set my beds up and put the soil right on top of the cardboard. It will eventually rot and the roots of your plants can reach the soil underneath.


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## stanb999

HomegrownGal said:


> I lay a heavy piece of cardboard under my raised beds. It kills the weeds. Then I set my beds up and put the soil right on top of the cardboard. It will eventually rot and the roots of your plants can reach the soil underneath.


Good Idea.. It's a little late tho.  I have 80% of it placed.


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## Meerkat

Very nice. We have one going up now too. Its a old carport frame with wood frame inside.

We loved our first hoophouse, it was nice but too far from house.


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## stanb999

My solar powered water pump setup. It will pump water from the spring pool to the hoop house 50 ft up hill and 800 ft away.



















P.S. The inlet pipe is out of the water till no more freezing mornings and I have to make a filter of sorts to keep out any debris.


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## stanb999

Hoop house has the soil boxes full except one little part. It has the ends built out to hold the plastic. Still waiting for the piping from the pond to the hoop house to be delivered. I will likely have to wait till next weekend to put the plastic on. Early mornings are most wind free and should be the best time.

Door side.









"Back" side


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## stanb999

So the pipe finally came. I installed it last night. Now it isn't fully installed but it was enough to get a measure of the water flow. 2.5 GPM with a five gallon pail pushing the water 50 up and 730 ft of 3/4" pipe. Not too bad. The pump didn't seam stressed so all was well.

Installation of the poly pipe... The 300 FT rolls were a bit of a pain. But manageable. I first laid the pipe in the sun for several hours, it was a chilly day but sunny. Then I ran the pipe and made the connections. Then I took some rope and used duct tape to connect it to the pipe on both ends. At the lower end I tied it to the platform seen in the pictures. At the upper end I tied it to a tree. I did this so the pipe would relax strait over the next few warm days. I just pulled on it by hand so it's not under a ton of force but it was enough to straitened it out. I will see how it worked out after a few days.


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## zimmy

*Greenhouses*

We live in the world of surplus. I built my greenhouse with, surplus, overstock, seconds, and obsolete parts. Hurry!! Time is short, if you haven't prepared by now it could be too late!


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## stanb999

Ok, so I put the soaker hoses on and let her rip... Some great news. It works!

The pump
Initially it was cycling 8 sec on and 2 off, with just one soaker hose connected. The pump comes with paperwork that states that the pump shouldn't cycle on and off @ 2 seconds. So I added a splitter and a second soaker hose now it's 2 running at once. The pump runs continuous now. The pump works well this way. It got real warm but not hot after 45 min. running strait at full pressure.(the paper work says the pumps can get to 250F... It wasn't close to this, 120 maybe.) .

The battery...
I had the pump run yesterday for a half hour (mostly to play with it. LOL) The battery charge indicator showed it was fully charged by this afternoon. It was clear blue skies so nearly perfect. I will keep upping the run time to see when it fails to fully charge. Then I plan to back off 30% Right now I know it can do the 20 min. three times a week per design.

P.S. I emailed shur flo about the pump cycling time.(Is the pump "short" cycling when on for 8 sec. and off for 2?) The tech said for the most life out of the pump it shouldn't cycle on and off. It stresses the motor and pump switch contacts. He suggested a large pressure tank or a pump with lessor flow. So keep in mind if you design a pumping system using one of these style pumps. Use all the water flow rate to min. cycling as much as practical. The pump wants to just run, not cycle on and off.


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## LincTex

zimmy said:


> We live in the world of surplus. I built my greenhouse with, surplus, overstock, seconds, and obsolete parts.


Wish it were that way here. People are very keen to look for good deals, you have to be super quick to get them. The amount of building always happening keeps the amount of "surplus" very low.(the builders are very frugal)


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## stanb999

The plastic is up and it's just about finished. I still have to build a door.

I used 1x3's to hold the plastic in place. I put white duct tape on to act as a backer for the plastic to make it more tear resistant at the wood boards. It worked well for the most part. Where the plastic was wrinkled it was difficult, but it's still worth the effort. I used the same duct tape to cover the pipes. I found out after purchasing them that you want white pipes to minimize heat build up that can damage the plastic. The hardest part was the ends. But it was manageable. It got hot in there almost immediately. It was oppressively hot after a few hours. So make sure you plan on lots of ventilation. 

