Securing Covers on Low Tunnels

Reader Contribution by Cindy Conner
Published on December 11, 2014
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Building low tunnels that are about 30 inches tall to protect your crops through weather that is outside of their comfort zone is fairly easy to do using plastic pipe and plastic sheeting. You will find directions for this at Homeplace Earth. The tricky part is securing the covers. I have seen directions to make the cover with enough plastic sheeting on each end to draw it together to tie to a post in the ground. Sometimes the design calls for simply gathering the extra and holding it down with a cement block. The sides in that design are held down with rocks or boards or buried in the ground. The way I see it, the only use for a low tunnel made that way is if for crops in a bed that wouldn’t need vented, checked on, or harvested for weeks t a time. There is no easy way to access the plants.

If there is a ridge pole, as my design has, snow and ice usually slide off or can be brushed off easily without damage. In fact, some snow on the cover provides insulation in severe weather. However, since it also prevents light from getting through, it is good to get the snow off after a day or two.

Wind, on the other hand, is quite another thing and is the major problem for low tunnel covers. It will pull the sides right out from under the rocks, boards, soil, or whatever you have held it down with. Besides leaving your plants uncovered, all that blowing around wears on the plastic sheeting. I solve that problem by using a cord over the top to keep the cover grounded.

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