Growing Tomatoes in High Tunnels
By Michelle Fabio
High tunnels, alternately called hoop houses or high hoops, have become increasingly popular in tomato circles.
These temporary structures allow you to plant tomatoes in the ground but then cover them with plastic, rolling it up and down for ventilation and protection from frost. Plants are watered through irrigation tubes beneath the plastic.
Are high tunnels for you?
Here’s a rundown of the advantages and disadvantages of using a high tunnel system:
Advantages:
+ Use NO electricity. Whereas traditional greenhouses use artificial heating and fans, high tunnels rely on the sun for heat and the process of rolling up and down the plastic for air.
+ Can mature fruit earlier depending on the area in which you live. In northern Minnesota, for example, tomatoes may ripen up to four weeks earlier than tomatoes grown outside of high tunnels.
+ Aid in disease control. In addition to isolating common pests within the tunnels, diseases can also be treated organically without chemicals.
Disadvantages:
- Deciding where to place high tunnels requires some study of the wind, soil, pH, and nutrients in the selected area to be sure your crops will prosper; breed selection is also important.
- Keeping up with high tunnels is more labor intensive than with other methods—you have to check on the plants each and every day, managing temperature, pollination, watering, and pruning meticulously to avoid growing disasters.
For more information on beginning your high tunnels, see Cornell University’s Vegetable MD Online’s In High Tunnels, Diseases are What You Make Them.
Have any of you used high tunnels? Would you?
Source: High tunnels mean earlier tomatoes at farmers markets
April 17th, 2008 at 10:34 am
cloches, but not the tunnels. The tunnels over some winter veggies blew away never to be seen again.
April 17th, 2008 at 10:46 am
Tunnel tragedy
Have the cloches worked well for you Deb?