6 Best Hoop House Covers For Early Spring Crops That Old Farmers Swear By
Learn from seasoned growers. Our guide reveals the 6 best hoop house covers for protecting early spring crops and ensuring an extended harvest.
That last hard frost in April always feels like a personal insult, doesn’t it? You see the bare garden and crave the taste of fresh spinach, but the calendar says you have to wait. A hoop house changes that calendar, and the plastic you stretch over its ribs is the single most important decision you’ll make to get that early harvest. Choosing the right cover isn’t just about keeping the rain off; it’s about creating a microclimate that tricks your crops into thinking spring has already sprung.
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Choosing Film for an Early Spring Harvest
The plastic on your hoop house is more than just a clear blanket. It’s a specialized tool designed to manipulate sunlight, trap heat, and manage the environment for your plants. The right film can mean the difference between tender lettuce in April and a muddy, failed experiment. Don’t make the mistake of thinking any old sheet of plastic from the hardware store will do the job. Those materials break down in the sun within a single season, becoming brittle and useless.
When you’re looking at greenhouse films, you’ll see a few key specs. The most important are thickness, measured in "mil," and its UV treatment, rated for a certain number of years. A 6-mil film is the standard for a reason—it offers a great balance of durability, light transmission, and cost. A 4-year UV rating means the plastic is treated to resist breaking down from sun exposure for at least that long, saving you the headache of re-covering your structure every spring.
Beyond the basics, you’ll find films with special properties like infrared (IR) reflection or light diffusion. These aren’t just marketing gimmicks; they solve specific problems. An IR film helps hold heat overnight, crucial for surviving a late cold snap. A diffused film scatters light, preventing sunburn on tender greens and ensuring lower leaves get their share. Your choice comes down to weighing the cost against the specific challenges your garden and climate present.
Bootstrap Farmer 6 Mil: The All-Around Favorite
If you’re looking for the single best starting point, this is it. Bootstrap Farmer’s 6 mil, 4-year UV-treated film is the reliable standard that works for almost everyone. It hits the sweet spot on every metric: it’s tough enough to handle a surprise snow load, clear enough for excellent light transmission, and priced fairly for its lifespan.
The key here is the quality of the polyethylene and the UV inhibitor package. Cheap films get cloudy and brittle fast, but this one stays clear and pliable for its full 4-year rating, and often longer if you take care of it. For early spring crops like radishes, carrots, and kale, you need maximum sunlight to get them going. This film delivers over 90% light transmission, giving those young seedlings exactly what they need to thrive when the sun is still low in the sky.
Think of this as the dependable farm truck of greenhouse plastics. It’s not the fanciest model with every bell and whistle, but it will get the job done reliably, season after season. For a hobby farmer who needs a solution that just works without a lot of fuss, you can’t go wrong here.
Set up this portable 8x6 EAGLE PEAK greenhouse in seconds thanks to its innovative pop-up design. The durable steel frame and premium PE cover create a stable environment for plants with zippered doors and mesh windows for easy access and ventilation.
Farm Plastic Supply UV Film for Longevity
The biggest enemy of any hoop house cover is the sun. Ultraviolet radiation slowly shatters the polymer chains in the plastic, making it yellow, brittle, and prone to tearing. Farm Plastic Supply has built its reputation on films with an exceptional UV-inhibitor package, making them a top choice if your primary goal is to cover your house and forget about it for as long as possible.
This film is for the farmer who hates the chore of re-covering a hoop house. While most quality films are rated for four years, many old-timers will tell you they get an extra season or two out of these covers, especially in less intense northern climates. The upfront cost might be a little higher, but you save significantly in both money and labor over a 5- or 6-year period.
Consider this option if you live in a high-elevation or southern area with intense, year-round sun. In those environments, a standard film can show its age by year three. Investing in a superior UV package is investing in less work for your future self. It’s a practical decision that pays dividends every spring you don’t have to wrestle a giant sheet of plastic in the wind.
Ginegar Sun Selector for Light Diffusion
Direct, intense sunlight isn’t always a good thing, especially for cool-weather spring crops. It can create hot spots, scorch tender leaves, and cause plants like lettuce and spinach to bolt prematurely. Ginegar’s Sun Selector series addresses this with light-diffusing properties, which is a total game-changer for certain crops.
Instead of a single, harsh beam of light, a diffused film scatters the photons as they pass through. This creates a soft, even light throughout the entire hoop house. The result? No harsh shadows, so lower leaves get more light, and the overall temperature is more moderate and consistent. It dramatically reduces stress on the plants.
