This tomato plastic film tunnel greenhouse is built as one clear span on a hot dip galvanized steel frame, with an arch roof that carries the film without a post line inside the bay. The cover is a three layer compressed film, and a cooling pad wall with an exhaust fan can be fitted at the gable end where summer heat is strong. Span runs 8 m to 12 m, length 10 m to 100 m and height 3 m to 8 m or to client demand. It suits tomato and other vegetable growing, fruit crops and flowers.
Tomato is a crop that tells you quickly whether a house suits it. Get the air movement and the light wrong and the first trusses set poorly, which is a season of yield lost before anything can be corrected. This tomato plastic film tunnel greenhouse is a straightforward answer to that: one clear span, an arch roof that carries the film, and a frame heavy enough to hold a trained crop.
The house is built as one clear bay. There is no gutter line down the middle and no row of posts to work around, so beds, paths and picking move from one gable to the other without obstruction, and ventilation and light reach the whole floor rather than stopping at a bay boundary. The arch roof does the structural work: the film is carried on a smooth curve, rain and snow slide off, and the height at the ridge stays usable even at the wider spans. Span runs from 8 m to 12 m, so the same design can be ordered narrow for row by row cropping or wide enough to make the most of a block.
The frame is hot dip galvanized steel pipe, formed into arches and tied by purlins, cross braces and foundation plates. Galvanizing before fabrication is the detail that decides how long the house lasts: the coating is not disturbed at the joints, so the structure keeps working through the humid air, condensation and fertiliser of a working house. The cover is a three layer compressed film, which is supplied in rolls and can be replaced over the existing frame without taking the structure down.
| Structure material | Hot dip galvanized steel pipe |
| Covering material | Three layer compressed plastic film |
| Roof shape | Arch roof, single span |
| Span | 8m / 9m / 10m / 11m / 12m |
| Length | 10m to 100m, or to client demand |
| Total height | 3m to 8m |
| Cooling and airflow | Cooling pad wall with exhaust fan at the gable end, optional |
| Service life | 15 to 20 years for the frame under normal growing conditions |
| Applications | Tomato and other vegetables, fruit crops, flowers |
Where summer heat is the limiting factor, the gable end can be fitted with a cooling pad wall and an exhaust fan. The fan pulls air out of the house and the pads draw cooler, moister air in, so the house is cooled, moistened and cleared of dust in the same pass. That is the difference between a tunnel that works through July and one that has to be opened so far that the crop is no longer protected. Growing guidance from Cornell University covers greenhouse climate management and crop response in protected cultivation.
The house ships as a knockdown kit of galvanized arches, purlins and fittings, with the film in rolls. Work follows a set order: set the foundation plates, raise the arches and tie the purlins, then tension the film and fit the vents, doors and cooling equipment. Our engineers can travel to site to guide installation when required.
Routine work is limited. Check film tension at the start of each season and look for any split at the fixings, service the fan and wash the cooling pads before the hot months, and check pipe joints and braces for movement after storm season. Film is the consumable part of the house and is replaced on a three to five year cycle without disturbing the frame.
The house suits tomato and other vegetable growing, fruit crops and flower production, and the range of spans from 8 m to 12 m means one design can be repeated across a whole block. Trade reporting on VerticalFarmDaily follows how controlled environment production is planned commercially. Compare the tunnel greenhouse range, or look at the tunnel greenhouse with factory price and the greenhouse with vent system for other layouts in the same family.
A single span has no internal gutter line or post row, so the whole floor is usable and picking, spraying and training move freely from end to end. The arch roof also keeps a usable height over the row.
Yes. A cooling pad wall with an exhaust fan can be fitted at the gable end, pulling air through the wet pads so the house is cooled, moistened and cleared of dust in the same pass.
The hot dip galvanized steel frame is rated for 15 to 20 years under normal growing conditions. The film cover is replaced on a three to five year cycle.
We provide a 10 year structural warranty and a 5 year anti-corrosion warranty on the galvanized frame. Details are set out in the contract for each project.
Send your block dimensions, the crops you plan to grow, whether you need cooling, and your local wind and snow loads. We reply with a layout drawing and a full quotation covering frame, film, vents, cooling equipment and doors.
