Arrrggghh! I have to majorly complain. So back some weeks ago I was checking out where to get all my needs in as few places as possible. Berry Hill had the plastic (4000 feet black and 4000 feet b&w) and drip tape and fittings but they would not sell me the amount of row cover I wanted. I wanted 15' wide for the low tunnels but 200' long. They were all snotty and said they would never cut so little. So I thought it was better to try elsewhere. I found a good deal at Robert Marvel on the plastic (4000 ft black and a better 2400ft w&b) and drip tape but they didn't have the right fittings and I needed just a few more for the year. They didn't have 15' wide row cover so I got the 7' they had and took it to the alterations shop to have 100 feet long sewn down the middle so I could make 2 50' tunnels. I didn't think it would cost that much and it saved me buying and shipping more row cover than I needed. Guess how much they charged me? $88! I haven't even inspected their work yet. So obviously I am pissed at myself for making stupid calls! I should have just bought all the stuff I needed from Berry Hill and gotten the shortest length of 15' wide they would sell me and the drip tape and plastic and fittings all there! So mad at myself and so much money has been spent it makes me neurotic. And yes it is another blizzard outside right now. I ordered the few tape fittings I needed to add footage from Dripworks. Fedco was way more expensive. I spent $48 total on that. What a bad season this is!!!

koreyk: I got my supplies thru Glacier Valley Enerprises. The plastic cost about 59.00 and the wire hoops were 48.00. The hoops are obviously reuseable. The plastic will have to be replaced each year. I bury the edges of the plastic with soil because I don't like the idea of using the landscape staples to keep the plastic from blowing around. This afternoon I put up another three tunnels (about 300 feet total.) over the early string beans I planted. I bet you could buy the #10 smooth galvanized wire from a local hardware store even cheaper. Just cut it into 6'3" pieces. The plastic is 6 feet wide. I placed my hoops 6 feet apart, I probably should have spaced them a bit closer, but this is just a trial. Hopefully a good one. The plastic is slit so that when it rains, some water does get to the plants. It does seem to stop them from being drown by heavy rains....I'll try to keep you informed as soon as things start progressing. Heidi

