[Market-farming] blown over hoophouse

Marcy mlynn at pcisys.net
Tue May 12 00:20:20 EDT 2009


I'm so sorry Curtis.  Having been through this I know how difficult it is -
I think I still have PTSD and when the wind blows these days I'm still a
nervous wreck. I don't even want to think about my boys that went through it
(twice) with me where you're trying to hang on to plastic blowing away and a
twisted, mangled frame.  There's nothing like the powers of nature to make
you feel pretty insignificant and powerless.

When I rebuilt after my ex-husband left several people in the area
recommended using a double layer of poly with a blower. I'm in SE Colorado
and we get winds coming off the mountains plus some strange currents through
the Arkansas River valley and our little river.  The idea is that the blower
is pushing against the wind and it can't get a grip.  The blower didn't come
with any sort of instructions and it had a little slide that controls how
much air is blowing. A neighbor wired it up for me and I couldn't figure out
why it wasn't inflating.  Well the little slide door was closed!  We have a
home-made frame and not the greatest design.  About 10 days or maybe 2 weeks
after getting everything rebuilt we had a nasty storm and tore it apart.
Our entire church came out and helped rebuild - they re-engineered the frame
and rebuilt the rest. I still wish we'd put the corners in concrete.  When I
reordered the plastic cover he asked me about the blower and I found out how
it worked. Not sure if it would have helped or not.  I also ordered the
woven strapping.

Ours is about 12 high in the center.  Originally we tied the woven strapping
to rebar halfway in between about half the  hoops (30x100 with 5' hoop
spacing).  A  year later we had a nice gentle rain one morning and then the
wind started up and just about took off with the entire thing. The rebar
wasn't working.  We started pounding in T-posts at an angle and tied the
strapping to that.  I can send pics if you want.

I can't say enough about the strapping.  I really think it's the way to go.
I'm not running the blower these days. We're at 4 years and have too many
leaks in the film.

The other thing I'm glad I did is made solid ends. Ours runs E-W and we used
4x8 sheets of exterior siding on 2x4 frame. If it really starts blowing we
close the doors. 

Don't know what to tell you on the plants.  I had just started planting and
we're still getting strange things sprouting in strange places.

I'd guess similar to a hailstorm - clean up what you can, trim things and
pray for a miracle.

Hang in there!
Marcy

SE Colo

 

From: market-farming-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:market-farming-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Curtis
Millsap
Sent: Sunday, May 10, 2009 8:51 PM
To: market-farming at lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [Market-farming] blown over hoophouse

 

We got that BIG wind storm Friday here in Springfield MO, with sustained (30
minutes to an hour) of 85mph winds. I have two questions for the group.

First, our 20x96 hoophouse is mangled on the ground, and before I rebuild,
I'm wondering if there is any way to build a hoophouse to take 80mph winds,
or if this is just what happens in freak weather.  Does anyone have a high
tunnel that  has survived this kind of wind, and if so, any construction
advice. 

Second, many of the crops have tattered leaves, and many are bent over (like
broccoli, cabbage, etc.).  What do I need to do for these plants to keep
them healthy, and lose as little production as possible?

Thanks in advance for any knowledge you all can share. 
Curtis

 

Curtis and Sarah Millsap
Millsap Farm
Springfield MO
www.millsapfarms.com

 

 

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