I just started watching your channel, while Im only 19 and live at home still, Ill def be coming back and watching these videos when I have my own garden and backyard. Great videos!
I bought 2 sizes of benders from Johnny's Seeds but your diy method looks easier. No need to find place to mount bender. I use insect netting over my hoops during summer but it is delicate and can snag on the galvanized pipes. I found a great solution by slipping inexpensive 3/4" black irrigation tubing over the 1/2" metal pipe. It looks great and can be left outside year round
Awesome way to bend the hoops Sean. I already had a hoop bender which is mounted to a piece of plywood. When needed I put onto some sawhorses and bend away. One thing I do is tie a lightweight cordage in the middle of each hoop and onto the next hoop then stake at end of row of hoops. This supports the remay or plastic I use so as to prevent the sag so that the wind has less to catch onto. Always look forward to your videos! 🌱👍
Great info. For a double layer of poly, pipe insulation or pool noodles can hold the 1st layer on, while 2nd layer is held with office clips (this double layer worked for my over wintered roots in zone 4)
Gosh, this is an example of how I love living not too far from your area. You make a video on a subject that I am thinking about and voila!! Love it! They are pricier here in Canada but still reasonable for this purpose. FYI to everyone, it you want bug free brassicas, use these all season with a mesh that keeps the bugs off. It lets water and light through and your veg will be awesome!
You can Go to your local craft store that sells fabric. There you can get mosquito netting or toile at 45 to 60” wide. The mosquito netting is very fine at keeping out insects and it’s polyester so it stretches a bit and is cheaper by the yard.
I use the grey plastic PVC conduit tubing. Do have to use rebar to anchor them. They bend to your dimension when you place them onto the rebar. And I've been using the binder clips for the past 5-6 years too! Used plastic from local farms too. Farms with huge high tunnels replace their plastic after too many rips and tears from windstorms and winter ice. A 200+ foot long and 50 foot wide piece of plastic, even full of big tears and holes, has many usable sections I can cut to fit my low tunnels.
I helped my neighbor with this task. He used the galvanized metal tubes that are used as chain link top rail. Same principle but he did the plywood method. We found that when the going got tough on the back side and he jerked the metal, it would get a crimp, so slow and steady worked better. I have not tried it, but have read, that with the smaller tubing like the EMT it won't kink if you fill it with sand first. I suppose that will depend on how much time you want to take and how perfect do you need them to be. We do have a local hardware store that rents the tube benders, but they are size specific.
Brilliant!! I really appreciate your cost effective processes. Thank you for sharing! I feel like a lot of what we do on our homestead is trial and error, so it is nice to get tips from others that are doing it too.
I appreciate all of your videos. You are very knowledgeable, practical, and approachable. I’ve already learned and applied so much that you’ve taught me. God bless you.
Would love to see some videos on how you help home owners in the suburbs (on small lots and lots of home owners restrictions) convert their lawns. I just discovered your channel so you may already have these types of videos and I just haven’t seen them yet.
Great project! I always strive to have renewable materials in my garden and having metal hoops will definitely go in the right direction. Now I just need to visit my local store. Thanks!
Thanks! This inspired me to make a pipe bending jig out of a scrap sheet of siding and leftover screws. It's making consistently good hoops. Most pre-made options are sold out and this felt resourceful.
It's crazy how overcomplicated people want to make things. I've known about this method for years even though I've never bent hoops. This was a common job before the industrial age.
"Between $2-3 apiece"... Those were the days. Looks like they're 2-3x that price now, but I've only started looking. Hopefully I can find some better prices. At least I snagged a couple big pieces of greenhouse plastic for free! As always, I appreciate your "make your dreams come true, even if you're broke" tips!
