Expert Explores Challenges of Mobile High Tunnels
Submitted by Editor on Fri, 01/22/2010 - 3:32pm.
Chris Torres
Staff Writer
NEW HOLLAND, Pa. — Bryan Butler has been working with high tunnels since 1997. So safe to say, he’s learned a lot about them.
Working with mobile high tunnels, however, has presented him with newer challenges.
At New Holland Veggie Day Monday, Butler, an extension agent from the University of Maryland, shared his experiences working with mobile high tunnels.
As he sees it, when it comes to mobile high tunnels, he’s learning as much as he is teaching.
So he implored growers at the meeting to give him advice on things he can do to improve the design of the tunnels and the setup he has on his farm.
He learned of mobile high tunnels just last year and decided to experiment with them on his farm.
“I didn’t have a very high opinion of mobile high tunnels when I first got into it,” Butler said.
For one thing, they are more expensive than regular high tunnels — $7,500 compared to $5,000. And there are other unknowns — How will they hold up to the weather? Will the tracks hold up? How will they impact the crops?
Butler’s plan was to use his tunnel to maximize high value crops, including strawberries, tomatoes, and raspberries.
The tunnel was placed in an area of “light” wind on his farm. He placed the tracks on the ground after working the soil and adding some compost.
The track itself he describes as “floating” with only the ends being held down. When one crop was completed, he moved the tunnel to start another.
The tunnel is 18 feet wide by 48 feet long and runs on a 150-foot long track. The doors on either side are six inches off the ground to avoid hitting plants when the tunnel is moved.
On the outside, the tunnel looks almost exactly the same as a stationary tunnel. Inside, the tunnel is held down to the ground with metal posts once it is moved into place.
Butler describes the design of the tunnel as a “bend don’t break design” and it was tested last year during a wind storm.
The tunnel, he said, can handle 60 mile-per-hour winds. During the storm, the tunnel was not battered as he thought it was going to be. Instead, it was lifted off the ground and off the tracks, causing several of the metal posts inside to come out of the ground.
After the storm, Butler decided to place straw bales around the tunnel’s perimeter to help secure it to the ground.
So is he sold on the tunnels? Butler thinks it’s too early to say. But there are some potential benefits. Soil may be easier to renovate by using these tunnels. Using a tunnel can make conditions cooler in the summer for raspberries. A mobile tunnel also can potentially provide more options for crops.
There are still a lot of kinks to work out and right now, Butler said, he is experimenting to see how it could be used on farms on a more wide-scale basis.
“Your imagination is really the limit when it comes to these things,” he said. “This is just where we started but we have a long way to go.”
Chris TorresStaff Writer
NEW HOLLAND, Pa. — Bryan Butler has been working with high tunnels since 1997. So safe to say, he’s learned a lot about them.
Working with mobile high tunnels, however, has presented him with newer challenges.
At New Holland Veggie Day Monday, Butler, an extension agent from the University of Maryland, shared his experiences working with mobile high tunnels.
As he sees it, when it comes to mobile high tunnels, he’s learning as much as he is teaching.
So he implored growers at the meeting to give him advice on things he can do to improve the design of the tunnels and the setup he has on his farm.
He learned of mobile high tunnels just last year and decided to experiment with them on his farm.
“I didn’t have a very high opinion of mobile high tunnels when I first got into it,” Butler said.
For one thing, they are more expensive than regular high tunnels — $7,500 compared to $5,000. And there are other unknowns — How will they hold up to the weather? Will the tracks hold up? How will they impact the crops?
Butler’s plan was to use his tunnel to maximize high value crops, including strawberries, tomatoes, and raspberries.
The tunnel was placed in an area of “light” wind on his farm. He placed the tracks on the ground after working the soil and adding some compost.
The track itself he describes as “floating” with only the ends being held down. When one crop was completed, he moved the tunnel to start another.
The tunnel is 18 feet wide by 48 feet long and runs on a 150-foot long track. The doors on either side are six inches off the ground to avoid hitting plants when the tunnel is moved.
On the outside, the tunnel looks almost exactly the same as a stationary tunnel. Inside, the tunnel is held down to the ground with metal posts once it is moved into place.
Butler describes the design of the tunnel as a “bend don’t break design” and it was tested last year during a wind storm.
The tunnel, he said, can handle 60 mile-per-hour winds. During the storm, the tunnel was not battered as he thought it was going to be. Instead, it was lifted off the ground and off the tracks, causing several of the metal posts inside to come out of the ground.
After the storm, Butler decided to place straw bales around the tunnel’s perimeter to help secure it to the ground.
So is he sold on the tunnels? Butler thinks it’s too early to say. But there are some potential benefits. Soil may be easier to renovate by using these tunnels. Using a tunnel can make conditions cooler in the summer for raspberries. A mobile tunnel also can potentially provide more options for crops.
There are still a lot of kinks to work out and right now, Butler said, he is experimenting to see how it could be used on farms on a more wide-scale basis.
“Your imagination is really the limit when it comes to these things,” he said. “This is just where we started but we have a long way to go.”
