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Excessive moisture in a hoop house

Does anyone have any suggestions for getting rid of excessive moisture in the green house. About two weeks ago it rained 3 inches one night and my hoop house flooded in fact I have about a 400 gallon pond dug out and it filled it 2/3rds full. It drained in two days later but the rest of the ground is saturated. The area is fairly level. A picture is included. The Hoop House was build just a little over 2 months ago. Until recently the humidity was relatively good for cold weather with the heating and cooling and condensation- humidity was around 60 -65 percent).

Because of the excessive moisture many of my plants have white rust. :-( I have a wood stove and a squirrel cage fan blowing 24/7 is is 20 degrees here so I can not open the hoop house up.

Thanks

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Permalink Reply by Phil Kabza on January 22, 2013 at 8:22pm

It doesn't look like the grade at the perimeter of the hoop house is any higher than the surrounding soil - in fact, it may be lower, which means that all the rain falling on the hoop house is flowing under the perimeter frame and in, rather than draining away from the greenhouse. It's the most common reason that any structure has water problems.

It looks like the ground falls away at the rear of the greenhouse. Perhaps you could build a French drain-like trench along both sides of the hoop house (ie., find a 16 year old who needs some cash). Line the bottom of the trench with visqueen, fill the trench with stone, and cover the top with a landscaping cloth. Carefully excavate the trench so it slopes toward the rear - even 1/8 inch per foot will drain - and run it out 10 feet or more past the hoop house. That should redirect the rain water away from the hoop house, and allow the soil under the hoop house to have a chance to dry out.

It may be easier to relocate the hoop house to higher ground. Hard working 16 year olds are hard to find.

Permalink Reply by robbie on January 22, 2013 at 8:23pm

Hi Shelia, You might try some controlled venting. 3 inch pvc pipes cut in short lengths, that you stick under the walls and match in a fashion at the ends with duct tape , keeping things sealed up, but offering some air flow...

Permalink Reply by Jim Fisk on January 23, 2013 at 7:35am

Hi Sheila, In addition to all the good advice above I noticed from your pic that you simply built on top of the what appears to be grass and topsoil. I excavated for my GH first and got rid of the topsoil which , let's face it, Mother Nature designed to hold moisture, right? That is why your pool drained (which I am assuming is in the GH?) and the rest is still soaked. There are lessons to be learned here for anyone planning to do likewise.

We just had 7" of rain followed by 7" of snow and my 20 x 24' GH also heated by wood is doing very well. The uphill side faces S so I formed a ground level gutter out of the 6 mill front cover and led all that potential flood water toward and into a 4" pvc that leads down slope away from the GH. It flooded at every rain over the summer during the build until I finished up and did the drain away. But I have no topsoil to sponge it up and that makes a huge difference.

Permalink Reply by Shelia Hoyt on January 26, 2013 at 8:30pm

Hi Jim,

Yes, the in ground pool is in the green house; it is only partially finished and I will place a pond liner once I finish digging it out. I I left part of the top soil because I planned to use part of the green house get an early start and I was trying to grow a few things through the winter besides what is in the 150 gallon aquaponics system. only tomato plants and a few other things in the ground it right now. I plan to have part of the green house with an Aquaponics system around 700 gallons and part in the soil. Later I may place grow beds on both sides of the green house.

Jim Fisk said:

Hi Sheila, In addition to all the good advice above I noticed from your pic that you simply built on top of the what appears to be grass and topsoil. I excavated for my GH first and got rid of the topsoil which , let's face it, Mother Nature designed to hold moisture, right? That is why your pool drained (which I am assuming is in the GH?) and the rest is still soaked. There are lessons to be learned here for anyone planning to do likewise.

We just had 7" of rain followed by 7" of snow and my 20 x 24' GH also heated by wood is doing very well. The uphill side faces S so I formed a ground level gutter out of the 6 mill front cover and led all that potential flood water toward and into a 4" pvc that leads down slope away from the GH. It flooded at every rain over the summer during the build until I finished up and did the drain away. But I have no topsoil to sponge it up and that makes a huge difference.

Permalink Reply by Shelia Hoyt on January 27, 2013 at 7:01am

Thanks Phil,

You are right it is difficult to find a hard working teenager, especially around here- that is why my husband and I switched from square bales to round hay bales a several years ago; so I will just dig it myself. I have already dug the trench 1/2 way, hopefully the weather will be nice later today and I will finish digging the trench.

Thankfully the weather has been in the high 40's and low fifties so I uncovered the exhaust fan and set the temp for 70 and that has helped to dry the hoop house out. The humidity has run around 45- 50 through the day and 60- 70 for the last two days. It looks like my plants are going to recover from the white rust and if the rust appears again I will just pull everything and re-seed.

Thanks for your suggestions, I always appreciate how people are quick to give suggestions and help out.

Phil Kabza said:

It doesn't look like the grade at the perimeter of the hoop house is any higher than the surrounding soil - in fact, it may be lower, which means that all the rain falling on the hoop house is flowing under the perimeter frame and in, rather than draining away from the greenhouse. It's the most common reason that any structure has water problems.

It looks like the ground falls away at the rear of the greenhouse. Perhaps you could build a French drain-like trench along both sides of the hoop house (ie., find a 16 year old who needs some cash). Line the bottom of the trench with visqueen, fill the trench with stone, and cover the top with a landscaping cloth. Carefully excavate the trench so it slopes toward the rear - even 1/8 inch per foot will drain - and run it out 10 feet or more past the hoop house. That should redirect the rain water away from the hoop house, and allow the soil under the hoop house to have a chance to dry out.

It may be easier to relocate the hoop house to higher ground. Hard working 16 year olds are hard to find.