Season extension is awesome i recently reached out to others with a post for creating micro climates and fixed elements that give you season extension. Ive seen raised beds surrounded by rocks and ponds surrounding beds. After some research i discovered that water has the highest btu compacity holding 4 times the amount of heat then soil and 2 times as rocks. So green houses surrounded by rock beds can create a subtropic or even tropical climate battery depending on ur zone. I would love to see what number of btu a certain amount of water or rocks can infact hold. Im in zone 4b what can make a zone 8 climate here. With only a passive heating system or climate battery.
The conduit cut in 5ft sections can make great stakes to hold cages in place around a valuable tree. I use then with rolled concrete mesh cut into 10 foot sections. It's a strong cheap cage to protect against deer.
Good stuff man, you've been very helpful as our background is in Back to Eden gardening but I actually designed my chicken run similar to yours were we pile the woodchips in Mounds going down the center
Please comment here with ideas on ways to improve this, tips or methods to get better results, or links to videos of other folks showing alternative ways to bend these pipes. I recognize fully this is probably the most rough sketch way to get the job done, and a great way to start, but definitely not the best method available... Happy bending!
They also make connectors for this conduit at your local home improvement store. This would allow you to extend or make larger hoops at different angles.
Great idea. I was going to make a hoop house from year old 7-10 foot ash saplings to save money but I suspect it will be more trouble than it's worth after seeing this
A neighbor cave us a roll of cattle type fencing we cut them to form sturdy hoops This year i thought i would just grow under these hoops and cover this time of year I used them covered in the spring too But this summer my zuchini and crookneck squash grew right through them lol So i couldn't use them to cover now lol oops But my squash were about done anyway so the plants were ready for frost Much love xoxox
I used a conduit bender, and it was hard and slow. Had to move it many many times to bend each piece, and it was hard to keep it on the same plane. And it was much less consistent than your method here. I will be doing your method when I make more hoops.
Jason B I believe that plastic conduit can get very brittle in low or minus temps. Metal conduit may last longer if stored outside too.Just a thought. 🙂🇨🇦🍁🌊🧙🏼♀️🛶
Binder clips rust pretty easily in my experience. You can buy PVC clips (called snap clamps) online if you don't want to DIY, especially the sanding without which you'd rip the poly. While I've read just about everywhere that PVC degrades greenhouse poly, I haven't noticed it but mine really isn't under tension.
I'm on year 6 with my first set of binder clips. Some are pretty rusty but still have a few years yet in them before it would get to point of metal failure. I too have read just about everywhere that PVC degrades poly, but I use PVC hoops. 5 year old used greenhouse poly has been on my pvc hoops for 5 seasons. So, 10 year old plastic, and I see no evidence of any kind of degradation where poly meets PVC.
Large binder clips “Maybe you work in an office and you can “get these”...” lol, my mind went somewhere my work wouldn’t appreciate 😂 but really don’t steal folks... 🧐
Thank you for your wealth of info. I’ve binged on well over 100 of your videos in the last month. Have you tried doing this with 1/2” PVC? I only ask because it’s about half the cost. I suppose I could pound rebar in the ground to hold it in place if it doesn’t exactly bend to shape.
Linda I'm in upstate NY and put my butternut squash under these with remay. I remove when plants are strong and ready to flower. Makes a huge difference and protects plants from strong winds, insects etc.
Awesome Sean !!!! A side note...the river locust I purchased are 4-5 foot tall....should I trim them down ? because come spring I plan on moving them..........
I would leave them that tall, if you move them when they are dormant they should leaf out just fine without pruning. You can always prune some off later if they seem to need it
I haven't had any issues with either remay or 6 mil greenhouse poly for the past 4 years; the poly does become brittle over time, but that is more a reaction to UV-light and temperature fluctuations than a reaction to galvanized metal. Specifically which covers react with galvanized metal?
EdibleAcres Thanks. I have a hard time using so much plastic and the zinc in galvanized metal. The bay at the bottom of our hill is already stressed to the max with pollutants.
just rewatched, such fantastic instructions
I just started watching your channel, while Im only 19 and live at home still, Ill def be coming back and watching these videos when I have my own garden and backyard. Great videos!
coolio!
