In article ,
enigma wrote:

"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote in

.au:

"enigma" wrote in message
we are getting close to freezing at night now, & my
tomatoes are still quite green. i'm looking for ideas,
other than tossing sheets over them at night, to get them
through to ripening.

Do you have acess to hay bales? I've surrounded things
with hay bales leaving it open on the sunny side and
throwing a sheet of plastic over it which is lifted up on
the sunny side during the day to stop the plant cooking.

i have access... but, mulch hay (hay that has been wet or
otherwise unsuitable for feed) is US$6/bale. straw is around
$9/bale.
i have a preorder in for my winter hay (@250bales), which i
fortunately get a large discount for because i always buy from
him, but i can't take delivery until the arse that's supposed
to be building my barn (& i haven't seen since February) fixes
the damned roof leak... and pours the floor, puts in the
stairs to the loft & fixes the warped doors (anyone in New
England, avoid Dream Barns!)
i suppose i could have my hay delivered & use the stuff that
gets ruined from the leaks... but that hardly seems cost
effective
i strogly suspect that PVC pipes for a hoop house is cheaper
than mulch hay around here.
lee

From a conversation with "simy1"
"simy1"wrote:
Billy,

With your 100' x 12' vinyl, you get a tunnel, that, in a perfect world,
can be no more than 3.82' tall, with a width of 7.64', right?
Practically, what is it? What grade and o.d. PVC pipe do you use for the
hoops? How many and what kind of clamps do you use, and where have you
found it most advantageous to place them? Double clamps? What's that?
Any special fold in the vinyl to seal the tunnel? What important
question didn't I ask?

Yes, the tunnels are low enough that you can crawl under. The beds are
about 25 ft long, and 4ft wide, so one sheet, cut into three, covers
them all with a few feet of waste. You need the sheets to be several
feet longer than the beds to tuck the ends properly.

You buy the PVC pipes at Home Depot that are, from memory, 3/4" thick.
You also buy the 100X12 rolls of clear plastic from the Paint section.
I prefer 4mils, but 6 or even 2 will usually do (I have tried all
three). The PVC pipes are 12 ft long. You cut them at an angle at the
tips, bend them, and stick them one foot into the ground on either
side. Total hoop length: 10 feet.

You can either put a hoop every four feet, which makes it a bit
difficult to maneuver a wheelbarrow, or every 7 feet, like I do, and
them put an extra pipe on top of the hoops for extra strength, secured
to the hoops with cable ties and a screw to avoid slipping. The top
pipes are connected to one another with PVC cement and a connector,
exactly as if you were building your plumbing.

Once you have all the hoops in place, and I leave them there, summer
and winter, you garden the beds normally until it is time to cover
them. The clamps can be found at Territorial Seeds and are half
cylinder that clamp onto the pipes tigthly, grabbing the plastic. They
are excellent. The one foot of plastic on either side (12-10=2) can be
held down with bricks. The ends, too, can be held down with bricks. The
secret to keep the tunnels going in windy weather is to make sure as
little air as possible comes in. Specially the ends, I put down a
continuous line of bricks to eliminate air leaks. If there is snow on
the ground, no air comes in and the seal is perfect.

The plastic I am suggesting is not UV-treated and is not indicated for
summer use. In my case, I use it for about 3-4 years, and typically I
toss it due to various mechanical tears, like when I try to get ice off
of it. There is negligible UV degradation in the winter. I cover on the
Thanksgiving weekend and uncover on April 1.

Hope this helps )
--

Billy
Bush and Pelosi Behind Bars
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KVTf...ef=patrick.net
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1016232.html