Hoop house success stories

[treasureacres]

There is another great thread going about hoop house coverings and I did not want to hijack that one. Those of you in northern, cooler climates, what did you have the best luck growing in UNHEATED hoop houses? I would like to get an earlier start on tomatos and peppers but I am interested in other ideas as well. I just got two 12' by 24' hoop houses and I am going to start putting them together this weekend I hope.

[MaineFarmMom]

I grow arugula, turnip, spinach, tatsoi, boc choi, beets,beet greens, carrots, chard (choose a thin stemmed variety), lettuce, kale and radishes. I used to grow mizuna and claytonia but dropped them. I grow only a little lettuce because it never seemed like a winter food.

[Callieslamb]

I have spinach, lettuces, turnips, broccoli, onions, carrots, beets, chinese cabbages, napa cabbage, leeks that I planted out about a month ago. I am keeping my fingers crosses since this is my first year with it. I have one tomato left from this summer and 2 pepper plants that I hope will continue to riped their fruits....however, I am finding that having cool season and warm season crops in the same hoop house isn't the best idea.

[Raven12]

I don't have the space currently for a hoop house but I have built a cold frame to start out the plants. It worked great.

[haypoint]

Michigan State University has a CSA that provides fresh veggies 48 weeks a year, in East Lansing, in central michigan, from un-heated hoop houses. You may be able to get some of their detailed research. They also funded a grant for two or three hoophouses in northern Michigan, U.P.

[happychick]

Originally Posted by treasureacres

Those of you in northern, cooler climates, what did you have the best luck growing in UNHEATED hoop houses?

I live in Northern IL, and last weekend put up my first hoop house, a 16' x 24'. It is unheated, I plan on using it for 3 seasons of the year (winter is just to hard up here). I am subscribing to this thread for ideas - I want to be successful with my hoop house in the spring!

[ekjns]

We have never used them before because we live in such a warm climate but now that we are thinking of growing more peppers we may. Thanks for the post!

[treasureacres]

Originally Posted by happychick

I live in Northern IL, and last weekend put up my first hoop house, a 16' x 24'. It is unheated, I plan on using it for 3 seasons of the year (winter is just to hard up here). I am subscribing to this thread for ideas - I want to be successful with my hoop house in the spring!

This is what I am looking at also. Hopefully everyone will continue giving great advise and ideas.

[lemonthyme7]

In my unheated hoophouse in winter I usually have arugula, spinach, mizuna (one of my best survivors all winter), tatsoi, bull's blood beet (for the greens), spinach, various winter type lettuces, kale, leeks, mache, and more that I'm drawing a blank on right now.
You should have your plants close to their ideal size as possible before freezing winter. In the coldest monthes they don't grow so much as survive at that stage until warmer weather. I follow Eliot Coleman's approach (The Four Season Harvest) and use a second cover over my crops. You use wire hoops and put row cover over them. This gives the plants another growing zone to your south. Pick in the middle of the day when the tempature in the greenhouse is above freezing. It is amazing how bad and wilted the plants can look but bounce back in a few hours.
As for starting earlier in Spring, I set out 3 tomatoes plants on April 1st this year in my hoop house but they were in wall o waters and I had set them up a couple weeks ahead of time so the soil inside of them would be warm enough to set the plants into. I really didn't put my tomatoes out in the hoop house on tables much earlier than normal. On really warm days in the hoophouse in late winter you could take them out and bring them in before the sun set. The hoophouse doesn't hold heat very well unless you have some kind of system for that.

[happychick]

Finished putting up our hoop house recently! I'm proud, can you tell? I have big plans for this 16' x 24' hoop house. I hope others post here...it's not as hard as people think!

[Terri]

This morning it was 20 degrees outside. I had covered the beds inside the hoop house with an old blanket, and the hardy vegetables and pansys look FINE!

Tomorrow I will throw a thin paint tarp across the bed inside the hoop house: I am going out of town for a few days in December, and I will not be around to cover the bed against the cold and uncover it in the morning so that the plants get light.

[MOgal]

We've had one hoop house for 11 years, the other for 9 and I agree with what Lemonthyme7 said. Eliot Coleman's book is my bible for the hoop house project. Also grow many of the same crops the others mentioned as well as a decent selection of herbs. My Arp rosemary loves it in there over the winter.

[bowdonkey]

MOgal which Coleman book?

[7thswan]

Neighbors here have 2,big and long. They only had one issue,snow load crashed in and bent the pipes. So that would be an issue to watch for.

[7thswan]

Here is a site that has pictures and lots of info. They also sell the woven poly-very strong and lasts much longer than the regular poly.
http://www.northerngreenhouse.com/id...lery/index.htm

[MOgal]

Bowdonkey, the one I have is The Four Season Harvest and I've read Winter Harvest Handbook borrowed from the library. FSH is great for a beginner while WHH is geared more for someone with more experience and aspirations of commercial winter gardening. It does have much good information that can be "downsized" for the home gardener but it's not a book I would buy for my own library due to cost. Another book I can recommend is Greenhouse Growers' Companion by Shane Smith. While it doesn't have much in the way of hoop house growing, it does a great job with greenhouse and hoop house management.

I second 7thswan's recommendation of Northern Greenhouse Sales. When I traded for the hoop houses, my trading partner gave us enough regular greenhouse film for the first house. Between cats' claws, wind driven debris, it lasted only 2 seasons. We have had one piece of the NGS woven poly that's 10 y/o and the second is 9. Since we only use them October through April, they are still in great shape except where the mice got into one of them in the shed over the summer. UGH!

[happychick]

Those look like really good books MOgal, thanks for sharing!

[MOgal]

You're most welcome, Happychick.