Cattle Panel Hoophouse, Part 2

Getting long for the dialups :) We came from here

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/581839/

Boy Jazzy you don't waste any time do you!!! Good for you. I just didn't want to step on any toes.

Are you doing a hoophouse? greenhouse? strawbales? All of the above are great fun and relaxation.

Hope to hear from more of those lurkers. LOL

Jeanette

I've been thinking of a trellis.
just havent figured out how to get it home LOL

How hard is this stuff to bend? ( cattle panel )

Guardian Girl, these cattle panels would be great trellises. So strong. We transported ours in a regular size pickup. They bend easy. Hooped front to back. HOWEVER, be very careful in taking them out. Do not release the tailgate without someone or something containing them. They would have a real spring to them. After that, no problem.

I think you need to look at them before bending them. The cross wires are on one side of the outside edge wires. When you bend them the first time, if that is to put them in a truck or whatever, you want to bend them the way that you are going to use them. I was told that after bending the first time you can't reverse the bend. I cannot imagine why not, I did not work with them. My daughter and DH did.

Anyway, just a heads up. Good luck, and have fun with them. I also built a frame of just 3 sides of lead pipe about 8 feet each side, and put feet on the 2 open ends, put 2 bales of straw in between the feet and legs , put half a panel on it and grew cucumbers. I had cucumbers hanging from it. Also stuck a cherry tomato in between them and had those hanging with the cukes. Then planted basel around the bales.

Jeanette

thanks for the tips .
i've never even seen a cattle panel let alone bend one, just my luck, I would have gotten bonked in the head with it. LOL


I like the creative way you used it for growing veggies.

This message was edited Nov 14, 2006 7:18 PM

This message was edited Nov 14, 2006 7:19 PM

Guardian Girl, FYI, when/if you want to buy the cattle panels, your local feed store is the first place to look. I was really surprised at how many places did carry them and I had never heard of them before. Call around for prices.

I did buy mine from the barnlot/feed store and they delivered for a minimal charge. It was well worth it since I do not have a truck.

Really do be careful bending those puppies. They have quite a lot of bounce to them! LOL

Just what I had in mind Jnette.
I have a feed store right down the street. I go all the time for this and that.


About what should I expect to pay for one?

Ive heard to very different prices.

From what the Dgers say they run anywhere from $14.95 to $17.95. I paid $16.95. One of the people paid quite a bit more. I think it was almost $10 more than that. I really can't imagine why she had to pay that.

That is for each panel that is 16 feet x 52 inches. I haven't heard if anyone got a different size. I don't know what you are planning on doing with them? Anything besides trellises? If so, you need to read some of the material in the threads.

I cut mine with bolt cutters. I haven't heard anyone say they used anything else.

Let us know how it goes.

Sure I will let you know how it goes.

the reason why i had asked is because i think i read some place someone payed almost 50 dollars.

anyhow my wheels are turning and I'll let you know what I come up with , but for now it will be a trellis with potato vine on it. Do you thing that is a good choice?
I love the color of the leaves.

Maybe that was it. Way more than any of the rest of us paid. I really like the potato vine also. That should be very nice. Now, you are in Fl, so that would be a perennial down there right? Very pretty.

Now, if you do that, you know you need to post pictures. That is the way everyone else gets good ideas like yours.

Keep us posted. Jeanette

http://www.middlecity.com

This is the original post on the hoophouses. I think anyone who thinks they might be interested in doing this for plants, wood storage, boat storage, dawg shelter, hay storage, or anything else, should read it. It is very short.

Jeanette

HYPERLINK@www.middlecity.com

Try them both

This message was edited Nov 15, 2006 1:39 AM

Guardian Girl and Jeanette: I was told not to bend them different than they were put in the truck cause they wouldn't bend any other way after that but with mine I didn't find that to be true. We used our pickup truck to bring ours home. Bent them into a U shape standing on end (that made them 52" high) and used bungee cords to hold them in place. No problem when we opened the tailgate but we had the open end of the U facing the tailgate so maybe that made a difference?
One person mentioned some $30. for their panels which in my humble opinion was way too much to pay. As Jeanette said the average seems to be under $20. I used cable ties to join my sections (4 of them). Not sure what others are using to join more than one section.
I was told that it would take two people to assemble the panels but I didn't find this to be true. Working carefully and preparing things ahead of time one person can do it. Just give yourself lots of elbow room and think out every step before you start.

