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Choosing your site
Flat, not necessarily level.
When using the proper tools, such a laser level, a hoophouse can be tipped lengthwise or side to side to accommodate a slope
Flatness is important! If your grade is on an even slope then drops away, your baseboards will end up floating above grade and will need to be backfilled. If its flat except for a mound you’ll need to trench to accommodate your baseboards
This is not a flat site! Note the roll to the topography
Well-drained
This is valuable real estate. Remedy any drainage issues before you build!
Diverting water outside the structure can work wonders. Thing about the hydrology of your whole farm
To prevent water entering your hoophouse from outside, either flowing from elsewhere or rainwater from the hoop itself, perforated drainage tile beside the baseboards can work well to move water away
Many manufacturers offer gutter systems at the hoophouse’s hipboard to divert and capture water
Drainage tile being laid beside a hoophouse
Full sun
The whole point is to capture energy from the sun (and protect from rain, wind, etc of course), so get as much sunlight as possible
Shadows are much longer in the winter, so leave plenty of room to the south of your hoophouse
Snow drifts
Snow can accumulate quickly when it is heavy and wind-driven. If your structures are too close together, a snowdrift on the leeward side of one structure can get big enough to reach the next one. Leave room for snow as well as access if you need to remove it
Many manufacturers recommend at least 20’ between structures in areas with heavy snow
Low tunnels covered in snow
Orientation
If you plan to grow during the deep winter and are located in the north, the ideal orientation for a hoophouse is East/West. During the deep winter, your window for collecting heat is only in the few hours on either side of noon.
With a North/South orientation, sunlight hitting your hoophouse poly around noon will be at an oblique angle, allowing much of its energy to refract off the length of your hoophouse and back off into space.
With an East/West orientation, the daytime sunlight will enter the broad side of your hoophouse, which is angled toward the south, thus allowing more of the light to penetrate.
Preparing your site
Grade it
Installers can work with some variability in topography, and grading is expensive. That said, not grading can be even more expensive. Pay mind to the cost of working with the ground versus the cost of delaying the building process
Pay mind to sufficiently compact the soil in which your groundposts will be set. If you’re bringing in a lot of fresh material to correct your grade, it may take some time to settle.
Now that’s a nice flat site
till it
…or tarp it — anything to break sod and clear away ground cover before you build. Its much easier to work your ground with equipment before the hoophouse is built
Deep tillage — with a chisel plow, subsoiler or even a broadfork — can do wonders for your root zone.
Consider the effects of tillage on weed population and soil health
Baseboards are often set into the soil to create a seal around the perimeter of the hoophouse. It helps if you’re not digging through sod to install these, so a pass with a rototiller at least around the perimeter will save you time.
A chisel plow at work
Amend
This is valuable real estate. Be sure that your plants have what they need to stay healthy. Many growers add several inches of compost to the soil when establishing a new hoophouse. Use the following calculation, where Length and Width are the area upon which you’ll be adding material
(Length x Width x Inches of Material x 0.083) / 27 = Yards of Material Needed
Its much easier to get a dump truck’s (or several) worth of compost on your site before the hoop is built
Good luck fitting a dump truck into a hoophouse