I bought 2 sizes of benders from Johnny's Seeds but your diy method looks easier. No need to find place to mount bender.
I use insect netting over my hoops during summer but it is delicate and can snag on the galvanized pipes. I found a great solution by slipping inexpensive 3/4" black irrigation tubing over the 1/2" metal pipe. It looks great and can be left outside year round
Awesome way to bend the hoops Sean. I already had a hoop bender which is mounted to a piece of plywood. When needed I put onto some sawhorses and bend away. One thing I do is tie a lightweight cordage in the middle of each hoop and onto the next hoop then stake at end of row of hoops. This supports the remay or plastic I use so as to prevent the sag so that the wind has less to catch onto. Always look forward to your videos! 🌱👍
Great info. For a double layer of poly, pipe insulation or pool noodles can hold the 1st layer on, while 2nd layer is held with office clips (this double layer worked for my over wintered roots in zone 4)
How clever! I've wanted to make some of those, but I couldn't figure out how to hold the ends. THANK YOU!
I use two hoops at right angles to one another to create an "igloo" for tender shrubs (like artichokes) It works very well in my climate.
That makes a lot of sense, I'll remember that trick
You are so fantasticly diy!!!! Love love love it. Super creative
Glad you enjoyed
Gosh, this is an example of how I love living not too far from your area. You make a video on a subject that I am thinking about and voila!! Love it! They are pricier here in Canada but still reasonable for this purpose. FYI to everyone, it you want bug free brassicas, use these all season with a mesh that keeps the bugs off. It lets water and light through and your veg will be awesome!
You can Go to your local craft store that sells fabric. There you can get mosquito netting or toile at 45 to 60” wide. The mosquito netting is very fine at keeping out insects and it’s polyester so it stretches a bit and is cheaper by the yard.
I use the grey plastic PVC conduit tubing. Do have to use rebar to anchor them. They bend to your dimension when you place them onto the rebar. And I've been using the binder clips for the past 5-6 years too! Used plastic from local farms too. Farms with huge high tunnels replace their plastic after too many rips and tears from windstorms and winter ice. A 200+ foot long and 50 foot wide piece of plastic, even full of big tears and holes, has many usable sections I can cut to fit my low tunnels.
Sounds like you've got an incredibly functional system. Kudos!
I helped my neighbor with this task. He used the galvanized metal tubes that are used as chain link top rail. Same principle but he did the plywood method. We found that when the going got tough on the back side and he jerked the metal, it would get a crimp, so slow and steady worked better. I have not tried it, but have read, that with the smaller tubing like the EMT it won't kink if you fill it with sand first. I suppose that will depend on how much time you want to take and how perfect do you need them to be. We do have a local hardware store that rents the tube benders, but they are size specific.
Absolutely perfect hoop-bending man!
Brilliant!! I really appreciate your cost effective processes. Thank you for sharing! I feel like a lot of what we do on our homestead is trial and error, so it is nice to get tips from others that are doing it too.
Our pleasure to share.
This is such useful information, thank you, Sean. I look forward to watching how you attach the poly, hopefully in a video from you soon!
I appreciate all of your videos. You are very knowledgeable, practical, and approachable. I’ve already learned and applied so much that you’ve taught me. God bless you.
Wow what a simple and effective idea it is. Thank you for sharing with us. Those binder clips and PVC pipe are brilliant DIY concept. Thank you.👍
Great idea!! Thx!
Would love to see some videos on how you help home owners in the suburbs (on small lots and lots of home owners restrictions) convert their lawns. I just discovered your channel so you may already have these types of videos and I just haven’t seen them yet.
Look in our playlist area, there is a thorough documentation of just that in the 'Lawn to Food Forest' series.
I checked on the cost of a hoop bender, but I wouldn't need one for the small projects I have planned. Glad you posted this.
