has anyone had success with building a hoophouse with a pvc frame.

I am building one but am having trouble figuring out how to attach the
plastic.

The directions I am finding on the net just do not work.

Ben Lurkin

Ben Lurkin wrote:
has anyone had success with building a hoophouse with a pvc frame.

I am building one but am having trouble figuring out how to attach the
plastic.

The directions I am finding on the net just do not work.

Ben Lurkin

You need clamps, such as those sold by Territorial Seeds. They fit
perfectly with the given PVC diameter.

On Mon, 09 Oct 2006 02:43:50 GMT, "Ben Lurkin"
wrote:

has anyone had success with building a hoophouse with a pvc frame.

I am building one but am having trouble figuring out how to attach the
plastic.

The directions I am finding on the net just do not work.

I followed the directions at
http://westsidegardener.com/howto/hoophouse.html

I bought the Territorial seed clamps-- and they are fine. But I was
in a rush and had some 1" black plastic pipe lying around so while I
was waiting for the commercial version I made some temporary ones.
[note that the clips just minimize billowing-- the 2x4s are what
really hold the plastic down.]

The temporary ones were a little harder to put on, had a tendency to
rip the plastic in high wind. . . but they were dirt cheap-- and I
think with a little care like cutting with a hot knife and rounding
the sharp points on each end they would work fine. They seem to hold
as well or better than the commercial ones.

Jim

"Ben Lurkin" wrote in message
ink.net...
has anyone had success with building a hoophouse with a pvc frame.

I am building one but am having trouble figuring out how to attach the
plastic.

The directions I am finding on the net just do not work.

Ben Lurkin



I have built several of them over my "Square Foot Garden" (search google)
beds. But they might be smaller than what you have in mind. My garden boxes
are 4' x 4'. I have three sets of two pvc conduit clamps attatched to each
of two opposing sides. I just take 3 ten foot sections of 1/2" pvc pipe and
insert one end into a set of clamps on one side, bend them over and insert
them into the clamps on the other side. I don't use plastic. I use black
landscape screen but I guess I could do the same thing with plastic. I lay
it over the hoop and staple it to the wood frame on both sides. I leave
enough on the ends to wrap around the pipe and sew it with monofiliment
fishing line.


--
JC from Gnat Flats

"Jim Elbrecht" wrote in message
...

I followed the directions at
http://westsidegardener.com/howto/hoophouse.html

I bought the Territorial seed clamps-- and they are fine. But I was
in a rush and had some 1" black plastic pipe lying around so while I
was waiting for the commercial version I made some temporary ones.
[note that the clips just minimize billowing-- the 2x4s are what
really hold the plastic down.]

The temporary ones were a little harder to put on, had a tendency to
rip the plastic in high wind. . . but they were dirt cheap-- and I
think with a little care like cutting with a hot knife and rounding
the sharp points on each end they would work fine. They seem to hold
as well or better than the commercial ones.
____________________-

Thanks to all that responded with suggestions.

These are the directions I am trying to follow. Until today I was unable to
find "Polypipe" in less than 100 foot rolls. Black polyvinylcloride tubing
just does not hold. Binder clips were a waste of money.

I found Territorial Seed on the net and called them and ordered 20 clamps
this morning. There was one Hardware store across town that I had not
tried. I went over this afternoon and got 10 feet at 39 cents/foot. Yes,
that is dirt cheap compared to the commercial clamps.

I have never worked with Polypipe before. The man at the store knew that
Weller made a hotknife blade for the soldering gun, but he did not have one.

I managed to get the tubing cut with a hacksaw blade in my sawzall. By this
time it was dark. I can see that I will have a time figuring out how to get
them installed. But, they certainly should hold against any wind around
here if the plastic does not tear.

Thanks again.
Ben Lurkin