The educational materials listed on this page are about High Tunnels or Hoop Houses.
A high tunnel or hoop house is a covered structure used to achieve season extension, or commercial fruit and vegetable production outside the usual growing season. Common vegetables to grow in high tunnels include tomatoes, peppers, leafy greens and lettuces, strawberries and brambles. Getting started with commercial hoop house farming requires a fairly modest investment in a structure, along with knowledge of high tunnel vegetable production, such as management of nutrients, pests, irrigation and temperature. Visit SARE’s High Tunnels and Other Season Extension Techniques topic room for detailed information on hoop house plans and hoop house construction, as well as other management topics. You can also find information about sustainable commercial greenhouse production in the High Tunnels and Other Season Extension Techniques topic room.
If you are interested in season extension through high tunnel farming or gardening, the resources on this page can help. Dig deeper for information on how to build a high tunnel or hoop house, how to manage vegetable and fruit production in one, and ideas for marketing.
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Predatory Mites for Organic Thrips Control in High Tunnel Cucumbers
A presentation of grant-funded research on biological control methods in New York, including cultural practices, plant resistance, grafting, rotations, sprays and beneficials.
Expanding Winter Harvest and Sales for New England Vegetable Crops
The Winter Production, Storage and Sales website is maintained through a partnership of the UMass Extension Vegetable Program, the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension and two local food organizations, Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA) in western MA and Seacoast Eat Local (SEL) in eastern NH. This project addresses the need for expanding winter […]
High Tunnel Winter Cropping Systems
A 40-minute presentation by Lewis Jett, West Virginia Extension Service, on the use of high tunnels for winter crop production. Download separate audio and slideshow files:Download audio (MP3, 15MB) Download slideshow (PDF, 10MB)
Backpack Sprayers for Small-Scale Farms
Backpack sprayers are a boon to farmers on small acreage, but not all sprayers are created equal. Video series.
Ginger: An ancient crop in the New World
Melissa Bahret of Old Friends Farm in Amherst, Massachusetts, saw that her greenhousewas sitting idle in the late spring and summer, after her vegetable starts were in the ground or sold to customers. She and her business partner, Casey Steinberg, were looking for new ways to use the space and to complement the flowers, salad […]