Here you go and yes the wife has planted it with her warm season veggies, 5 weeks till our last frost date. The first show the side rolled up. The second shows our tomato starts.


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## stanb999

Update:

Tomatoes are growing well in the Hoop. They were planted as tiny sprouts. The peppers, eggplant, and water melon are coming along too. Still eleven days from the official "last" frost. In fact later this week my forecast is for lows in the mid- 30's.

They have made it through snow showers and graupel, a killing frost, dense fog for more than a few days with the high @ 50F, and some real wind. Gotta love the hoop!


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## stanb999

Update It's been 8weeks since planting and 4 weeks from the last set of photo's

The plants in the hoop are doing very well. The tomato plants all have closed flowers and a few have started to bloom. The peppers and eggplants are growing good. Two of the watermelon plants are doing good, one not so much. We have been using it for herbs and starting seeds. With this it's great as well.

Without further ado..
Photo's
#1 beefsteaks
#2 Peppers
#3 Eggplants
#4 Cherry Tomatoes.


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## stanb999

masterspark said:


> Great thread, I love what you've done. I had a thought on your irrigation setup. If you set up 2 or 3 plastic rain barrels raised up off of the ground to pump into, you could set up a hose and let gravity do the work. I don't know if a soaker hose would work without pressure but you would always have water on hand without the 500' trip to the pump to turn it on. Just a thought FWIW.


The pump has a pressure switch. So you open the valve in the hoop and the pump turns on. Close it and the pump shuts off. It's fully automatic. At least in the warm months. 

I will make a short youtube of the pump working today and get it posted. It was a very expensive part of the build but was totally worth it. I get much more water from it than I had planned on; to the point of being able to "waste" water and let the kids enjoy it on hot days. Basically I needed 1 hour a week and I'm getting 1 hour a day.


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## stanb999

Here is a link to the youtube.

You can see when I go to the hose outside. The pressure runs out, then the pump kicks on and the flow is returned.


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## stanb999

Quick update.

The stuff in the hoop was getting cooked... Well sun scald anyway. This is an issue I have never dealt with before. The plants looked health but the tips were browning. They weren't wilted or bug eaten. but the leaves were yellowing and misshapen. The soil was moist but not soggy. Generally here the issues we have are because it's too cool and/or cold. So It took me better than 2 weeks to find out what was going on. Live and learn.

The hoop is now covered with 30% shade cloth and the stuff appears to be recovering fast!


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## Dixie

My aunt had a greenhouse and when I told her about mine she said: "The heat will be your worst enemy"....she was right.


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## Meerkat

stanb999 said:


> Update It's been 8weeks since planting and 4 weeks from the last set of photo's
> 
> The plants in the hoop are doing very well. The tomato plants all have closed flowers and a few have started to bloom. The peppers and eggplants are growing good. Two of the watermelon plants are doing good, one not so much. We have been using it for herbs and starting seeds. With this it's great as well.
> 
> Without further ado..
> Photo's
> #1 beefsteaks
> #2 Peppers
> #3 Eggplants
> #4 Cherry Tomatoes.


 Very nice,gave us ideas for this fall with our new greenhouse. Right now it just has a few tomatoes and berries in it.The heat is finally doing a number on the toms though,but they are still producing. The last month has been continuous rain and cloudy days so that's why they still produce.


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## Meerkat

Dixie said:


> My aunt had a greenhouse and when I told her about mine she said: "The heat will be your worst enemy"....she was right.


I wish I could paste sites because this vent is fantastic. We put 2 in our lean to, it took the heat down 20 degrees.No need for electricity either,they work by heat,close up perfect at about 80 de.


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## LincTex

Meerkat said:


> I wish I could paste sites because this vent is fantastic .


You can't just copy the link, and paste it here? 
Is your right-click button on your mouse broken?


