Thank you for this great content. I notice in this video (at the end) there are two additional high beams. In the hoop house arch video there is only one. I may have missed something but should there be 3 supports in these structures? thanks
I do have a few videos on trellising tomatoes and cucumbers, which I do in my high tunnels. Go to the USU Extension RU-vid channel and search for "Patterson gardening 101". I have a few ideas in mind for future videos that include high tunnel production. Thanks for watching.
Excellent series! Do you have a ball park cost on a house like that? Also general profits one might make in a good year say with tomatoes? Guessing those are 18' wide structures? Thank you for your time Sir.
When I priced these out in rural Utah a few years ago the cost, with the wiggle wire and plastic cover included was about $1.50 per square foot for a 48x17.5' high tunnel. Of course local prices will vary. I plant six rows of tomatoes (the outside rows are probably more suited for peppers or determinate tomatoes as you get closer to the edge). These high tunnels are 93' long and the plants are spaced 2' in the rows so I get about 45 plants per row. With a yield estimate of 12 lbs per plant you would get 3,240# (6 rows x 45 plants x 12 pounds) of tomatoes. Prices will vary, depending on your market. With a very conservative market price for fresh tomatoes at $2 per pound, gross sales could be expected to be at least $6,480. These are 18' wide, but the 45 elbow fits better if they are 17.5' wide. Thanks for watching.
Hi Gary. I'm in the process of building a DIY hoop house and I can't find much literature on the need for ventilation. How much ventilation is needed? How often? Under what conditions?
Sorry for the slow response. There is research done on greenhouse ventilation. Since high tunnels are passively heated and cooled, it becomes more of an art than a science, unfortunately. The ventilation is a balance between inside and outside temperatures as well as humidity inside. So adjust your ventilation based on those conditions. Once outside temperatures are high enough do complete ventilation. thanks for watching.
I live in central California where it gets tripple digit dry temperatures in the summer; would you recommend a tunnel with appropriate ventilation and a shade cloth cover or would my roof and side wall be adequate to keep my temperatures down? Thank you for the video share.
Your best benefit would probably to use the high tunnel as a shade structure most of the year--20-30% works well for the Utah summers. Along the Wasatch Front (Provo to Ogden in Utah) they remove the plastic by mid-June and put on shade cloths to help with sun scald issues on tomatoes and peppers. Where I did these videos, in Price, Utah, I found it better to leave the plastic on and just put a shade cloth over the plastic for the summer. Since I'm nor real familiar with the California climate, my best guess is that you would benefit from the plastic from November through February and get the shade cloth on by the time your temperatures start to reach 90 degrees and take if off when daytime temperatures are consistently below 85 degrees. Thanks for watching.