MollyD

THere used to be a thread here where everyone was showing the trellises and structures they had made using cattle panels.. some were pretty elaborate. But I can't find it to save my soul.. Anyone remember where that was? I was going to post the link

I think I have it .........


but i dont know how to post the link on a thread

GuardianGirl.. two ways.. One is to go to the page that has the thread. The address will then be in the "Go" box on your toolbar. If you go up and right click on the address it should highlight it plus give you a menu with "copy" as one of the options.. click on "copy" Then come back here and go to the new post and right click inside the box and select "paste".


OK I forgot to put the second way.. duh.. I have AOL and there is a little heart at the top of the window. I often just open two windows.. one of the thread I want the link for and the other of the thread where I want to post the link. Then I just drag the heart from the window with the link I want into the new post box of the thread I want to post to. (did that make sense?)
Oh.. how I get the second window. THe first window is open, I open my favorite places window and click on Dave's.

This message was edited Nov 15, 2006 9:20 AM

Jazz, could it be the thread that Trish started looking for arbor ideas? I think there was also one in brugs. I'm thinking there was one there too.

Maybe.. It was a long while back. I looked through my watched threads and couldn't find it and i was sure I had watched that one

Hi Molly D, didn't expect to hear from you for a while since you are so busy. Maybe the difference on bending the cattle panels is the weight. In listening to some of the people here I am wondering if there aren't different weights in them. That might be the difference in price also.

We used baling wire and just butted them up against each other then wired them together. By putting them in your truck from one side to the other? Is that what you meant? That seems like an awful high hoop. Oh, I see what you mean. They were lying down!! Got it. That makes sense. "cause the way we had them in there, if you put the tailgate down without someone holding onto them you could decapitate yourself.

LOL, if you worked with them all by yourself there would be no one to argue with. We are a very opinionated bunch here so we each think our ideas should be heard first.

If you guys find that trellis thread I would sure be interested in it. Thanks,

Jeanette

Been looking for it and cant .

I'm still searching.

I found one. I thought there was one with lots of pictures but this one has one arbor with the cattle panel bent over and also has the gazebo that the one person made.. I want to make one of those!!!

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/539641/

Hi Jeanette,

No they weren't lying down. They were on their long sides. The round portion of the U was up against the back of the cab with the two legs pointing towards the tailgate.

There are two different weights out there. I read that somewhere but could only find one weight in the store here.

Now back to work. Took a brief break to catch my breath.

MollyD

That is really a nice arbor Jazz. I wonder how far apart she has the legs. On the hoophouse the fellow said he tried a lot of different widths and came up with 8 feet apart was the best. That makes it just over 6 feet tall in the middle.

All of those morninglories she has on the arbor really fill it out.

We used boards (1x6s) on the side of the hoophouse with tiny holes drilled and then wire put thru and around a wire on the cattle panel every foot or so. We used rebar and stakes to hold the boards in.

Jeanette

Ten years ago, before I was forced to retire, I bought five hundred cattle panels at $9.50 ea. My Wife and Daughter enclosed the twenty acres. I had several left over, so I have been using them as trellises to grow my grapes, cucumbers and whatnot. A couple of years ago I welded a 8x12 frame out of a light angle iron, hooped the panels over and covered. I first put it on the ground--- wrong --It wasnt tall enough, so this year I put it on a cement block 'foundation'. So far it is working good.

very nice , is that a window?
good idea

It was 27deg this morning, but it was nice inside. john

I have a black 55gal barrel in the center of the greenhouse with a small electric heater within a few inches facing the barrel. The water in the barrel stays warm and radiates the heat throughout.

nice I love it .

Do you have to worry when it gets hot outside?
I imagine it gets really hot when the temps start to go
back up.

GuardanGirl, I have a fan that fits in the back window which brings the temp down. It really dont get that hot after the middle of November.

That is really nice John. Super idea. Especially the barrel and heater idea. Good move. Wow 500 of those babies is wonderful. Do you have any pictures of the trellises out of them that you have stuff growing on? Would love to see some. Did you leave them all whole, or cut some in half?

Were they the same size as the ones we are talking about?

Jeantte

Hi Molly,

Are you getting a lot done this weekend? Now that you are working inside, the weather shouldn't be bothering you?? That's nice.

I went back and re-read you last post. I didn't realize there were more than one weight on the cattle panels. I suspected. That is probably the difference in the price. Still a big difference and she really did not need any heavier than what we are using.

