How to Determine Hoophouse Density for Tomatoes and Peppers

Courtesy of Adithya Ramachandran, Kaleidoscope Vegetable Gardens, Dundurn SK

When growing tomatoes in a hoophouse, think about how many plants you would grow on the same amount of space outdoors, divide that by 3, and plant only that number in the hoophouse. This is particularly important for tomatoes because they can get HUGE in a hoophouse. I learned that the hard way my first year with high tunnels. Not only does it make it difficult to work in there, but it also increases disease and pest issues, and they compete with one another for water and nutrients. You can improve your yield per square foot by planting fewer plants. This is particularly so if you don’t prune the plants (which I don’t do – too labor-intensive).

Peppers don’t get as crazy as tomatoes, but they also consume a lot of water and are very shallow-rooted, so again there can be competition if they are crowded.

SF photo fb wisdom Adi hoophouse densifty photo

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Selling Peppers

Courtesy of Bingo B. Boise, ID 

Last year I tried selling 1/4 & 1/2 lb. bags of peppers and didn’t sell hardly any. So I switched to woven baskets with each kind of pepper labeled, and then offered them up at 3 for $1, using SPIN’s mix & match pricing.  I sold quite a few that way. This year I’ll be stringing the unsold hot peppers each week and drying them for later in the season.