hoophouse orientation?

As a permaculture design graduate and an intermediately experienced organic farmer, it has always been my understanding that a hoophouse or greenhouse should be placed east to west to maximize sun exposure. We have just purchased a farm in south western maine, the property is south and slightly east facing. Until doing a little research i was going to place a a 96' x 20' hoophouse east to west in a spot that gets full sun from 8:30 am on but am reading that some people are running them north to south for better ventilation. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Our polytunnels have a N-S orientation because our prevailing winds and gales come from the West. We reckoned that if they hit the gable end full on the result would be disastrous. With a N-S orientation the strongest winds "slide" over the curved sides. Our first polytunnel was erected in 1997 and we have only had to replace the plastic once so far. We did also plant shelterbelts to the West (in 1996, running N-SSW) and North (in 2000) though.
So I guess the answer depends, as so often, on the individual site.

HTH
Ute

Mine are straight, but it is just a lifestyle choice...<snort>


from what I have seen, it is largely six of one, a half dozen of another...NS gets you a shady spot on one end...EW gets you a shady spot on one end in the morning, and the other at evening...

seems like most pro's have switched to N/S, so more sides get more light moving over it. Think it cuts down on mildew probs inside, and helps balance branch growth.

makes it easier to find ground level bugs and probs if the light shifts from other directions, and keeps floors drier too.

Mine are straight, but it is just a lifestyle choice

Hmm. I would think a hoophouse would necessarily be bent.

the jokes write themselves...