Multi-Span High Tunnels (2011-2012) - 2 pages
High tunnels produce a warm, sheltered production environment, leading to earlier and higher yields, especially for warm-season vegetable crops. High tunnels can enhance profitability if growers use suitable production practices to grow high-value crops. A major limitation of the first generation of high tunnels was that they were relatively small – typically only 10-15’ wide, 8’ tall and 100’ long. The small size of the high tunnels limited the range of crops that could be grown and made it difficult to use full-size field equipment within the tunnels. Temperatures within the high tunnels also tended to fluctuate rapidly.
In 2011 and 2012 we evaluated the performance of an 8 bay gutter-connected high tunnel complex - with each unit being 28’ wide, 18’ tall and 200’ long. Crop performance within the larger multi-span high tunnel (MSHT) was compared to crops grown in the open and/or to crops grown in a small single-span high tunnel (SHT).
