I want to make my own row covers like the ones I see with hoops and special fabric covers. I tried floating covers last year, and it's too windy where I am even when I do a lot fo keep them down.
My question is - where do I geet the "hoops"?
Anybody have any tips on how to do it for the best success? (or is there a web site I can visit?)
Thanks in advance!
Dorie in New Braunfels
Making Row Covers - Help
Have you tried Peaceful Valley Farm Supply? There website is www.groworganic.com .
My DH made our row cover frame out of pvc pipes. We use the agribon fleece and hold it in place with these snap clamps which do a suberb job holding the cloth in place in high winds and also to not tear the cloth.
http://tinyurl.com/22q2w8
garden_mermaid,
Do you mean the black flexible ¾ or 1 inch pipe? I used it for a small hoop house. I first pushed rebar into the ground and let it stick up a foot and installed the plastic hose over them.
He used 3/4" white pvc pipe with rebar inserted in the vertical members. Photo attached. Ours is more like a flexible greenhouse frame. The joints are unglued to that we can swing them around to form a trellis in the summer. I've seen the 1/2" pvc used as regular hoops as well.
Excellent garden_mermaid. I went to the peaceful valley site. They had exactly what is needed!
Dear VEGGIEHAPPY -
Here's an easy idea -
Make hoops out of 9 gauge wire with enough added to stick in the ground 10 " or so, about 2 feet apart. Drape your row cover over. Then add another row of wire right next to the first ones, only OVER the row cover. When you want to peer at the veggies, just slide the cover up and it stays where you want until you pull it down again. When you re-do the bed, the hoops are easy to pull up and store - hang them on a nail or over a fence post.
I too live in TX , and I know about the wind. I used to clip my covers to the frame with clothes pins, but I noticed that eventually the wind would tear the cover wherever it was fastened. I decided it was better not to clip it, but to weight down the sides with pipe, old window weights, and rocks, but with the double wires, its not that hard to keep it in place.
Also, I found it was better not to make the hoops any higher than necessary, so the wind could pass over instead of beating against the structure.
Good luck!
Excellent idea kabocha!!! I was at Home Depot last night buying black plastic for the beds I just dug for beans, malabar, & cucumbers (plastic is my "mulch" because I cannot keep up with the weeds & grass once the growing gets started if I use just leaves/straw etc.). I should have checked out the wire while I was there. I try to buy locally when possible - unless there is a super excellent deal online.
Agree, the double wire concept is excellent. We might experiment with the construction cloths for hoops instead of tomato cages. Thank you for the suggestion and excellent description.
This message was edited Feb 18, 2007 2:08 PM
I love the 9 guage wire idea, so simple and cheap enough, and would work great, now where would one get 9 guage wire? how about lowes?
I love your hoop house mermaid
And wow! would you look at her yard, Mermaid that's superb . such hard work ha? wow....
How I wish that were my yard! LOL!
What you see in the background is our community garden. The bed with the white pvc frame is our "allotment". Since I only have about 50 sq ft of space, I need to get the maximum out of it. We are able to harvest all year long by using the row covers.
Here's a link to a row cover I make out of the leftover concrete reinforcing wire. The pic will explain why it's very secure in even high winds.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/583861/
Zeppy - That's another good idea. I think there is some of that type of wire at the back of my property somewhere I could cover a short row with. I'll have to see if I can dig it out of the pile of random things I have back there.
I got 9 gauge wire at a feed store that also has fence wire. They call it "tie wire".
One year I used concrete reinforcing wire. That made a good strong structure, but I became very frustrated at having to reach through the 6" openings to tend the vegetables, I guess because my arms are short and I kept bumping my nose and my glasses on the wire. I couldn't add mulch or soil amendments very well. So the wire hoops work better for me, even though my cats seem to like jumping on the covers and bending the hoops . They are also easy to remove and store.
