Hoop house raised bed is 99% finished.

[HunkieDorie23]

It is finally up. I need to put a pole across the top for support but it is basically done. It is supposed to be 60 tomorrow so I am hoping the it really warms up in there. I got 6 mil plastic so it is the really good stuff. Finished in the moon light so no pictures yet.

Question: How much hardening do you need to do before planting in a hoop house? Do you need for your plants to be fully hardened or can they harden in the bed?

 

[digitS']

Here's what I did one year, Teresa.

I thought the tomato plants could start the hardening experience by going into the hoophouse and staying there. On the next good day, they could come out under the open sky for a few hours. When night fell, I left them in the hoophouse.

It was 38F in the hoophouse by the next morning. I was kind of frantic, trying to decide if I even dared to open the door and look in. (The thermometer was a remote).

That morning I learned that tomato plants can die if they go from an environment where they have never experienced cold below 60 and then have to tuff it out at 38! Only a few of them died but about half the plants wilted. Some so badly that the leaves died. A few wilted so badly that they never recovered - death just worked its way down the stem into the soil.


The plants that died were right in the middle of the hoophouse and right beside the thermometer so it was a clear lesson . Having messed up really badly :/, I give the plants plenty of time before they are out of the heated greenhouse, overnight.

Steve

 

[HunkieDorie23]

Well they are on the porch right now. I have been leaving them out until 31 degrees. If it dips below that I bring them in. And they are not tomatoes, they are cabbage, onions, lettuce and sage. They are getting about 2 hrs of sunlight as the sun sets, so not a strong light. What I am hoping is that I can skip the partial sun then full sun part. The plastic is 6 mil so it is opaque.

Steve you can not even hold a candle to me and killing tomatoes. I had 72 of the best looking tomatoes ever grown, put them out to harden, in the direct sun, by the afternoon I had 1 that never did recover. The only comfort that I have is that I think I had over fertized them and they probably wouldn't have had a lot of tomatoes. It was the first year I did tomatoes.

 

[digitS']

I didn't have the excuse that I was new to tomatoes . . .

Cool-weather veggies? The risk goes waaaay down !

Yes, the plastic filters the light. The hoop house is really a more benign environment than the outdoors . . . On an Easy Street in Life - they'll love it in there!

I can grow things like Chinese cabbage in the hoophouse, start to finish, that have next to no chance of amounting to anything in the open garden .

Steve

 

[catjac1975]

It is finally up. I need to put a pole across the top for support but it is basically done. It is supposed to be 60 tomorrow so I am hoping the it really warms up in there. I got 6 mil plastic so it is the really good stuff. Finished in the moon light so no pictures yet.

Question: How much hardening do you need to do before planting in a hoop house? Do you need for your plants to be fully hardened or can they harden in the bed?

They need to be hardened off the same as any other plant. I have used hoop houses about a month before the usual plant out date. The real benefit is the plants get bigger faster then plants put outdoors. When you uncover them you will have huge plants while your neighbors have seedlings.
They will not protect against extreme cold. I put a soaker hose in the hh so it does not need to be lifted as often. You will need to weed . The other advantage to the soaker hose is if you do get extreme cold you may be able to save the plants by turning it on when the temp gets really low. Here that is the hours before 6 am.

 

[lesa]

They are protected from direct sun, and wind- I would think a very minor of hardening off would be necessary...I take seedlings from the house directly into the greenhouse, with no problem.

 

[catjac1975]

Here's what I did one year, Teresa.

I thought the tomato plants could start the hardening experience by going into the hoophouse and staying there. On the next good day, they could come out under the open sky for a few hours. When night fell, I left them in the hoophouse.

It was 38F in the hoophouse by the next morning. I was kind of frantic, trying to decide if I even dared to open the door and look in. (The thermometer was a remote).

That morning I learned that tomato plants can die if they go from an environment where they have never experienced cold below 60 and then have to tuff it out at 38! Only a few of them died but about half the plants wilted. Some so badly that the leaves died. A few wilted so badly that they never recovered - death just worked its way down the stem into the soil.


The plants that died were right in the middle of the hoophouse and right beside the thermometer so it was a clear lesson . Having messed up really badly :/, I give the plants plenty of time before they are out of the heated greenhouse, overnight.

Steve

I don't think 60 degrees is the death temp for tomatoes. I think more like 40.

 

[HunkieDorie23]

Ok tested it out. Put one cabbage and one lettuce plant into the hoop house at 6:45am. Got home and went out to check them at 6:00pm. Heavy windys today and the top blew off, both plants had dry up soil from the wind. One of the lettuce leaves had broken in half but other wise they looked good. I don't know what time the top had blown off and how much direct sun they had but it didn't bother them.

I finially got out there before it got too dark.

 

[digitS']

Maybe, stakes at each corner

and

baling twine criss-crossed over the top?

Steve

 

[ducks4you]

HunkieDorie, pictures are SOOOO helpful--thanks!! Your raised beds look a lot like mine. I've been SO busy that I haven't started most of my seeds yet.
Gotta get 'em started THIS WEEKEND, or else I'll just be a "jealous fatty" watching everybody else's stuff grow. **sigh**