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## gabbyj310

I saw a greenhouse that looked very interesting the other day.It was dug in the ground(it looked to be about 3or4 feet deep)you had to take like two steps down.then the guy had raised beds..I noticed some heavy duty plastic on the edges and it looked like maybe heat mats.Topped with real heavy plastic.The sides were built up some for air and it looked like the plastic could be rolled up completely..At one end he had a roll of that "shade cloth" too.It looked like he had a slow drip system in place.This was a friend of mine, guy living next door and these we out on his back lot(way back)didn't want to answers tooooo many questions so I had to kinda of leave it but sure looked like a darn awesome set up for SHTF!!!!!! He did say he had gotten "parts" from an old greenhouse that some people didn't want anymore.


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## stanb999

Update #3 12 weeks from putting the plants in the hoop. 13 weeks from planting. The plants are very mature and well ahead of the grow schedule.

The tomatoes are still growing like weeds. The watermelon have started to blossom and put on tiny fruits. The eggplants have started to flower. The peppers are suffering from chronic flower drop. They really suffered from the over heating and scorching on a few weeks ago. They are recovering so all hope isn't lost yet.

A few pictures. I will get a few more tomorrow.


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## stanb999

We have also planted a few Pok Choy and a row of cucumbers in the hoop. The Chinese cabbage is growing well even tho it's probably hot. The cucumbers are only in since last Sunday and are better than 3" tall...


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## stanb999

The rest of the 12 week pictures.

Eggplant
Peppers
watermelon

Added
Pok Choy
Cucumber added 7/7/13


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## stanb999

Update:

I know it is a bit early. But I've gotten the first tomatoes. Yes they were just cherry tomatoes. But I'm still 

The bad and the ugly.
First let me say I think I messed up. I should have planted greenhouse varieties. The plants have done ok so far but are having on going disease problems, fruit set issues, and general lack of performance. I haven't had any peppers or eggplant set fruit as of yet. The plants look good tho. Lastly for the bad, I'm still learning so I'm trying to not be too hard on myself.

The good. Herbs and greens do very well in the hoop house.

With out further ado..

Tomato's Slicing and Cherry


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## stanb999

Eggplant









Peppers


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## stanb999

Cucumber (yep those that I planted a few weeks ago.)










Last of the Pok Choy It did really well.


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## stanb999

Watermelon


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## stanb999

The first harvest of basil.


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## stanb999

Next installment... It has been 21 weeks since planting.

This is the second to last posting for the Warm season Hoop house production. Many things have produced very well. Some things not so much as I've alluded to over the season. All the plants in the hoohouse grew very well compared to the outside garden. Next season... The fall/winter planting is just 4 weeks away. I hope those plants do as well. Without further ado...


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## stanb999

Tomato plants They grew very well but have taken a really long time to ripen. The bunch at the bottom snaped the branch and just fell off when I was pruning. There is 4.8 pounds on just that one bunch. Each plant has several. The cherry tomatos are plentyful and we will likely get a bushel or more from the 9 plants.


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## stanb999

The peppers... They are by far the largest pepper plants I have ever seen. They are close to 4 feet tall, have tons of blossoms, and are producing fruit. I hope they have time to ripen it.


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## stanb999

The eggplants are producing well and turned out to be great.


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## stanb999

The cucumbers planted 8 weeks ago is starting to produce cucs.. The plants are totally covered with blossoms and growing fruits... They are doing incredibly. In this image they are taller than 5 feet so you have an Idea of their size.


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## JustCliff

Looking good Stan!


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## lilmissy0740

lilmissy0740 said:


> Nice! I always wanted smaller ones, but haven't done it yet. Can't wait to see the progress.


Stanb999, I was browsing through this post to see your progress. I went back to see the beginning stages and noticed my post, that I quoted. I have to say, sorry, I am a dumb*+%. I wasn't being sarcastic or anything. Not even sure why I thought this, but I actually thought you were building a hoop house!!! Don't ask... I can't even begin to explain. So sorry if you took what I posted the wrong way. 
Now onto my questions,
Did you get any white flies or bugs of any kind in there? If so, how did you get rid of them? 
Did you leave the plastic on the front and back sides all summer?


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## stanb999

lilmissy0740 said:


> Stanb999, I was browsing through this post to see your progress. I went back to see the beginning stages and noticed my post, that I quoted. I have to say, sorry, I am a dumb*+%. I wasn't being sarcastic or anything. Not even sure why I thought this, but I actually thought you were building a hoop house!!! Don't ask... I can't even begin to explain. So sorry if you took what I posted the wrong way.
> Now onto my questions,
> Did you get any white flies or bugs of any kind in there? If so, how did you get rid of them?
> Did you leave the plastic on the front and back sides all summer?


