Growing Heirlooms in Large Hoop Greenhouse ideas.

I help run a family owned greenhouse biz. We do bedding plants in the spring and hydroponic lettuce all year round. Our store is selling lettuce retail and has been booming since the contaminated lettuce scare few months ago. We have a greenhouse that we are taking offline to scale down a bit( we have 13 greenhouses total) . It’s large. It’s 30’ x 150’ long hoop type house. I been growing heirlooms as a hobby for last two years and been growing them in cold frames that are 20x40 no heat or fans , just leave doors open for the breeze. And it does get hot in there. This year I went nuts and planted like 30 heirloom plants. And I was asked to see the tomatoes in the shop so I have been and I see a lil bigger market for them for us. Well my plants were started a month or so late and even with that, I got 7-8’ monsters hitting the top of the plastic. So if I start them earlier, like March when we plant seeds, these will be enormous.
And they will take up all the room. I will be growing them in peat based soil in fabric pots

My questions I have are about trellis and supporting the branches and fruit cause the the ones I want to grow are bigger slicing ones. What are good ideas for supporting the plants that will get over6’ tall? Since I’m using fabric pots they don’t have great support and I can’t really or want to use a large pole cause I would need to drive it in the ground. There is conduit going down the length of the hoop about 3/4 up to the center I can use for rope and secure something to it.
I do have an idea that might work. I have 8x4 sections of the 6”x6” grid rebar that is used for pouring concrete slabs. Got them from pendot years ago. We use them for makeshift beds. Stack cinder blocks and put down conduit and the grids on top. I can fold them into a square and make a portable cage for them perhaps. I could also do something with twine, or stand the grids up and weave the limbs thru. I plan on growing like 50-60 plants next year so whatever I do, it’s gonna be a freakin chore to do. I got all winter tho.

Posted Sep 8, 2026, 5:05 PM UTC

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