How to Grow Raspberries in Hoop Buildings

Make a planting scheme for the raspberries and consider the hoop building design as part of the plan. Choose a variety of raspberry that is well suited to your local climate. Decide how long the rows of raspberries will be. Row length depends on available field space, equipment you will use to grow the raspberries, and ventilation within the hoop building. Choose a hoop building with a peaked frame if your area receives a lot of snow. Arched frames can collapse under snow weight.

Plant the raspberries on level ground in rows as you would grow them without a hoop building. Use trellises if the variety of raspberry requires it. The rows should be 5 or 6 feet apart and perpendicular to prevailing winds for cross ventilation. Consider an east-west orientation if the location is far north to give the most sun exposure. The soil should be loamy, which means an equal mixture of sand and clay. It should have excellent drainage. It should contain three percent or more organic matter with a pH of between 5.5 and 6.5. If your soil is not suitable for planting raspberries, bring in or mix appropriate soil and plant the brambles in raised beds at least 20 inches high. You can put the good soil on top of the poor soil since most of the root system of raspberries is in the top 20 inches of soil. Raised beds also naturally have good drainage.

Build the hoop building over the rows of plants. Allow three or more feet between the rows and the walls of the hoop building. The vertical side walls should be at least as tall as the mature raspberry brambles.

Anchor the hoop building framing into the ground at least two feet with metal pipes. Bolt the ribs of the hoop house to the metal anchor pipes. Cover the framing in plastic and use horizontal wooden batten boards screwed to the anchor pipes with pipe strapping to help hold the plastic in place and stabilize the framing.

Build the hoop building ends so that they can be opened or closed easily. Open or close them to regulate the temperature inside the hoop building for your raspberries. Remove the plastic entirely in the warm months when you do not need to protect the plants from inclement weather.

Install a drip irrigation system inside the hoop house. Use a clean water source. Have your water source tested if you suspect there are impurities. You can use filtration in the irrigation system to remove any impurities harmful to the raspberries. Monitor soil moisture regularly with a tensiometer or other tool. Irrigate two or three times a week as necessary. Raspberries grow best in moist but not soggy soil.

Close the vents and ends of the hoop buildings before sunset. Open the ends and top vents in the morning to allow air circulation to dry the raspberry leaves.