From the Cornell Vegetable Program.
High tunnel growers face a unique set of soil management challenges.
- Intensive cropping minimizes opportunities for fallow periods, cover cropping and other techniques for maintaining soil health and fertility.
- The plastic covering prevents rain from leaching the profile, leading to excess salts and alkalinity.
By choosing a moveable tunnel design, like the one in this video, a grower can grow a protected crop continuously while allowing for fallow periods, cover cropping and movement of excess salts through the soil profile. Moveable tunnels can be moved laterally (as shown) or pulled lengthwise to cover an already established crop (ie. move the tunnel from summer tomatoes over fall greens).