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Entry Date
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Location
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Sunday, April 21, 2024
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Matt D.
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Connecticut
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Entry 13 of 58 |
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Cold Frame Inside Hoop-House
While growers often use terms like cold-frame, greenhouse, and hoop-house interchangeably, each has their own definition and meaning. The terms will be kept consistent here in hopes to avoid potential confusion.
The reason for this additional cold-frame is to help increase control over the environment immediately around the pumpkin plant in the early stages of growth. Since the plant is small and heat is a needed, keeping the area small helps to increase heating efficiencies.
The overall dimensions of this structure is 8ft. wide and 12ft. long and 6ft. tall at the peak. The width and length were specifically chosen to match the size of an early growing pumpkin plant with the goal being once the secondary vines touch the sides, the main vine should be touching the end wall.
As a result, this is custom build to ensure it is dialed in for pumpkins. The connectors are galvanized outdoor tent connectors and the main supportive material is fencing top-rail. It is then covered in IR 6mil. greenhouse polyethylene that is held in with U-channel and wiggle wire. There are two access doors at each end and also since this is already in a structure the sides are also able to easily lift up for side access if needed.
*IR Poly = InfraRed and AntiCondensate plastic film. This prevents water droplets from building up on the inside layer. Water droplets may reduce sunshine penetration by as much as 20%. The IR additive seals in infrared energy, assuring warmer night temperatures in the air, soil, and plant tissue in the greenhouse.
However, there are more custom features added that will be described in the following posts…
Scientific Article: “Testing of the condensation characteristics and light transmissions of different plastic film covering materials”
https://web.archive.org/web/20170809035646id_/http://moritz.botany.ut.ee/~olli/b/Cemek05.pdf
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