How far apart did you put your wire kabocha? wonder if one could not use so many wires I guess the plastic would sag then.
got any pictures of your row covers? I am going to do this late this fall, and try to garden all winter this next winter using this method, we grow a few things during the winter, but most get frost bit.
kathy
kathy ann -
Sorry, I don't have any pix, but I now put the wires about 2 feet apart. I think that is the max. I did have them 18" apart, but found it too hard to get between them to do anything. I'm in zone 7b too, and most of the beds have Agribon 19 on them. It has torn a bit, whereas the bed that has Agribon 30 is fine. Even in the A.19 beds we are picking turnips, beets, Chinese mustard, Italian kale, sprouting broccoli, and lettuce. The lettuce is better in the A.30 bed - no frost-bitten edges. Also, I think the beets would have grown bigger under the heavier covering.
The big problem is in the fall, when you want to plant your winter veggies, but it's still hot - but you want protection from the apids, cabbage butterfly, grasshoppers, etc. Then the covers add too much heat.
Late last spring, when I planted seedling tomatoes, we had a curlytop virus attack. I had to dig them up and try to find some more plants to replace them. I always grow them in concrete reinforcing wire cages, so I covered the cages completely with fiberglass window screen fabric, and it worked. Then I planted peppers and eggplant under wire hoops with the screen over them. They were fine, too. The grasshoppers used to sit on the ouside wishing they could get in. Only late in the season, they got big enough to actually chew holes in the fiberglass and get inside, but only a few, and the full-grown plants weren't harmed.
Hmm - maybe the window screen would be porous enough not to collect so much heat and could be used for the fall beds until the cold weather starts. Except for those big grasshoppers. A grisly confession: in the morning, when they are slow, I creep up on them and snip them in two with a scissors.
agribon 30? I have never seen that. is it clear? I have a 6 ml greenhouse plastic would that work?
Agribon is a spun row cover available from Peaceful Valley Farm Supply: http://www.groworganic.com/cgy_320.html
I wish there was a cheaper way to get cover material. I thought of using the lightest weight sewing interfacing, or maybe even tulle..... haha
One year I used old sheer curtains from a thrift store. They were good, and fairly strong. But then I got more beds and decided to use tulle, and bought a whole roll - not too expensive. It was good, too - I could see the plants better and the rain got through better. But it only lasted one season - the sun weakened it and made it brittle. Maybe take a tour of all the thrift stores and you"ll come up with quite a few useable curtains.
Tulle won't work for flea beetles (eggplant) but if you find it cheap sounds like a good plan for other crops - if only for one season. Did the sheer curtains let enough rain through? Maybe I should go hunting for some!
I have some black mesh fabric we used over some dirt when we put rock over it. Would this work to keep out flea beetles early in the season for eggplant, or is it too thick?
Probably too thick but also the black won't let enough light through for the plants. Here is a picture of my covers with the sides buried in the dirt. The taller ones are almost ready to come off.
The sheer curtains did let rain through, but don't get the kind that are woven too densely. They keep all insects out, too.
I thought of a way to weight the edges (I'm running out of window weights). I think I'll sew a casing down the length of the covers on each side and slide 2 foot pieces of rebar into it. That would work for the window screen covers also. I was using large rocks, but keep stumbling over them in the narrow pathways.
http://www.jordanseeds.com/
Go to this site, click Grower Supplies, then Floating Row Covers.
This is a very good product & comes in many sizes. Lasts good too.
Bernie
I requested a catalog since the web site doesn't have a shopping cart.
Looks good - too bad they are so low-tech (the order form is a .jpg image...)
Yeah, they should upgrade & raise prices!
My intention was not to put the company down - actually I thought their selection was awesome (and the prices too). Automating ordering with an online shopping cart would save the company money not cause them to raise prices. Not to mention they would gain customers. I passed on ordering because I didn't want the extra steps having to get my shipping cost via email (they don't give you a shipping table on the site - you have to email or call them), print out the jpg image order form, fill it out, and mail it in - when I could click items in cart, hit checkout and enter in payment total of 5 minutes if that. I'm sure other's go on to the next vendor for that reason as well.