This is the film you choose if your primary early crops are leafy greens. The diffused light is gentler, leading to bigger, more tender leaves and delaying the bitterness that comes with bolting. It’s a specialized tool, but for growers focused on high-quality salad greens, it provides a clear advantage that a standard clear film can’t match.
Tufflite IV Greenhouse Film: The Durable Workhorse
Sometimes, your biggest threat isn’t the sun; it’s physical force. High winds, heavy snow, falling branches, or a surprise hailstorm can shred a lesser film in minutes. Tufflite IV is legendary among growers for its sheer physical toughness and resistance to punctures and tears.
This film is engineered with multiple layers, often including a co-polymer that gives it exceptional strength without sacrificing too much light transmission. It’s the kind of plastic that can take a beating. If you’ve ever had a cover fail mid-season during a storm, you understand the value of this kind of durability. It’s peace of mind in a roll.
This is the clear choice for anyone in a notoriously windy area or a region prone to late-season hail. It’s also a smart pick if your hoop house is located near trees. The extra cost is cheap insurance against a total crop loss from a single weather event. It’s less about the UV rating and more about surviving physical abuse.
Grower’s Solution Woven Poly for Toughness
Woven poly is a completely different animal from standard greenhouse film. Instead of a single sheet of plastic, it’s made from ribbons of polyethylene woven together and coated, much like a heavy-duty tarp. Its primary virtue is almost unbelievable tear resistance.
If you puncture a standard film, that hole can easily run and become a massive tear in high winds. With woven poly, a puncture stays a puncture. The woven fabric construction contains the damage, making field repairs with tape simple and effective. This makes it exceptionally well-suited for high-wind locations or for use on roll-up sides where the material is subject to constant stress.
However, there’s a significant tradeoff: light transmission. Woven poly is translucent, not transparent, and typically lets in 10-15% less light than a clear film. For this reason, it’s not the best choice for a primary cover if you’re starting light-hungry plants like tomatoes or peppers. But for overwintering hardy crops or as an indestructible end-wall material, its toughness is second to none.
Sun Master IR Film for Temperature Control
The real magic of an early spring hoop house is its ability to hold onto daytime heat through a cold night. An Infrared (IR) film like Sun Master takes this to the next level. It’s designed with an additive that allows visible light to pass through during the day but blocks a portion of the infrared radiation—or heat—from escaping at night.
This one simple feature can keep the ambient temperature inside your hoop house 3 to 8 degrees Fahrenheit warmer overnight compared to a standard film. That may not sound like much, but it is often the entire difference between your seedlings thriving or being killed by a late frost. It acts like a thermal blanket for your entire growing space.
This is the film for the serious season-extender. If your goal is to plant tomatoes a month before your last frost date, the added nighttime protection from an IR film is essential. It reduces your reliance on secondary heaters, saves energy, and provides a critical buffer against unpredictable spring weather. It’s an advanced feature that delivers a very real, very valuable benefit.
Matching Your Cover to Your Climate and Crops
There is no single "best" hoop house cover. The best one is the one that solves your specific problems. Don’t just buy what’s cheapest or what someone else uses; think critically about your own situation. Your climate, your crops, and your biggest frustrations should guide your decision.
Start by asking yourself a few key questions:
- What is my biggest weather threat? Is it intense sun (UV film), high wind (Tufflite/Woven), late frosts (IR film), or hail (Tufflite)?
- What am I growing? Delicate greens that bolt (Diffused film) or light-hungry fruiting plants that need every photon (Standard clear film)?
- How much do I hate re-covering the structure? If the answer is "a lot," then prioritize a film with a long-lasting UV package (Farm Plastic Supply).
A farmer in windy Wyoming has different needs than one in sunny Georgia. The Wyoming farmer might choose the Tufflite for durability, while the Georgia farmer picks the Ginegar diffused film to protect their lettuce from the intense sun. Your hoop house cover is a strategic investment. Choose the one that gives your specific crops the biggest advantage against your specific challenges.
Ultimately, the plastic you choose is the gatekeeper to your early harvest. By matching the film’s properties to your farm’s unique conditions, you’re not just buying a cover; you’re buying warmer nights, gentler light, and protection from the storm. Make a smart choice now, and you’ll be rewarded with fresh greens and crisp radishes while your neighbors are still just looking at seed packets.
