Winter Hoop House

This is my winter playhouse.

I thought about doing the very same thing as an alternative to bringing in my gazillion pots over winter. And to satisfy my digging habit.. Shh, don't tell ;)
Any idea if this would work as well, say for rooting cuttings? I know they can be finicky while trying to take hold. Also I wonder if it would offer enough protection for tropicals and desert plants. My husband is not loving the idea of my house being a rainforest for the next oh... 3 months!! Lol

You're going to love it! I've had mine up for two years now. I found the plans online and for about $500 I have a huge hoophouse. StillPlays - I use mine to put some of my more tender plants in for the winter. It gets downright hot in there during the day, I open it most mornings. At night it's just that few degrees warmer than outside. I have gingers blooming in there now, I've never had a ginger bloom in my garden. It's also great for winter sowing perennials. And in summer I grow my tomatos and melons in there because it's too hot to use for anything else. Here's some pics from last April.
I was starting some succulent cuttings there on the right, and there are some seed trays on the left.

Domehome - nice setup! Do you keep anything in there during the winter? I'm wondering if it would be too cold to keep plants in that during repeat light freezes. Also, do you have to aid pollination with the tomatoes grown inside?

Now I have some Agave bulbils and succulents rooting. I also have some plants that don't like a freeze; Plectranthus, Ginger, Canna. I'm growing a Papaya carica in there in the ground! I've also got some pots fall seeded. As my seeds inside on the mat germinate I put them in the greenhouse to over winter. We don't get much freezing weather here and I've never had it freeze inside the greenhouse. As far as pollination goes, both ends have double doors and the butterflies and bees seem to find their way in. Sometimes I need to help them find their way out though. I grew cantalopes in their last summer and it worked just fine. I'm close enough to the coast that the extra heat is nice to have for the melons and tomatos.
You're in 7b so I'm not sure how cold it would get in your greenhouse. Their are ways to increase the temp without actually heating the greenhouse. Some people use barrels of water, or maybe just keeping the plants off the floor would work. It's really amazing how much warmer it is in there compared to outside. It's been fun and every one who comes by wants to see inside the greenhouse!

Wow if you have succulents rooting in there mid November, I'm sold :))
Really though, I've been wanting a greenhouse and have looked into multiple options but now I'm moving this one to the top of my list. It would function as frost protection for potted plants and WS seedlings during late freezes. Maybe even try certain tomatoes like you have, the mid-late summer heat here really gets them and I have some that are suitable for container growing. You said you have plants growing in the ground in there? In that case, maybe it could be home to all my tomatoes! You've given me a lot to ponder! Lol

This is the site I got the plans off of: http: //www.albertahomegardening.com/how-to-build-an-inexpensive-hoop-style-greenhouse/

I decided to build wood ends with double doors which worked really well. I installed a fan on each end for flow through venting for when it gets too hot in there. The only thing I plan on adding, when it's time to put new plastic on, is a roof vent.

I grew my tomatos in plastic buckets this year. They would have been better in ground but I was over cautious because of my gopher problem. The melons went in the ground and did well. The only year round plant is the Papaya carica and I hope there doesn't come a day when the roof is too short for it!

The hoop houses are an inexpensive way to get more greenhouse for less. You do have to replace the plastic every 3 - 5 years and that costs about $200. But I enjoy it every day. I put a little shade cloth over one end and keep my potting stuff in there too.

I hope you decide to do it. You won't be sorry, I love my hoop house!

This is house # 6 at our place. It will be used for lettuce. Plan is to cover it with shade cloth to keep it cooler in summer. Won't be used in winter here.
Our other houses, one is for starting vegetable & bedding plants. It is 30 x 60 & heated. Next is a 21 x 48 used for early tomatoes, also can be heated. Then a double 21 x 60 & a 21 x 60, all used for summer tomatoes.
All tomatoes in greenhouses are pruned to single stem & trained on string.

This frame I bought on an online auction for $675. Catalog price is over $2700.

