Extending the growing season STORY AND PHOTOS BY LINDSAY REED
Producer uses hoop house to provide community with produce throughout the year This year, Sherry Tucker is hoping to extend her growing season well into the winter months through the use of a hoop house -- a new type of greenhouse structure. Tucker constructed her hoop house on her farm north of Exeter this spring. “I knew it could help, especially in the spring, get tomatoes to the market earlier,” said Tucker, who sells produce at the Garden Sass Farmers’ Market in Cassville.
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“Until you have tomatoes and green beans at the market, everybody is asking for them every week,” said Tucker. Walt Hasler, a fellow Garden Sass vendor from Cassville, shared information with Tucker about a grant that was available to help producers build hoop houses on their land. “I kind of knew what he was talking about, but not really because no one around here has one,” said Tucker. “I knew it was kind of like a greenhouse.” Tucker received more information on the USDA Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) grant from the Barry County Soil and Water Conservation District. The cost-share grant can be used to receive reimbursement funding based on the square footage of the hoop house after the structure has been constructed. “I did my research, because I didn’t want to have to wait to get reimbursed,” said Tucker. “I wanted to get it up and get my money back so that I wouldn’t be strapped.” Tucker qualified for the grant in mid-summer of last year. In July of 2010, she attended a hoop house workshop at the University of Arkansas to learn more about the innovative approach to prolonging the growing season. “I learned a lot,” said Tucker. “I had the opportunity to talk to a lot of people about hoop houses.” In January, Tucker was invited to a hoop house raising workshop in Seymour. The event was
organized by the University of Missouri Extension. “That was very enlightening,” said Tucker. “I learned how much work it is to put a hoop house up. Everything has to be put in exactly right. I took tons of pictures. A man from the Morgan County Seed Company, which puts these kits together, was there to help.” Tucker worked alongside around five Extension specialists and a team of volunteers to help construct the hoop house in Seymour, which is now used to grow edamame -- young soybeans left in the pod. After participating in the workshop, Tucker was ready to construct her own hoop house, a 2,160-square-foot, one-fifth-of-an-acre structure. “This hoop house was the best considering cost and durability,” said Tucker. “There are some hoop houses that are cheaper and have smaller posts, but this was the best structure for the price, and with the grant money, the lumber at the ends and the cement for the posts were basically all I had to pay for.” Tucker and her husband, Daniel, began driving posts for the hoop house in April. Each post was positioned six feet apart in a straight line at level heights. “Setting the posts was the hardest thing,” said Tucker. “I used string and spray paint to mark out where they should be placed.” After all the posts were set, University Extension organized a hoop house raising workshop at Tucker’s farm. The team of specialists
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included a professor from the University of Missouri who is using a hoop house to heat water tanks to grow shrimp. “He is really into alternative energy,” said Tucker. “He was very interesting, and I learned a lot from him.” The hoop house is very similar to a greenhouse, but
produce is grown in the ground instead of in pots or other soil containers. The structure also offers walls, much like those found in poultry houses, that can be raised and lowered to change the temperature inside the structure. “Preparing the land and planting was the easy part,” said Tucker. “I used the
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leftover plastic to cover the grass that was growing inside, and in a couple of days, the grass was fried.” For her first crop, Tucker poked holes in the plastic and planted her seeds in the ground directly under the lining. “I planted tomatoes and peppers first, but they really suffered from the heat,” said Tucker. “Then I planted cucumbers, cantaloupe and watermelon. The watermelon didn’t do too hot, but the cucumbers and cantaloupe loved it. They never wilted even on the hottest days. I got the best cantaloupe and cucumbers I have ever had out of here.” Hoop houses are designed to extend the growing season by capturing solar heat. When there is moisture in the air, the structure also captures the water, increasing the humidity inside the house. “During the summer when it was so dry, it was not humid in here, but as the moisture has built up more, it gets so humid that sometimes it is like it is raining inside here,” said Tucker. Although Tucker is enjoying growing in her hoop house, she said she is still learning from the structure. “I don’t know yet how it will change my operation,” said Tucker. “I know it did extend the amount of time for cantaloupe and cucumbers. I have tomatoes now. It will be really nice to bring those into the market late. “It will probably take me a couple years to know when and what to plant,” said Tucker. “I have started
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some turnips, collards, spinach and lettuce. I’m excited to see how they do through the winter.” Tucker said she will be working to refine her record-keeping system in order to utilize the hoop house more efficiently. “I need to be a better manager,” said Tucker. “I will have to track what I am growing and where I grew it. I am going to need to know when and where I planted things.” Tucker also hopes to focus on space management.
“I will need to learn how to take advantage of my vertical space,” said Tucker. “I only have so much horizontal space in here.” Much of the information Tucker collects from her hoop house operation will be compiled into a survey collected by USDA and utilized by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and other entities. The information will determine if the structures help producers prolong growing seasons. “They want to see if
growers can provide local food to communities for longer amounts of time,” said Tucker. “I am really enjoying this. It is fun to see how things grow differently in here. Every gardener will tell you that their favorite thing about gardening is watching things grow.” Tucker also grows produce in a large garden located on land owned by her mother, Alice Leverich. The women sell their produce at the Garden Sass Farmers’ Market in Cassville each Tuesday and Friday from May through October.
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