OkiePokie, Sorry. I never came back to this thread in 2011 and answered your question. My hoophouse is 12' x 24' and even with 50% shadecloth (Aluminet) on it and with all 4 vents and both doors open, it is too hot to use in summer. Without a fan running, it hit 140 degrees this summer, and with a fan it still was incredibly hot. I mostly use it in the cool season. Of course, inside a hoophouse during the day, it is going to be hot because of the greenhouse effect, so I have to run a fan...and that is with shadecloth on the hoophouse. In Feb.-April of this year, even on cloudy, overcast days and with shadecloth, open vents, open doors and a fan running, the greenhouse was over 100 degrees. It is too bad it doesn't hold that heat at night. The issue with hoophouses made with a single layer of greenhouse plastic is that they are just as cold at night in winter as the outdoor air unless you're running a heater in there. A hoophouse with two layers of plastic sealed together with an inflator that blows air in between the two layers of plastic might stay a little warmer, but mine only has a single layer, so I am just guessing at that. I think even with an air-inflated double layer of plastic, you'd have to run a heater on cold nights or even on cold days. Plastic alone just doesn't hold in the heat, and I never expected it to. Before we built the hoophouse, we already had a glassed-in, unheated sunporch that is toasty on winter days but cold at night. I mostly use the hoophouse to raise seedlings for transplant into the winter/spring garden. I start them inside on a light shelf, and move them out whenever the weather permits. The hoophouse is an intermediate step between them growing indoors in a very controlled, heated, environment and going outside into the elements. Before we built the hoophouse, I would have to carry the plants outside to harden them off in ever-increasing increments of time, and then carry them back into the house, garage, potting shed or sunporch to get them out of strong wind or to protect them on a cold night. This past spring, which was admittedly warm very early, I moved the plants out to the greenhouse in late January or early February and never had to carry them back inside, except for pepper plants, which stayed inside until March. On a few chilly nights, I draped Agribon over them inside the greenhouse to give them a little cold protection, but they did just fine in the unheated greenhouse at night even when the temperatures dipped down into the low 30s and upper 20s. The Agribon is what kept them from suffering freeze damage. I've used it in the garden for years on cold nights, and it is wonderful. A large hoop house that is not heated will not stay any warmer than low tunnels, and I know that because I've used low tunnels for years. Hoophouses don't have insulation, although you can purchase and add bubble wrap type insulation. Busy One has some on his greenhouse and you might be able to do a search here and see what his looks like inside when he has the insulation in for the winter. I know he posted photos to show me when my greenhouse was still in the dreaming/planning/building stage. I haven't tried using large containers of water, for example, as solar collectors to see if they'd help the hoophouse stay warmer. I might try that if it ever cools down enough this fall for me to grow some winter crops in the hoophouse. We were in the 100s last week, and are in the upper 90s still and the greenhouse is still in the 110-120 degree range every day. My hoophouse hasn't been exposed to a lot of strong wind yet, but withstood 62 mph winds during a severe thunderstorm with no issues whatsoever. It also has withstood straightline winds in the 50-55 mph range that brought down some trees in our neighborhood. Carol, I have some of my hoops up, but haven't put the covers over them yet. I do have a row cover floating over the snap peas, but I'm letting it float without hoops. I probably will put up row covers over some of the hoops next week if the grasshopper population doesn't start dropping off like it normally does at this time of year. So far the hoppers are only eating purple sprouting broccoli and sugar snap peas. They have put a few holes in the leaves of southern peas and bush snap beans, but not enough to hurt their productivity. Normally we are seeing fewer hoppers at this time of year, but in this oddest of years, we are instead seeing more and more as new ones keep hatching. My cool-season crops probably would be happier if I'd drag out the shade cloth and put it over them. They are hanging in there pretty well, considering the high heat, ultra-low humidity (we bottomed out at 12% a couple of days ago, but only went down to 18% today) and gusty winds. I'm surprised how well they are tolerating the heat, all things considered, and I would have put shade cloth over them from the beginning if I had realized that September's daytime temperatures were going to continue running 10-15 degrees above average. Late today some of the lettuce and kale looked a little wilty and I had to promise to water it in the morning so it wouldn't sulk. As soon as it cools down some more, I'll move the container plantings to the greenhouse, but at the rate we're going, that's not going to happen for a while yet. Elected4life, I see that you are new here. Maybe you need to go back to the "instructions" and note that no advertising is allowed in any of the forums. I do not mean that in an unkind way, but this is iVillage's forum and that's their rule. Dawn

First, welcome and congrats for moving down there. I'm not aware of elk going for veggies in hoops - where I lived in WA state we had elk everywhere and several folks had hoops, all ungulate-free. You have to put mesh/chicken wire/builder's cloth or something in the ground to keep critters out (ask the locals what they use). As far as venting, you'll have to play with it and your budget, but solid ends with operable openings - either by auto vent openers or electric fans - will likely be what you end up with. You'll have to play with the spacing of some crops, as the humidity inside will help you determine closeness. Raised beds are warmer for longer, but dry out faster, so your well capacity will drive your decision on that. You may want to look at the cost of two layers of film (inner layer thinner and clear), as that air gap will go a long way toward extending your season; many inflate the air space with a squirrel blower for more insulation. One other thing to look at in the film is both the IR reflectance and the condensation resistance of the inner film. Drips on little guy seedlings quickly make them unhappy and quit. If you can get light dispersion to minimize shadows, even better (but more cost). I highly recommend doing a search in the Greenhouse forum for this guy and finding his website, as he is an active participant and teaches workshops in high tunnel building in KS, can't guarantee he'll help but worth a shot for his insight on PVC connections and failures. Good luck, Dan