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kroach001

Coldframe/hoophouse question/confusion

kroach001
11 years ago

Hi All.
I'm hoping some of you that have grown in cold frames and/or hoophouses can shed some light on this for me.

I just can't wrap my head around how a cold frame or hoop house helps you grow things over the winter. I get how it warms it up nicely during the day. Got that. But it won't hold in enough heat at night to keep common cold crops from dying. Temps inside are maybe 1-3 degrees above what they are outside overnight. They may have protection from direct frost, but effectively none against temperatures. I've tried lettuce and broccoli that both died in low 20's temps. I have one friend that has a cold frame, but they bring their plants in the house if its going to be really cold overnight. But I know people say they grow/keep things in there all winter. Over the winter we commonly get overnight lows in the teens and occasionally in the single digits.

If someone could help explain how it keeps plants from dying from extreme cold overnight, I'd love to understand! People say they grow with these methods over the winter and it bugs that I can't seem to understand how it works.

Thanks!

Comments (14)

  • csmartyonline
    11 years ago

    I don't know about hoop houses. But one of the keys to successful use of a coldframe is growing very cold hardy/cold tolerant plant varieties, choosing vegetables that thrive in or tolerate the cold. Another critical point in using a coldframe is to start your plants early enough before cold weather arrives.

    Cold frames often need to be "insulated" with hay or straw piled around them, making berms or stacking hay along cold frame sides and covering the top of the frame with blankets or straw at night to extend the growing season. Some people use heavy black plastic bags filled with leaves to insulate. Some cold frames are even sunk into the ground somewhat. Your zone conditions dictate the type and amount of additional protection needed.

    Hardy perennials don't work well in a cold frame, but some annuals can get a faster start in a coldframe.

  • wally_1936
    11 years ago

    For hoop or coldframes some users bury a thick layer of fresh manure which is covered with soil for more ground heat, or place large drums of water for heat storage from the sun which helps hold the temp down over the nighttime inside, string lights for added heat during cold days and nights. Even black plastic on the soil should add to the daytime heat in the soil.

  • livelydirt
    11 years ago

    Get a copy of Eliot Coleman's 'The Winter Harvest Handbook' and treat it like your garden Bible. In Zone 6, you can effectively become a zone 9 following Coleman's advice.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Lively Dirt - The Garden Blog

  • gardnpondr
    9 years ago

    I have a friend in MI. that uses hoop houses and I would dearly love to do this in the wintertime as well. I need to pick her brain. :-)

  • WIgardenrookie
    9 years ago

    Also check out Niki Jabour's book she's up in Canada, it's totally cool. This is my first year trying it out but I'm in Wisconsin and am trying it out for the first time. I'm going to document how long each type lives. Here's the hoop house and current state.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Hoop house creation

  • gardnpondr
    9 years ago

    I just got the winter harvest handbook from the library today. Eliot Coleman. going to check it out and see if I can use some of his info in South Ms.

  • defrost49
    9 years ago

    First, here in NH, the ground inside my high tunnel doesn't freeze even though night time temps can be below zero. The short day period of plant dormancy ended mid-February. A local market grower said a few weeks ago that he had started hardy greens inside for April harvest and expected to plant peas March 1. We still have 2-3 feet of snow. I have not looked inside my high tunnel due to rodent damage last fall. I suspect they are in there sunbathing. I should have been able to pick spinach etc all winter but the last I saw of my spinach patch, hlf of it was browsed to the ground. I had some red romaine growing in a large flower pot and was able to stick a tomato cage in the pot, then wrap with a couple of layers of Agribon 19. I had some arugala and chard plus a bit of spinach so met my goal of having a salad for Christmas. But, if I had put the effort into it, I should be harvesting mixed greens right now. I can get them at my local winter farmers market. I recently bought Four Season Farm Gardener's Cookbook by B. Damrosch and Elliot Coleman. The first half is all growing instructions. If you "like" or "friend" local market farmers, you might also get some tips as to when and what they are planting. With higher temps (sap is running!) next week, I should have my husband plow a path to the high tunnel and get gardening again.

  • jenandwya
    9 years ago

    A big help for me is that I put my lettuce garden right up to my house (which is brick) The heat that the bricks get from the sun during the day helps keep the soil and plants warmer in the hoop house. Also, if I know it's going to be much colder than normal, I leave the plastic over my hoop house all day and let it warm up so it has reserves of heat at night.


  • defrost49
    9 years ago

    btw it's only 6mm plastic but on a sunny day it can heat up even in winter. Today it is about 21 degrees at almost noon but it's 78 inside the high tunnel.

  • nanelle_gw (usda 9/Sunset 14)
    7 years ago

    If anyone is still following, is a hoop house likely to allow me to keep my chinense chili plants outside over winters here in N Cal, rather than keeping them in the garage to overwinter? I usually bring them into the garage in late November, when nights occasionally dip into the forties, rarely thirties. Days rarely get below 50.

  • defrost49
    7 years ago

    good question. You might check with your local county extension service about high tunnel/hoop house growing. Here in NH I overwintered rosemary in my high tunnel but I also covered it in several layers of Agribon. Even in NH the ground doesn't freeze in my high tunnel despite below freezing weather most of the winter. Rosemary can take cold down to about 18 degrees.

  • lazy_gardens
    7 years ago

    Nanelle -

    Hoophouses and frost cloth shelters mostly prevent plants from drying out in the dry winter windy days and nights, and unlike plastic, from overheating in the day. If they are already frost-tolerant, keeping the leaves in a more humid, sheltered area is all they need.

    Ask on the Hot Pepper board about protecting them in your climate.

    http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/pepper


  • nanelle_gw (usda 9/Sunset 14)
    7 years ago

    Thank you! I will. Three are still outside, one looked pretty bad after a windy night, and now all look pretty good in a protected spot with about # 30 floating row cover. I have thermostats under the cover, just outside and in my unheated garage. so far only about 2 degrees warmer under cover, 10 higher in the garage.

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