Did you get your barrels filled yet? I thought John's idea of using the heater in conjunction with the barrel was a really neat idea. I just think any use of electricity to heat a greenhouse would be expensive. Don't know 'cause I haven't tried it.

Jeanette

Jnette I have a homemade greenhouse and use electric to heat it. My bill doesn't jump to much in the winter. Yes I have been lurking for quite awhile. It's not a hoophouse and I have had it for 5 yrs now.

You guys are going to laugh. It is on the west side of the garage. Some of it is made of used materials. old house windows 2x4's from a tear down-outdoor plywood clear coragated for roofing I think it is called. It is probably too boxed in but it does work. I winter over plants and put my seedlings out there when they are started. I just wish it was bigger. 8x10 is not big enough. I'll try to find a decent picture. Oh yeah it is attached to the garage where we put in a door and then a door on the south side.

The top picture is the north side
Middle picture is the west side
bottom is the south side
DN helping DH close up shot
No inside shots

I bought bubble insulation for the inside of the roof. Added another layer of large bubble wrap I get in my orders.

In the walls I have 2-3 layers of the large bubble wrap from my orders. They say not to use it for insulation. It works and it is free for me. I went over the windows with a layer since they are single pane.
Vicki

Vess 522,
I think your setup is great, what works for you for the least amount of money is the goal right?? Here is what I started out with, don't laugh, in this picture it is about to get new plastic, which only lasted one season. Only the cheap stuff from the hardware store. Legit

You Guys are all brilliant! How inventive!

Now it looks like the picture below. I only throw an electric heater in it in the spring, and I have an automatically controlled exhaust fan in it. I have thought of adding the bubble wrap to the inside of the twinwall as I get it free at work too, however, I wondered how to keep all the small pieces together, I picture a mess of small sheets hanging loose all over the place, or I considered buying it in a large sheet. One thing I'm not sure how to handle, is the peak is sort of open, I need to find a way to close it up, but right now it works as an escape for some of the hot air. I do use a shade cloth later in the summer, it's small enough to just toss it over and hang weights on the 4 corners to secure it.

I thought I may look into a small misting system to control humidity and cool it also. I mostly use it for growing on seedlings in the spring. Don't heat at all in the winter.

Is that your rain barrel on the corner? I have a neat set up at the back of my garage, a rain barrel with a soaker hose attached to water my hostas under a couple of large trees. Legit

Legit I used clear shipping tape to tape the pieces together. JUst overlapped a bit. Since mine is made of wood I stapled the pieces on. You could try doubled sided outdoor tape for window plastic and see if that would work.

I think what you did was ingenius. I had to look twice at the top. Is that a garage door on the back.? The window made me think that. No ideas for the peak. That would be the DH's department.

Yep! Rainbarrel on the corner. Never thought of a soaker hose.

Ves

Jazz is right!! You guys are very inventive. And to have them look so nice. From the descriptions you were giving I certainly did not expect what the pictures show. LOL They really look nice. And Legit, I like your first one. That is really neat.

So, you say you are not suppose to use bubble wrap for insulation? I think that would be a natural. Why not?

Jeanette

The first picture is a truck box topper on legs basically. The back is just the back window of the truck box topper. It served it's purpose, but I cut out panels of aluminum from the top of the truck box topper and cauked old storm windows to the top. The only problem was the storms could not handle the snow load laying flat, and they cracked, and eventually became dangerous, so I had to come up with another "roof design" to shed the snow. I went to the twinwall because I was sick of replacing plastic, however I wish I had gotten a more clear type, plants get too protected from the bright sunlight, and will burn when I set them out if not hardened off. Legit

Hi all, A quick post for those interested in how the hoophouse is dealing with cold weather so far.
This morning it is 28 here, 46.8 in the GH. I ran our Mr. Buddy heater (propane) on full all night. No other heat source was used. For my daylilies this is an acceptable night temperature. If it didn't warm up during the day they wouldn't die but they also wouldn't grow.
We're going away for the holiday and will be gone till Friday. I'm leaving the propane tank (40 pounds) on low and the electric heater also on a low temp as backup.
We haven't had any sunshine for about a week now to really heat the GH up any. Normal for this part of the country. I understand that while I'm gone sunshine is expected (of course) so it may get quite warm in there I'm afraid.
Next post will be when I return.

MollyD

Very ingenious Legit. Whatever works. And it looks like it did quite nicely.

Molly, I hope they do good while you are gone. Have a good holiday. Jeanette