Bugs... Yes, I had several bouts.

Leaf hoppers and grass hoppers were a constant pest. They didn't actually do any real damage tho. I have had a few stink bugs and a slug or two. They did a little damage but not tons. I used Sevin spray twice and it really knocked them out. For fungus and aphids I used Neem oil. It has been 100% effective for fungus. Moderately effective for aphids. The aphids caused issues with the peppers to the point of needing to pull half plants for more light and air flow to limit them. I'm sure I could have had more issues that the Sevin took out without noticing. I will say it took just a little to go a long way because it never gets washed off.

The plastic covering..
My location is very far northeastern PA @ 2150 in elevation(The top of one of the highest ridges, My grow zone is 4. Just to give you an idea... Outside tomatoes never turn red at all, ever. So your situation will likely be different. 

I open the hoop to regulate the temperature, More when it's hot, less when it's cool. The hoop has a side that rolls up 3 feet. the whole length. You can see that in the pictures. One end has the door, the other has a large 3' x 4' window. The door is most always open. Then the window and the door, finally the side if temps get 75-80F. If it gets hotter than that in the middle of the day we have a shade cloth that goes on to cool it further. In my area temps generally don't get that warm except a few days a year, YMMV.
For instance I will keep it closed when it's over cast and rainy. Outside it's 45-50F, cloudy with a light foggy drizzle. (yes this happens in august)
Inside the hoop..
It's a warm 75, dry, clear and bright. Even with the overcast conditions 70-80% of the light gets thru for good growth. If the weather clears, we will open it as noted above. It does take being home with it if your going to keep it closed at all tho. It will scream to 120F in 20 min with a clear sky, July sun, and 80F outside. If you can't be home to open it you can just open it first thing in the morning and close it at night. You will still get much better growth. 

P.S. If I wasn't clear. I close it up completely every night.


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## lilmissy0740

On the neem oil. Do you add water and spray?


Thanks for all the info.


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## Navajo

Eliot Coleman - Four Season Harvest and the Winter Harvest Handbook

Get both books, read and re read the Winter Harvest book. It works...we used it at 4800 feet in the western MT mountians over the past two winters.

IT WORKS. calculate the start days now, getting close to planting for a harvest in Jan, Feb time period.


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## stanb999

lilmissy0740 said:


> On the neem oil. Do you add water and spray?
> 
> Thanks for all the info.


Yes, it's a concentrate. You add 1 oz. to 1 gal of water.


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## stanb999

Navajo said:


> Eliot Coleman - Four Season Harvest and the Winter Harvest Handbook
> 
> Get both books, read and re read the Winter Harvest book. It works...we used it at 4800 feet in the western MT mountians over the past two winters.
> 
> IT WORKS. calculate the start days now, getting close to planting for a harvest in Jan, Feb time period.


Yep, that is the plan. I start planting again in 14 days.

Carrots, beets, lettuce, spinach, snow peas, and Chinese Cabbage.


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## Navajo

Also you have to plan years ahead....

unless you plan on replacing the soil..especially when you grow tomatoes.

http://www.growveg.com/growguides/crop-rotation.aspx


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## Navajo

And if that makes your head bust...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companion_plants

add this...cause it helps reduce disease and bugs...but makes planting more complex and yes planning more complex...but then if shtf you will need to extend the life of your soil and you likely don't have enough stock of pesticides and herbicides anyway.


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## stanb999

Depends where in the world you live. Here the best thing to do is cleanse and sterilize the soil every 4 years. It fits with the rest of the schedule as well.

#1 The plastic over time becomes more opaque. Less and less light gets thru. At 4 years only 80% is getting thru so it's time to change it.

#2 Also fertilizers organic or otherwise build up salts in the hoop house. No rain to wash it away. 

#3 Soil pests build up.


Process. Remove plastic from hoop after summer crop and put in a safe place. The heavy rains in fall will wash the salts from the soil. During the January thaw till or "double dig" the soil open to expose all the pests buried. Let the cold winter ravage the soil microbes till March. Cover the hoop with new plastic. Cover the beds with the old plastic tight. Do this even if you have to shovel snow. These clear plastic covers will bake the soil and day time temperatures will rise to 120 or better even if the outside temps are in the 40's. Leave the double cover in place for 4 weeks. You can plant again in April.


