A Hoop House in western South Dakota

A Hoop House in western South Dakota

Summary

WORK ACTIVITIES
The funds I received on 05/24/2012 were used to pay for a 24x12x56 single Bay Economy High Tunnel from Farmtek. When I put in my figures from the cost of the high tunnel, it was from the newest catalogue I had at that time. When I went to order, prices had gone up a lot. I picked a different tunnel to make the money work out as best I could. The tunnel cost $ 2,489.35 plus $310.07 for shipping totaling $2,799.42. My check was $2,644.84. I used four 4x4x16 foot pieces of lumber and two 2x4x20 foot beams for the door frames for $69.36. There were 9 planks for the bottom run- $144.00 and 86 miles mileage. My son spent 4 hours leveling the spot with the patrol. My husband and two sons spent 6 hours setting pipe together.

We kept having nasty, windy storms every other day that were damaging buildings and trees. I was afraid to put the plastic on for fear it wouldn’t stay put. I planted plants inside the hoophouse with the idea that I would get to extend my growing season. I did not get my hoophouse until the end of June because of a problem with my funds not being sent due to computer issues. Finally the weather stabilized and we put the plastic on. It was wonderful. The plants loved it. My husband, my two sons, my son-in-law, and a friend spent 3 hours putting the plastic on, figuring out the doors and assembling them. I had blooming flowers, peas, beans, tomatoes, and peppers and strawberry plants.

All was great until in October there came 70 mph straight line winds that knocked tractor trailers over on the highway and ripped roofs off buildings. My sons spent 4 hours hauling in bales, big round ones, that my oldest son set in a half circle around the west end and north side of the hoophouse to break the wind. He stood the bottom row on end and the top bale sideways. It kept that end and side together, but something perhaps a tree limb, hit in the middle of the roof and it tore apart. The door on the east was broken in half; the pipes to crank up the door were twisted and bent. The wind continued for three days, not as bad as the first night, but enough so I couldn’t keep tarps over my plants and the temperature went down to 20 degrees F.

We took down the plastic and doors and started over in March. I found a heavy plastic that had covered railroad cars at Repurposed Materials on the internet. It had fabric filaments in a diamond pattern and was clear and very tough. With shipping, I paid $278.00 to reskin the hoophouse. The original building was reinforced with cord tied in an X pattern over the length of its sides. I used rope this time, $65.00 worth. These were anchored to the wooden planks at the bottom of the hoophouse. My son tightens the ropes every so often. I had one rope break after a really windy day, sun rot perhaps. My son noticed it and we replaced the rope before any more damage could be done. My son spent 4 hours mending my doors. He took an old dog kennel apart, split the metal pipe and covered over the ragged broken parts that fit inside the heavy canvas-like door coverings, welding and bolting, and straightening it all back together. My husband and two sons spent 3 hours cleaning up and fixing the hoophouse, and then my two sons, son-in-law, and a friend and myself put the plastic back on, another 3 hours.

We had lettuce, and peas and radishes a week before Easter. I have had tomatoes, lettuce, Swiss chard, carrots, parsnips, beets, potatoes and onions and yellow zucchini, sunflowers, marigolds, and bachelor buttons from the hoophouse.

RESULTS
I have learned when someone tells you to put a hoophouse in a sheltered spot; it’s really hard to have enough shelter in Western South Dakota. Use rope instead of cording and heavier plastic whenever possible. Stake all of your tomatoes up – slugs can be a problem; potatoes do not do well in a hoophouse; peas, lettuce, carrots, beets, Swiss chard, zucchini, and some cucumber varieties do wonderfully well and are very productive with the sheltered environment. Being able to open big doors on either end to allow airflow and to shut at night to keep out deer has made for a much better harvest. On hot days I would turn on my sprinkler from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. It really helps moderate the temperature. Grasshoppers were still a problem, eating the blossoms of the peppers and chewing on some tomatoes. A bit of Garden Guard helped.

The terrible winter storm of this October which has killed so many cattle did damage to my hoophouse. The wind and snow load pulled out a corner on the southeast side of the hoophouse. Despite a fair-sized gap I still had tomatoes, peppers and Swiss chard and zucchini. I put plastic across my big door on the west end on the inside. It stopped a lot of airflow and cold. I had covered some plants inside with another layer of plastic and they are still producing despite 20 degree temps some nights. 

I left carrots and parsnips in the hoophouse and am harvesting as needed. They are lightly covered and still beautifully green, I would like to get some strawberry plants back in to see how they would do all season. I will try to pick more upright tomatoes rather than the sprawling kind as they are harder to keep upright. Romano tomatoes bore for a very long time, the Brandywine were huge with staking and protection as were many of the other varieties I tried. I wasn’t really satisfied with the cucumbers and decided I wasn’t using the needed greenhouse varieties. I will plant a few smaller flowers in the hoop house to attract bees but sunflowers get out of control in that environment. I ended up circling mine with twine and tying them up to metal beams to keep them from falling over on the other plants. They grew taller than I am.

WORK PLAN FOR 2014
Peas and lettuce and carrots and parsnips and tomatoes and peppers and greenhouse cucumbers and strawberries and marigolds and bachelor buttons are all on the future list. Onions and potatoes and sunflowers are for outside.

I will have to do some work on the corner the snow and wind ripped out. That door got a nasty bend in the middle and won’t crank up either. It is a good thing my oldest son is handy with tools and likes plants.

I will try to plant quite early this year with plastic runners over my rows of the more cold-tolerant plants – peas, lettuce, radishes, etc. Between the hoophouse and the extra layer of plastic it seems to help a lot. The peas and lettuce were noticeably sweeter. Not being abused by the wind would be my guess. It would have been grand to make a bunch of money with the hoophouse but since the week before Easter, my family of seven has had all the lovely fresh vegetables they wanted. I have traded vegetables for milk with my next-door neighbor. I have shared with family and neighbors and furnished vegetables for funerals and parties. I have encouraged my young neighbors to garden for economy, for health, for fun, and to check out your website. 

OUTREACH
I had an openhouse (28 people), I hosted a 4-H meeting with a tour of the hoophouse (8 people), I talked about the hoophouse at every social gathering I have been at, and suggested especially to all my younger neighbors to go to the website and look at all the projects people were trying, and to consider applying for a grant to try a dream of theirs. I want to write articles for The Green Sheet and The Faith Independent.

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