Love this! So easy and no special tools necessary! Y'all rock! Thanks as always for your pragmatic solutions. Blessings...
Great project! I always strive to have renewable materials in my garden and having metal hoops will definitely go in the right direction. Now I just need to visit my local store. Thanks!
Thanks! This inspired me to make a pipe bending jig out of a scrap sheet of siding and leftover screws. It's making consistently good hoops. Most pre-made options are sold out and this felt resourceful.
Excellent tutoriel. Love the sketchy pvc clips. Thank you for sharing
Glad you found it useful, we've been happy with how simple it can be.
so helpful! Thank you!
Wow the prices for harddware and wood in the US and Canada is very low ! enjoy ! here in the EU metal and wood is quite expensive
It's crazy how overcomplicated people want to make things. I've known about this method for years even though I've never bent hoops. This was a common job before the industrial age.
"Between $2-3 apiece"... Those were the days. Looks like they're 2-3x that price now, but I've only started looking. Hopefully I can find some better prices. At least I snagged a couple big pieces of greenhouse plastic for free! As always, I appreciate your "make your dreams come true, even if you're broke" tips!
Looking forward to the wrapping tips you have. Hope it comes before the frost. Thanks!
Great method & tips Thanks!😀
Glad it was helpful!
Great idea!
Glad you think so!
You can use an old garden hose that is messed up and cut it and use that insead of the PVC as clamps. thus no need for anything but heavy duty snips.
That is a neat idea, I'll remember that as something to experiment with!
I'm finally looking into doing something with this - came back to look your how-to up because it was very memorably simple :) :)
Hope it works very well for ya!
Season extension is awesome i recently reached out to others with a post for creating micro climates and fixed elements that give you season extension. Ive seen raised beds surrounded by rocks and ponds surrounding beds. After some research i discovered that water has the highest btu compacity holding 4 times the amount of heat then soil and 2 times as rocks. So green houses surrounded by rock beds can create a subtropic or even tropical climate battery depending on ur zone. I would love to see what number of btu a certain amount of water or rocks can infact hold. Im in zone 4b what can make a zone 8 climate here. With only a passive heating system or climate battery.
Great video!
Great idea
The conduit cut in 5ft sections can make great stakes to hold cages in place around a valuable tree. I use then with rolled concrete mesh cut into 10 foot sections. It's a strong cheap cage to protect against deer.
Good idea! And at around $1 per 5' length thats not a bad price
Good stuff man, you've been very helpful as our background is in Back to Eden gardening but I actually designed my chicken run similar to yours were we pile the woodchips in Mounds going down the center
That's a great option thank you 🙂🌱💚
Please comment here with ideas on ways to improve this, tips or methods to get better results, or links to videos of other folks showing alternative ways to bend these pipes. I recognize fully this is probably the most rough sketch way to get the job done, and a great way to start, but definitely not the best method available...
Happy bending!
Have you experimented with using riven and bent saplings for the support structure? Thanks!
They also make connectors for this conduit at your local home improvement store. This would allow you to extend or make larger hoops at different angles.
waves hello @EdibleAcres, i have not tried this yet but have received 2 tips:
1) if you fill the pipe full with sand (tab of tape on end to close) when you bend.
2) if done in winter / freezing temps, fill pipe with water and ice will serve same function as sand does in above method.
will you let me know if/when you try, if it does indeed eliminate kinking?
happy bending
be well & thrive,
©¿~salli
Nice
Thanks for sharing
Great idea. I was going to make a hoop house from year old 7-10 foot ash saplings to save money but I suspect it will be more trouble than it's worth after seeing this
I don't know, free is good.
Brilliant!
Çok güzel ve süper iş
great idea!
Great tip
Yes love binder clips :)
A neighbor cave us a roll of cattle type fencing we cut them to form sturdy hoops
This year i thought i would just grow under these hoops and cover this time of year
I used them covered in the spring too
But this summer my zuchini and crookneck squash grew right through them lol
So i couldn't use them to cover now lol oops
But my squash were about done anyway so the plants were ready for frost
Much love xoxox
Dammit you crazy genius. I love it
Genious level ideas.
