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Re: Tomato cage material?...

Hi Janet,

You wrote:

> I haven't seen the article, but I had an enlightening face-to-face
> conversation yesterday with my favorite nurseryman, Guy Hayes, owner of
> Tidewater Tropicals in Gloucester, VA.  Guy sings the praises of PVC piping
> for all sorts of grower-related uses.  For instance, I did not know that PVC
> pipe actually *bends* if you don't buy the really big-gauge sizes.

> Guy and a pal went over to a pipe distributor's place in Gloucester and
> asked if they could bend some different sizes of samples.  The guy said they
> could as long as the paid for any pipe they broke.  Guy and pal went out
> back and began bending everything in sight.  Three-quarter-inch-diameter PVC
> pipe was the biggest that husky men could bend.  Apparently once bent it
> retains its curved shape pretty well.

> Guy has made entire greenhouses out of curved PVC pipe with plastic sheeting
> on the top!  He also says this material will make fine supports for reemay
> (row covering, sort of like lightweight Pellon).  He says the PVC-based
> greenhouse cost him $45....

> We intend to set up curved PVC pipe structures over at least one of our new
> raised beds.  With a plastic covering for the cold months, we'll have sort
> of a poor-man's greenhouse; with reemay over top in the growing season,
> we'll have a barrier against buggy enemies.
[...]

Did you see my post to the list about two weeks ago on making PVC hoophouses,
aka greenhouses?  It's made of 3/4" PVC, which I found bends quite easily.
Maybe there are different guages of wall thickness, so some versions of 3/4" PVC
are stiffer than others.  I suppose there are different types of PVC piping.
Canada may have different standards or types than the US?

Anyway, if you want it it's on the sqft list have an archive site:

  http://www.reference.com/cgi-bin/pn/listarch?list=SQFT@umslvma.umsl.edu

Just search for PVC.  You can download a text version from there.

I've seen some nice winter worthy PVC hoophouses made from 1.5" and 2" PVC
pipe, which also bends over a 12' diameter nicely.  With a good solid ridge beam
and some support the greenhouse I'm thinking of has been up for many snowy
Kootenay winters and is still going strong.  Pretty nice really, and very
inexpensive.  A 12' x 20' or even 12' x 10' year-round greenhouse is more than
enough to satisify most of our needs.  For short season areas this makes a world
of difference in gardening - being able to grow tomatoes, pepper, eggplants,
melons etc., which would otherwise be difficult or not possible at all.

Regarding making poly tunnels with PVC, you can get the 1/2" pipe and make nice
hoops from it for smaller width beds.  A 20' length cut into three equal pieces
will make semi-circle hoops that span a 4' wide bed.  This is what I do in
unfenced areas of our sprawling garden, to keep both ungulates and insects at
bay.  Works great.

PVC is a great and inexpesive material for all sorts of projects.

> Janet Wintermute             jwintermute@ids2.idsonline.com

Cheers!

   ____________________
  |                    |
  |     Bob Carter     | Kootenay Bay
  |  bcarter@awinc.com | BC, Canada
  |____________________|


Experience is a good teacher but her fees are high
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