How to Ventilate a Hoop House

Video Transcript

"So keeping in mind that you're responsible for the climate in the hoophouse, you need to come up with a plan to ventilate. In the spring and the summer the heat spikes, and if you don't have a convenient and efficient way to ventilate your hoophouse, you're in deep trouble. So this roll up side that I'm going to show you is probably the most common and perhaps the most efficient way to do that. So, as I showed you before, the entire side is attached to a metal pipe, and that's attached to a simple gear box, which slides up and down on this guide pole. And through the simple operation of this little crank, we can begin to roll up the side. You see this is the first day that we've vented. Its March 23rd I believe, and here we are opening it up with snow still on the ground. This simple little device can be used to raise the side of the hoophouse, up to any height. So if we have a beautiful sunny day, I can lock it in there at 2 1/2 feet, allowing the air and the light and the breeze to get in and ventilate the hoophouse. Should it be the summer, and we've got constant heat, I might leave it this way for a week or more. In the summertime, the only reason to mess with the ventilation would be if there were severe storms or wind expected and then I could easily drop it back down. This little device, and it's beautiful mechanical advantage, allow my ten year old daughter to come out here and vent the hoophouse. Again, a little bit of technology sometimes goes a long way."