High Tunnels: A Great Way to Grow

What if there was a device that could not only extend your crop’s growing season into the colder months, but could also produce more crops and even crops of different varieties? What if someone would help you pay for one of these miraculous growing machines? Now you must be dreaming. Or are you?

If snow load is a concern, it's a good idea
to remove the cover until the spring.
Photo courtesy of Amy Hedershot

High tunnels, also known as hoop houses, hoop tunnels, or poly tunnels, are installations that aid in plant growth and production. They function like greenhouses, with the biggest differences being that hoop houses are cheaper, easier and faster to construct. They work by trapping in moisture and heat and thus extending the growing season of plants into colder months when they usually will have gone dormant.  This creates a kind of artificial environment that can foster not only longer growing seasons for plants traditionally grown in our region, but can allow other species that normally might not be able to cope with colder weather conditions. Hoop houses can vary in size.  Smaller, “back yard garden” hoop houses may only be a few square feet while larger farms might utilize designs that are several feet wide by hundreds of feet long. Aside from sheltering crops from cold weather during the winter, another benefit of their construction is their decreased incidence of crop pests, diseases, and disruptive wildlife tribulations.



This new hoop house will be increase
yield in tomato production.
Photo courtesy of Amy Hendershot.

 Currently, the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has funding to help with the cost of purchasing hoop houses for eligible crop growers within our region. For 2013, NRCS is paying growers around $2.55-$3.06 per square foot (up to 2178 ft²) for the cost of purchasing pre-manufactured high tunnel kits. Due to their simple design, the cost of purchasing and installing one of these kits is generally affordable and with the help of the NRCS, producers can expect to pay less than half of that cost out of pocket. The deadline to apply for funding is December 21, 2012.


To learn more about how you can get funding for a hoop house, contact NRCS Chelan County Resource Conservationist, Amy Hendershot, at (509) 664-9370.