Quick hoop snow damage
Our quick
hoops took some small
damage last night when a moderate snow load started weighing down the
fabric and pulling up one of the stakes.
It might be necessary to
decrease the gap between supports so it can handle the snow.
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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That's about what my quick hoops looked like 2-3 times after a 3-4 inch snowfall and I've discovered a couple of things I plan to do different in the future.
You only need to strengthen the outer hoops on both ends. Because unlike the other hoops, they are asymetrically loaded. Does that need further explanation?
Hammer a peg into the ground in the centerline of the hoops, about one or two hoop widths out of the outer hoop. Tie some string to that and tie the other end to the top of the arc of the outer hoop. That should help prevent it from collapsing inward. The peg should be perpendicular to the direction of the string.
Excellent point, Roland! I hadn't thought about how the outer hoops are the ones most in jeopardy.
If I upgraded the pegs I already have in the ground in the location you're talking about, I'll bet they could do double duty as an attachment point for a guy wire for the outer hoops and for attaching the fabric.
Thinking along this line led me to another lines of thought and possible improvements.
Use three wires along the whole length of the quick hoops. One on both sides connecting all the ends of the hoops, and on connecting all hoops on the top. At both ends, the three wires come together at a peg.
This way, starting with one peg you could string out the whole quick-hoop skeleton. Peg down the second end and it stands. Peg down the bottom wires at a couple of places and it won't blow away.
Fixing say a woven net to the hoops would support the flimsy row cover material better and possibly keep deer out of your vegetables.
I suspect even a single line that goes down the center of the quick hoop system would help a lot. Not sure if we really need it, though, and that would be another piece to put together and take down when I move them around. I think that probably should be my first step next winter, though, if we get more snow and it's problematic.
Stay tuned --- one of these days soon I'm going to post some photos that a reader sent me of a quick hoop supported with remesh.