My husband made us a hoop house from PVC pipe & we covered it with greenhouse (UV stabilized) film. We then had a few 50 mph wind storms, snow storms and long stretches of very cold weather. The structure has suffered a bit - the 4-way connectors holding it together at the top ridge have snapped so that the vertical "ribs" are poking through the plastic at the very top. It has been a challenge, but it's still standing and now I have some very happy spinach plus newly-sprouted lettuce, mache, cabbage seedlings in there. About 98% of the plants in pots I put in there to overwinter have died. Expect extreme temperature swings and be prepared to keep watering in there even though you've turned off your outside faucet. Would I use PVC pipes again? No.

Scroll down through messages in this forum or search on "hoophouse." You'll find answers to all the questions you posted. Eliot Coleman's "Four Season Harvest" is a must read, too!

Your hoop house plan sounds great! Go for it! But get it up ASAP or you'll be missing some of the best growing time for hardy greens. I'm in Z4 and was out planting seeds today. I could almost imagine I was in California.

There is a well-known grower in Maine, Amy LeBlanc (?), who uses Cover-It shelters as season-extending greenhouses. She loves them. The carports come with greenhouse plastic as a fabric option, so you could probably special-order the covering right from the Cover-It (or whatever brand you have) dealer. I think you could leave the plastic on all year for warm conditions that peppers, eggplants, melons, etc. would love.

Anyway, the carports are strong and auger right into the earth. We use one as a horse shelter.

I also agree that "Four Season Harvest" is a must-read!

Thanks All!

I will look for and order "Four Season Harvest" We plan on putting what pieces we have, together this weekend and see what it looks like, how much 'covering' we need, etc..

As for starting things now, I will also start things in peat pots and 'other' containers in the basement this weekend for transplanting later in the season.

Will look longer for "hoophouse" in this forum.

Joei

We have been very happy with our hoophouse but have not been through a winter with it. I'd recommend using rebar to hold the pvc in the ground and screwing the four-ways to the pvc pipe to help keep things stabilized.

mid tn mama, When you get a snow, go inside your hoophouse and check the ribs down next to the ground. The weight of the snow will bow the ribs in at this point until the pipes can't handle the strain and will bend (metal) or break (plastic). I have 12x 19 conduit hoops and I remove the cover when the snow season settles in. I've seen large 3" Steel pipe cave in under heavy snow. The only ones that seem to handle the snow well are those that have heat. Or a lot of sun to heat. I have a little glass house that I used when I first started raising my own seedlings. The second winter I had it, I replaced the bottom 4' with wood because of the snow. The roofs handle snow it well.

Interesting Link

Here is a link that might be useful: Interesting greenhouse link

westbeck35: Thanks for the tip. Although with the strange weather patterns we may never see snow in these parts again. It's still in the 80's and I'm getting peppers and other summer veggies like crazy. The local beekeepers are robbing honey like never before this late in the season.

Was thinking this morning about transplanting my peppers and tomatoes into the hoophouse for the winter. Then I will spraypaint the millions of milk jugs I have laying around black, fill with water and hope they make it through the winter. What do folks think about that? Oh, I'll be covering the hoophouse with plastic (free from the mattress store I hope).

I built a PVC hoophouse late this autumn and want to share some things I learned. First, if you can afford metal hoops rather than PVC, go for it. I joined 10 ft sections of Schedule 40 1 inch PVC and we'll see how those joints stand up once we get the first Maine snowstorm. I plan on bracing the center purlin from the inside with 2x4's and maybe that will do the trick. Second, if you live at a northern latitude, do not wait too long to sow your winter green seeds, the daylength gets too short and you have a nice structure with tiny little plants, awaiting the longer days of spring. Growth of some things like mache and minutina is good, but some other things like spinach slow to a crawl. Third, try to pick a spot that is not too exposed to the wind. My spot is on a hillside facing south but exposed to a lot of wind and the whole structure will shimmy and shake when the wind really howls. I put some land anchors (screw in type) and soft rope around the structure to keep it in place. Hopefully, that will work and keep it from becoming a huge kite.
Fourth, don't go for cheap plastic. Buy UV stabilized greenhouse film (mine's 6 mil) because wind, snow and hail are a coming and you want your project to last. It is easily found on the Internet. I have to say that I am enjoying my hoophouse, it is 12 by 20 and I wish it were bigger. I can't wait to get an early start on Spring and Winter hasn't even arrived yet!!