You understand this company is family owned. The parents are in their 80's, the 2 boys are in their 50's. They send seed all over the country to other "Farmers" like themselves. Market Growers.
They offer their products to smaller farmers mainly as a service. I actually feel funny ordering my little amounts when someone at the same time is ordering a truck load of seed.
Lots of your Texas neighbors buy sweet corn seed from them. These are people growing for market, buying hugh amounts of seed.
Bernie
VEGGIEHAPPY.............I make some simple row covers w/ painters plastic, and 1/2" PVC tubing........You take a piece of 15" rebar, and push it into the ground on either side of the row, and take the PVC, and make a hoop..........place the plastic on top.........use rocks, or whatever to hold down the plastic, and viola you have a row cover..........
Excellent hormstrider. I'm curious - what's under the plastic?? :-)
When do you take off the plastic? (or is there ever a safe time in Texas....haha)
I bought wire for hoops a few days ago - now I'm just trying to figure out how to cut it since it's 9 gauge, and my wire cutters are for cutting electric fence wire. Guess it's another Home Depot trip for me (I should own stock).
Actually the plastic is as much for the wind, as for the cold.............The plasric also warms up the soil temp. faster...............I have 10 mater plants under the hoop in the front garden........I will take off the plastic when the plants are big enough to handle the wind...........Get ya' a pair of bolt cutters........they come in real handy
Here is a really low tech thing that I used to do in the past. I had some of those hateful eleagnus bushes that make tons of suckers. I used to cut them off, strip off any spikes that might damage material and stick them in the ground on each side of the bed. Than I put as many layers of insulating material over them as I thought necessary, like a sheet, then some plastic, then again a sheet. Looked terrible, I used them mostly to prolong my harvest time for lettuces, etc. OF course, if it got too warm during the day I would have to take some or all off before going to work or take the (calculated) risk of clooking them in there.
This was cheap and teh suckers kept coming back with a vengenace.
Hey, whatever works! I like an eclectic garden that borders on just plain funky.
I'm going to get my row covers ready this weekend so I can get some of my summer stuff started. I'm going to use clear plastic for the tomatoes for awhile to keep them warm. I bought some lightweight fabric row cover from Henry Fields for other rows to protect from bugs which come out with a vengence here in spring.
edited for spelling - ugh!
This message was edited Mar 8, 2007 11:10 AM
Those of you using the #9 wire for your hoops...
...What is the widest you've been able to make the hoops and still have them offer ample support for the reemay/agribon and/or plastic? (In other words, is the #9 wire strong enough to support the covering over a 4 ft wide bed? Or restrict it to 2 ft? 18 inches?)
Thanks, Folks!
Shoe
Thank you so much, garden_mermaid, for the link to Peaceful Valley!!! We live between Hopland and Ukiah on a 40 acre mountaintop ranch where it is very windy at times. I shopped your link and found the exact stuff they are using at the Stanford Inn and Spa in Mendocino, CA, which we saw this past weekend and I've been trying to find the same products... you got it right on the button! Thanks again... oh, I am a new Dave's Garden member as of today and that is thanks, too, to you! Liz
Sunpath, a hearty WELCOME TO DG!!
Hope to see you around the site!
Shoe
Shoe -
All my beds are 40" wide ( I have short arms) and the #9 wire works fine for them. It does get a bit bent when the cats jump on them, but can be easily re-formed.
The company I get lots of things from, has row cover wires. They are 64" long & spring steel # 9 wire. They go back to straight when you take them out of the ground. They are made to use with their row cover machine. I have seen them in the fields & they make a nice tunnel. They are placed about every 6 Feet.
Bernie
CountryGardens: Which company is that - do they have a website? (always interested in making friends with new suppliers.....haha)
I have my covers up. I am going to try and get pics posted, but I'm in a low tech situation. I have a digital camera, but I don't have internet at home (and there is no way to hook up my camera to my work computer due to security). Maybe I'll visit the library this weekend.