I used a conduit bender, and it was hard and slow. Had to move it many many times to bend each piece, and it was hard to keep it on the same plane. And it was much less consistent than your method here. I will be doing your method when I make more hoops.
Hope it works nicely for you.
Plastic doesn't last like the metal though, and it can get brittle in the cold.
Jason B I believe that plastic conduit can get very brittle in low or minus temps. Metal conduit may last longer if stored outside too.Just a thought. 🙂🇨🇦🍁🌊🧙🏼♀️🛶
Binder clips rust pretty easily in my experience. You can buy PVC clips (called snap clamps) online if you don't want to DIY, especially the sanding without which you'd rip the poly. While I've read just about everywhere that PVC degrades greenhouse poly, I haven't noticed it but mine really isn't under tension.
They do rust easily, but it takes quite a while for them to actually break from the rust, it's mostly the outer surface.
I'm on year 6 with my first set of binder clips. Some are pretty rusty but still have a few years yet in them before it would get to point of metal failure. I too have read just about everywhere that PVC degrades poly, but I use PVC hoops. 5 year old used greenhouse poly has been on my pvc hoops for 5 seasons. So, 10 year old plastic, and I see no evidence of any kind of degradation where poly meets PVC.
Large binder clips “Maybe you work in an office and you can “get these”...” lol, my mind went somewhere my work wouldn’t appreciate 😂 but really don’t steal folks... 🧐
Yeah, you probably don't want to be fired over some cheap gardening supplies.
The hoops would work great as giant croquet wickets too
Thank you for your wealth of info. I’ve binged on well over 100 of your videos in the last month. Have you tried doing this with 1/2” PVC?
I only ask because it’s about half the cost. I suppose I could pound rebar in the ground to hold it in place if it doesn’t exactly bend to shape.
I skip the pvc... it reacts with the greenhouse poly in bad ways and it's not very strong...
So glad you've found the channel useful!
We are also in NY. Catskills. How soon in the spring would you use these and for what seedlings?
Linda I'm in upstate NY and put my butternut squash under these with remay. I remove when plants are strong and ready to flower. Makes a huge difference and protects plants from strong winds, insects etc.
Awesome Sean !!!! A side note...the river locust I purchased are 4-5 foot tall....should I trim them down ? because come spring I plan on moving them..........
I would leave them that tall, if you move them when they are dormant they should leaf out just fine without pruning. You can always prune some off later if they seem to need it
Our Canadian price per tube is $8.50 . Somebody is making money
Ikr? Just found that out myself. Sheesh!
I use the grey PVC plastic conduit. $4 per tube. No need for a bender, they just bend. Do need rebar ground anchors though.
I barely saw the thumbnail and cursed myself. I used some cooked up plywood and deck screws machination that barely worked. Will watch the video now.
I’ve heard some materials used to cover react with galvanized metal, making them deteriorate. Any thoughts?
I haven't had any issues with either remay or 6 mil greenhouse poly for the past 4 years; the poly does become brittle over time, but that is more a reaction to UV-light and temperature fluctuations than a reaction to galvanized metal. Specifically which covers react with galvanized metal?
Kirsten Whitworth Johnny’s Seeds says their AgFab and bird netting both do.
@@Lauradicus Thank you! This is good information.
I was unaware of this issue.
I've never seen an issue, but certainly makes sense to keep an eye on it
EdibleAcres Thanks. I have a hard time using so much plastic and the zinc in galvanized metal. The bay at the bottom of our hill is already stressed to the max with pollutants.
Can you use bamboo for the tunnel?
Maybe but I think that would be challenging.
👋
:D
These are 40 bucks a piece now lol
That is incredible, wow
Sorry, video was interesting but I couldn't make it through the second political commercial.
Yikes, sorry that happened :(