Oooh nice, CountryGardens, that will get me to check Craig's list more often!

Domehome - thanks for that link! I wonder if painters plastic would hold up ok as an alternative? Yes the wooden doors are a great idea, I bet it helps it structurally hold up against the elements also. I think the fans and roof vent would be a necessity here. The sun really fries my veggies when we have weeks of relentless 100+ degree temps. And it's a wonder anything grows here since the grasshoppers come and eat everything that's leftover. The grasshoppers are a whole other topic, but this hoop house would be a huge help to combat both issues! I hope your papaya does okay, thanks for all the help!

Countrygardens - that looks great! The greenhouses AND the tomatoes! Y'all have me scratching my head wondering how many cookies I'll have to bake my hubby to motivate him to help me with this "little project" lol!!

I tried using hardware store plastic once. It only lasted a couple months & started falling apart.
Good place to buy greenhouse plastic is Farmtek.
http://www.farmtek.com/farm/supplies/prod1;ft_ag_growing_supplies-ft_greenhouse_equipment-ft_greenhouse_covering-ft_greenhouse_plastic_covering;pg108654.html

Thanks for sharing your hoop house photos.

This is the second time I've put this one up. The first time I had much higher hopes about how much heat it would hold. It stays very warm during the day, so I get some enjoyable "outdoor" time. At night it is not very much warmer than outside.

I expect to get a little late lettuce and spinach, to shelter some of my perennials that I did not get into the ground this fall, and early seed-starting in the spring.

I got my greenhouse plastic from Agricultural Solutions, it was even cheaper than a comparable size of painter's plastic.

I think I got my plastic from Greenhousemegastore. I have bought a lot of trays and pots from there too. Good prices for seed starting stuff and pots. You'll need a good plastic for Texas sun and you can also put shade cloth over it. I cover part in shade cloth in the summer. There are different grades of that too.

Added some insulation today to the north and east sides. Mylar coated foam panels that I got from the ReStore a few years back.

Has anyone tried the recycled trampoline frame type?

Never heard of doing that, but I do have an old canvas garage frame over my vege garden with deer netting attached to it. Keeps the birds out too!

Ooh, I've not heard of trampoline frame GHes. Tell me more!

G

Awesome link Gypsy!

Thanks for sharing - when I have more room one day I will have something like this. :D

Oh man such greenhouse envy here, not gonna happen for me this year, my jeep just started leaking tranny fluid so I'm hoping to at least get that fixed with tax returns instead.. Priorities suck! Lol
That trampoline frame is pretty clever but I really like the upcycle idea I saw where they use it as a chicken enclosure.. Saw it while googling the trampoline greenhouse :D
Gypsy, I can't wait to start those coral nymph salvia seeds you sent me, hope the echinacea does well for you also.
And Amanda, I saw this post and realized I totally forgot to send your milkweed seed! It is somewhere in my laundry room under the piles of seed I _thought_ I was almost done sorting! Ahahaha! Thought wrong!! I promise I'll get them out to you this week! Oh and those cuttings you sent me are doing so fabulous I can't believe how easy they are! Thanks again!

Well, y'all, I dove back in, and took a lot of wildflower seeds to spread. During that endeavor, I decided to consolidate some of the bags, as many of the larger ones were nearly empty.

So including what I added, there is now just over 4 lb of cargo. That is without the box - my postal scale is too small for me to see the display when the whole box is on it. I thought it would be nice to get that weight under control, so the robin can stay in the air!

Cat is now making it abundantly clear that I must lay down and share my body heat with him. Good night all!

g

when I have more room I'm going for the trampoline frame too, I have investigated and just don't have the free space. Well I do. But I also don't have the frame, the money for the plastic, and the time. I want to move. I want more land, less city rules. Fort Worth might have a cow if I put up a trampoline frame greenhouse. My little attached one is against the rules I'm sure but hidden by a couple of layers of privacy fence and very small.

Hey gypsy, wrong thread. ;)

Hahahaha! That is the mysterious post that "disappeared."