(top of zone 6a, NY)
Last Fall we built a 3x8 coldframe & ate salad all winter from it. This Fall we built a 12x16 hoop house! We found one of these used: www.hoophouse.com -- Covering is 2 layers 6ml plastic, we put some sheet insulation on the north side interior walls) & put the coldframe inside it (lettuces, mustards,mache, claytonia, etc inside the coldframe, it's not covered yet--too warm!).
Outside the coldframe are brassicas, scallions, sorel, parsley, lettuces, mustards, arugula, mache, asian greens, tenderleaf, sensopal, mesclun, a potted fig that we sunk into the ground (hoping figs will ripen before weather gets too cold),....and a volunteer tomato that just started blooming.
We are (so far) using just solar heating, but the double layer of plastic could be used with blower down the line...if we get a blower!
questions:
-Does anyone know a good guide to ideal temperatures & humidity inside the Hoop house?
Overnight temps are equal inside & out, daytime can get very hot quickly!
-How important is using thermal mass in the hoop house?
-any overwinterering tips out there?
thanks,
hrana
Last Fall we built a 3x8 coldframe & ate salad all winter from it. This Fall we built a 12x16 hoop house! We found one of these used: www.hoophouse.com -- Covering is 2 layers 6ml plastic, we put some sheet insulation on the north side interior walls) & put the coldframe inside it (lettuces, mustards,mache, claytonia, etc inside the coldframe, it's not covered yet--too warm!).
Outside the coldframe are brassicas, scallions, sorel, parsley, lettuces, mustards, arugula, mache, asian greens, tenderleaf, sensopal, mesclun, a potted fig that we sunk into the ground (hoping figs will ripen before weather gets too cold),....and a volunteer tomato that just started blooming.
We are (so far) using just solar heating, but the double layer of plastic could be used with blower down the line...if we get a blower!
questions:
-Does anyone know a good guide to ideal temperatures & humidity inside the Hoop house?
Overnight temps are equal inside & out, daytime can get very hot quickly!
-How important is using thermal mass in the hoop house?
-any overwinterering tips out there?
thanks,
hrana
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New York
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Re: Hoop House questions
Tue, November 13, 2007 - 4:54 PMCongratulations on your successful coldframe! I love that idea of putting the cold rame inside the hoophouse. I can't wait to hear how it works out! If you haven't already check with the cooperative extensions for hoop house culture in your area because there will be unique circumstances for each region. There's this website i stumbled upon: www.noble.org/Ag/Research...iculture.htm
which has a lot of good hoop house info and trial reports on it. For your crops I'd probably want to try and keep the house at around 60-70 degrees because hotter temperatures may cause your cold weather crops to bolt and may encourage swifter outbreaks of fungi and and insect pests. The tomato would prefer the higher temps, of course, and I don't know but I'm guessing the figs would too. I'm sure you wont have any problem with generating humidity because the plants will give off some and the moisture from the soil or potting medium should do the trick. In fact you may need to add a fan to dry off the plants a little to avoid fungal outbreaks. If you are starting seeds and cuttings the ideal humidity is 100% and temperatures around 80 degrees. But to maintain healthy plants especially the ones you're growing I think I'd just use your own observations, intuition and trial and error. I don't know if any of this helps or not, i apologize if this is all stuff you already know. But good luck to you and I hope you get some great crops this winter!
