Experimenting with cattle hoop house in North Texas

Just thought I would try to grow some greens over winter here west of Amarillo Texas,without any heat source,except the sun,if it shines,it warms up to over 80*,even if the temps are freezing outside,I built the greenhouse on a foot and half raised bed,then built raised beds inside the greenhouse.Thought that would give me the best chance of seeds germinating,today is day 5 since seeds have been planted,packages say allow 7 to 14 days before germination occurs.I used a solar pool cover for the inside plastic,and regular greenhouse fabric for the outside plastic cover,hoping to give me a little more heat inside.

Looks like you did a fine job. I know how cold and windy it can be in the panhandle. Best of luck to you.

Thanks,hope it withstands the wind and hail here.

good luck. Even in the lee of my house, on the south side, my greenhouse is dropping to 36 at night and tonight I will probably wash and dry a load of laundry to heat it up.

Yesterday we got inch of snow,temps fell to 4* windchill - 7*,the day before yesterday I noticed lettuce seeds were starting to germinate,it was very warm inside around 90* inside,But yesterday was so cold,I didn't even try to go inside,if I opened the door the cold wind would enter,didn't want to chance losing any heat that might still be in the soil.Currently it is 6* outside,cloudy windy and bitterly cold,they say sun may come out late in the day,if so I might go check to see the damage to the new seedlings,I'm afraid they probably are toast,there were lots of seeds that hadn't germinated yet,so not all is lost,so probably might be a good thing,less thinning,My big lean to greenhouse,20x30x12 I heat mainly with propane,with a barrel wood stove for back up heat is holding at 60*,Mainly tropical plants,as I have bananas inside with fruit,in the ripening stage,and oranges too,so I maintain it as warm as possible,as long as the sun shines ,I don't need to heat it,but it has been cloudy going on 3 days with freezing temps,so come on sunshine!

My seedlings are on a heat mat, and my sole heater is the clothes dryer vent. dropping to the 30's so far, but yours is MUCH more airtight than mine

French Paris Romaine ,Butter crunch and red lettuce,broccoli are germinating only after 9 days,today's outside temps are 30* while inside the gh temps is 42* This the warmest seen in the last 4 days,temps fell to 4* one night this week.

I have a rat problem, I trap one and another moves in and tops my seedlings. I can't fully seal my greenhouse in a rat proof way, so I am going to take hardware cloth and make tray covers to go over my seedlings, maybe 1 foot tall, and then the 20's coming in - I should be able to cover the hardware cloth with clear plastic to help hold warmth in over these cold nights.

I have heritage tomatoes, chard and a few bell peppers if the rats didn't get them today. I have a 110 gallon stock tank with glass lids, insulation around the outside, some goldfish, water lilies and a small hanging filtration system inside it to help retain heat, and I am using plastic jars with water in them (hard clear plastic) not quite full, to soak up solar heat and give some off overnight.

going out to see what the rat did.

They tunnel underground,makes it hard to kill them,I put the hard bait down in the holes and ti will get them eventually,but more seem to come back again and again.

I used drainage gravel and chickenwire around the walls on this one, will have to hunt the tunnel when I have more time but for now I caught another one today and I built a hardware cloth enclosure to go over my seedlings

Mice can go thru a hole as small as a dime,and dig a foot deep,I hope your rats are bigger,because mine are small ones,they can lick the peanut butter right off the trap without setting it off.

My rats are 6 to 8 inches long plus tail . I keep chickens, there are horses and cattle not too far from me. I haven't seen a small mouse in a couple of years. the drought, the feral cats and competition may have wiped them out

This message was edited Jan 5, 2015 8:10 PM

I too had feral cats,but I think the coyotes and foxes have had them for lunch,haven't seen any in quite a while.

I've got coyotes. 2 smart fixed male ferals left. But red tailed and cooper's hawks, I have a lot of cover in what I've planted in the last few years. And my neighbors and I have now got about 6 houses worth of privacy fence facing the coyote's realm, greatly slows them down getting to the front of the houses and the street.

Have lots of deer traffic,but so far they have done no damage

well how are your sprouting stuff?. I put the heating mat under mine and built a hardware cloth frame and put just a sheet of plastic on top, to allow sun through, allow horizontal ventilation and keep the hard edge of the cold off I suppose

Even thou it is warm,seems they are stalled at growing,days are just not long enough I guess

I put high output T5 aquarium lights over mine for about 5 hours a day, starting 2 pm ending 7 pm, but this is my 3rd yearnso I have a bit of practice. Picked up a used fixture and rigged a hanger system

Don't have electricity out to the greenhouse,So sunshine will have to do,but days are getting longer.

They are indeed getting longer. Getting a little bit of rain here, but not sure it will be enough to save me from fixing my foundation again soon

Chance of snow dusting today maybe a inch tomorrow friday thru weekend 60* temps