# Growing & Temperatures In Hoop House - Questions!



## happychick (Sep 20, 2010)

This is our very first spring growing plants with our new 16' x 24' hoop house and grow lights. Plants are doing well under the grow lights, and we have started seeds in the hoop house. Being new at this, how hot it too hot in a hoop house for seeds & plants? What's a good temp. in a hoop house to stick close around?

Also, I was thinking of growing my carrots, onions, tomatos, etc. in the hoop house all year round. Can you grow ANYTHING in a hoop house in the middle of summer? We have roll up sides for ventilation...Right now it's 60 degrees outside in the middle of the day, 25 at night. The temperature gauge said it was 110 inside the hoop house today (though it didn't feel _that_ warm...). 
Just want to have a good first year, I would really appreciate any advice from those who have done this before! :bow:


----------



## hippygirl (Apr 3, 2010)

I'd like to know as well.

We've been contemplating building a hoop house, but its only use in this area would be to garden in the winter and start seeds. I'm thinking, bcause of our heat, it would sit empty from about the middle of April through the middle of October...surely.


----------



## elkwc (Jun 3, 2007)

I have an 8x6 lean to I built last year. I built it against the south wall of my utility room that has two large windows I can open and with a fan in one of them kept the lean to at 44 degrees the night we fell to 1 degree outside. With that being said cooling has been another issue. I have metal siding and sure that adds to the problem. On 60 degree days I've seen temps inside over 120. As most of the greenhouse owners/growers around here tell me it is easier to control the heating in a greenhouse than the ventilation and cooling. With your roll up sides that should help a great deal. I'm still in the process of equipping mine where I can control temps with fans, louvers and vents as I leave early and gone most of the day during the week. Another help is shade cloth. Most greenhouse growers in this semi arid region use shade cloth. Some year round. The reason is the rapid build up of heat when the sun is bright. I had black shade cloth already and pulled it over the top and this last week with the temps in the 80's with one fan in the window and a slight crack of the door I was able to maintain temps under 100. My plan is to put intake louvers operated by a thermostat that will open them and start a fan. If this isn't enough I will install an exhaust fan w/louvers. The reason I hesitate to install it is the weight and stress it will put on that area of my wall. I will have to reinforce big time and little area to install it in without interfering with my door. Yes temps can be controlled. If a person is around to manually open vents, doors, roll up sides then that is an option. In my case I need something that will do it automatically while I'm gone. I've seen over 140 degrees inside my lean to when totally closed up and when outside temps were close to 100 degrees. I don't plan on growing anything in mine during the summer heat so not too worried about that. Jay


----------



## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

At 104ÂºF, germination for most vegetable seeds is zero. With some, 95Âº is too hot. 

http://tomclothier.hort.net/page11.html

Martin


----------



## mommagoose_99 (Jan 25, 2005)

I have two 28x 120 hoophouses /greenhouses. It has been 80 degrees in side during the daytime even if it is 40 degrees outside,. I am ready to begin transplanting my tomatoes to the beds later this week. I will have remay ready should the temps fall below freezing at night. I live in upstate New york near Binghamton. This will be my third year planting the tomatoes and peppers out in March. You have to be very aware of the weather and adjust accordingly either adding protection or opening doors and vents. Besides roll up sides, you need to vent the top of your greenhouse . When the temps get over 100 degrees in the summer you need to exhaust the heat . If you don't young fruit and flowers will die and you will have no late season crop. I have 4 foot wide vents at the peak on the end walls and this year I am adding two fans to each tunnel to keep the air circulating.
If you have any more questions about tunnels feel free to PM me  or email me at hightunnelgardenator @ Gmail .com please remove spaces before sending your email 
Linda


----------



## mommagoose_99 (Jan 25, 2005)

I agree Martin ( see it happens Germination can suffer at high temps and so can fruit set.
Linda


----------



## mommagoose_99 (Jan 25, 2005)

What do I grow in my tunnels?
Tomatoes 72 standard beef steaks and 72 cherry tomato plants, 40 pounds of ginger, 10 pounds of tumeric, 200 bell pepper plants of various colorsand 200 hot pepper plants mostly Jalepenos and habeneros. A row of okra, a row of strawberries and 5 fig trees. I sqeeze in 50 chinese cabbages, 50 swiss chard , 25 collard plants and if I still have space a row of beets  My greeenhouses each have 5 four foot wide beds in them
Linda


----------



## Marcia in MT (May 11, 2002)

Yes, ventilation and cooling are the biggest problems!

In the summer, we grow containerized tomatoes, sweet peppers, hot peppers, and eggplants in our hoophouses.

The sides roll up, there are big doors in each end, there is shade cloth over the top, and it still can get pretty hot in there in late summer afternoons. But not so hot that the plants and their fruits suffer, and it's really the only way we can get decent heat-loving vegetables.


----------



## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

Tomatoes and onions need different growing conditions. The trouble I had last fall was that my tomatoes inside the greenhouse weren't finished but it was time to start the lettuce and other cool crops. I couldn't regulate the temperatures very well to keep the tomatoes warm and the lettuce cool.


----------