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## stanb999

Navajo said:


> And if that makes your head bust...
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companion_plants
> 
> add this...cause it helps reduce disease and bugs...but makes planting more complex and yes planning more complex...but then if shtf you will need to extend the life of your soil and you likely don't have enough stock of pesticides and herbicides anyway.


That stuff is great if your planting a small backyard garden or patio box.

Farmers plant rows and rows or acres and acres. Do you believe if these methods were so great wouldn't it be the way we produce vegetables today? The reason we use the methods we do is because of the abundance they create.

Don't discount pesticides they are exceedingly cheap insurance. For instance the Sevin I used cost 15 dollars for a 32 oz bottle. To mix you use 1.5 oz of the concentrate to one gallon of water. This covers 1000 sq feet for less than a dollar. Thats enough to cover (5) 2'x100' foot rows of veggies. If you do it twice as I did in the hoop house it cost less than 50 cents. Cheap, cheap stuff. In my gardens I only use it if I see the specific pest and want to take it out, never as a prophylactic and never close to the max doses.


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## Navajo

SHTF or just plain old run away inflation...that is what I mean by not counting on having those useful bottles available. Good to know and practicing doing things in a different way.

We have done a few companion planting...plants seem to actually do even better...


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## stanb999

Navajo said:


> SHTF or just plain old run away inflation...that is what I mean by not counting on having those useful bottles available. Good to know and practicing doing things in a different way.
> 
> We have done a few companion planting...plants seem to actually do even better...


I hope you have the chemicals... A lot of them. Because if your planning on gardening without them and SHTF you'll likely starve. Said truth is mono-culture has already changed the environment in which we live and the bugs that live in it with us.

P.S. As little as 100 years ago many people starved in this country due to preventable crop failures. Many in people in this world still do. Living under a rock and being Green for the sake of it. Has no place in a serious preppers plans. You should learn the most reliable methods of growing abundance. That way if you lose half your crop to unforeseen issues. You still eat. How many acres did you "companion" plant? 1 or 2? A few dozen?


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## stanb999

Hoop house production So far I will update this weekly for the next 4 weeks as the final produce is Harvested. I will end up picking green tomatoes. I don't have enough time to get a winter crop too so the heat lovers have to go. 

So Far...
10 pounds of Cherry Tomatoes
24 pounds of beefsteak tomatoes.
8 pounds of Bok Choy
3 pounds of eggplant
2 watermelons (bowling ball size)
30 cucumbers
2 huge bunches of basil
1 bunch of oregano

I have added a picture of my Lovely wife picking Cherry tomatoes so you get an Idea the size of the plants.


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## LincTex

stanb999 said:


> I have added a picture of my Lovely wife picking Cherry tomatoes so you get an Idea the size of the plants.


Those plants are twice as tall as she is!


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## stanb999

LincTex said:


> Those plants are twice as tall as she is!


Indeed. Think of this tho all along I was kinda hoping they would do better. 

P.S. First possible frosts in NEPA tonight. It's early by about a month. I sure am glad I'm a conservative liberterian, Why you ask? Well liberals always get the exact opposite of what they prescribe. They where saying global warming. I built a Hoop house to warm my veggies!


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## stanb999

The final summer production figures are in and the hoop house is planted with the winter crops. Here is a pdf file generated by our hoop house production spread sheet. The amounts listed are in pounds except for the water melons and "other" category. The values listed are for the approx. retail sales value.


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## LincTex

stanb999 said:


> These clear plastic covers will bake the soil and day time temperatures will rise to 120 or better even if the outside temps are in the 40's. Leave the double cover in place for 4 weeks. You can plant again in April.


How would a person accomplish the same thing if no plastic were available?


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## stanb999

LincTex said:


> How would a person accomplish the same thing if no plastic were available?


In Texas, you can do a bunch of different things... Like enjoy summer. 

Just kidding, You can cover it with things like black roofing paper, some sheets of tin, A few old storm windows, or other covering material that will attract heat and minimize heat loss.


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