OpenTube

How to Build Low Tunnels That Open and Close Easily

Vegetable Academy

193,913 views

Discover the 3 breakthroughs that enable us to grow a year-round supply of food with ease!
👉 https://www.vegetableacademy.com/yt-f...

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Low tunnels are one of the most cost effective methods for extending the growing season in your vegetable garden in both spring and fall. Follow along as I share everything you need to know to build the best low tunnels with fully adjustable sidewalls for ventilation and the strength to resist wind and snow loads.

Here's a list of the equipment used for these low tunnels:
1/2 inch EMT conduit - 10 foot lengths
hose clamps - https://amzn.to/48xqQHg
aluminum carabiners - https://amzn.to/3PVBMqX
6 mil UV resistant plastic - https://amzn.to/48Dxuvxv
1/4" bungee/shock cord - https://amzn.to/3t5uPKP
some 3/4" plywood scraps and a few screws for the hoop bending jig
our wireless temperature sensors - https://amzn.to/3ZEObCS

As mentioned in the video, I collected temperature data from this low tunnel this fall to measure its heat trapping and insulating abilities. You can now find a summary of that data on our Field Journal page here: https://www.vegetableacademy.com/post...

To extend your growing season as long as possible, you'll also need to know the temperature tolerance of each of your vegetable crops which can vary significantly. I teach this subject in detail in my Seed to Table course.

LEARN MORE
⇨ Subscribe to this channel: @vegetableacademy
⇨ Get started with my FREE workshop: https://www.vegetableacademy.com/yt-f...
⇨ Enroll in the Seed to Table course: https://www.vegetableacademy.com/course

20 Comments

@VegetableAcademy Creator 2 years ago (edited) Pinned

There's a lot more to growing vegetables than tunnels! Kickstart your vegetable game with my Free Workshop: https://www.vegetableacademy.com/yt-freeworkshop

@dhersies 2 years ago

This is the best hoop house tutorial I've ever seen

@jongraziano7408 2 years ago

The pipe clamp carabiner move is 😘🌱

@chachadodds5860 3 years ago

Priceless advice on that jig! I think even this almost 70-year-old can do that.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience. Much appreciated.

@kenkrick7596 2 years ago

Seeing a valuable video like this always makes me wish I could smash the like button multiple times! Thanks

@dudeusmaximus6793 3 years ago

Been doing low tunnels for a couple of decades with 4 mil plastic sheeting. Grow cold hardy greens, roots, and grains, we get down to -20F in many winters and they all survive fine with no damage. Have had half the length of the tunnel fly open and flapping in the wind in single digit temps, the exposed half of course gets smoked, the half that's covered still has little damage except at the end near the opening. It's almost magical how that works to be honest.

@alanmcrae8594 2 years ago (edited)

This is where YouTube really shines. When somebody smart & creative comes up with a brilliant, simple, inexpensive, diy solution to a problem.

Just what I was looking for to get low, easy to heat & cool poly tunnels where I can micro control internal conditions for a group of plants that thrive in the same temperature, humidity and sunlight environment. And when it gets really cold outside, I only need to heat inside the low poly tunnels, not the entire volume of the glassed in greenhouse. A huge energy saver!

Liked & subscribed

EDIT: as a computer expert I do not like monitoring devices that log to remote servers thru a home gateway. I consider them both a network security risk and, eventually, these companies tend to erect a paywall once they have a large enough captive customer base. I'll be holding out for an open source system that runs totally on premises on an air gapped, high security home VLAN network. (But for your current R&D it is a quick & easy solution for collecting temp/humidity data.)

@Jdt-8li 2 months ago

This is THE best low tunnel demo on YouTube!!! I'm a small scale commercial gardener, and I need very sturdy tunnels for my high desert environment. But affordable, reproducible, and able to be done by only me. This is it! Thank you so much for sharing your ideas! 💕

@yearofthegarden 2 years ago

Great demonstration. I've been using these type of low tunnels for over a decade, a design i took from some japanese farmers i talk to on instagram. These cheap low tunnels are what gave me edge over larger farms, because I could show up to market earlier before the huge growers show up when the weather works for them. a 50ft version of these used to cost about $50 back when EMT conduit was $3.50, and poly was cheap. There is still nothing as cheap as fitting two 50ft beds under, especially when each bed can make up to $300. Personally though I am not a fan of sticking the conduit directly into the ground, that's what the farm I work at does, and when you tie the string to the conduit, wind will rip the whole thing out. I personally use rebar and attach the hook to the rebar which has better grip in the soil.

@blenderbenderguy 2 years ago

Very clear, concise, and clever! Thanks for your efforts.

@IragmanI 3 years ago

"I wouldn't build a synchrotron with that arc"

Wait, that's no gardener! ;)

@Xtrapacific0911 3 months ago

This is exactly what I needed! Thank you!!

@KeithNylund 5 months ago

Great instructions! Got the jig made, bent the pipes, added the hose clamps with the carabiners and had them in the ground in under 4 hours, for a 25 ft row house. Bought 8mm UV treated clear greenhouse plastic and a roll of bungee cord to make my own straps. Total cost $170.

@AnenLaylle7023 2 years ago

I farm about 50 beds with low tunnels. They are so annoying to deal with. I'd much gather just save for high tunnels in the future. They definitely do increase yields, but they are still a lot of work. Your design is better than mine though, thanks for the video.

@serenababy6358 2 years ago

Wow you are so clever and you make this look so EASY while saving a lot of money!!! I wanted to buy low tunnel supplies but couldn't afford the pre-made kits from reputable companies, nor did I want to waste money on the cheap stuff from Amazon that had mixed reviews. Thank you so much for sharing this info! New sub.