What Now

[ChrisG]

This being my first year with a poytunnel I managed to get the ventilation all wrong and finished up with a dose of botrytis.

Question is what now? Can I use the compost in the pots that contained the botryfied???? toms? I planned to use it in the outdoor containers for beans/courgettes etc. Is it safe? What about re composting it?

Last question (for now), should I spray the inside of the tunnel with an anti botrytis chemical and what would said chemical be called?

[rustylady]

Just give the tunnel a wash with hot soapy water, increase the ventilation. Botrytis is just grey mould, spread by spores in warm damp conditions. I take it you have nothing actually growing in the tunnel at the mo. What size is it, and is it on earth or concrete? Sorry for so many questions, but it really does affect the answers you get. The compost should be fine for re-use, but will need fortifying with fertiliser.

[ChrisG]

I still have a few peppers, they seem unaffected, planning to put BB's, and leaves in there.
Size is 7'x7'x15', it's just postitioned on a bit of spare garden, was growing everything in containers.
I have access to both checken and horse 'muck', so I plan to half fill compost bag layer of 'muck' then top off with compost and leave until spring.

[rustylady]

Right, if your polytunnel is on garden(earth) why bother growing stuff in pots? Clear all your pots out and dig over the inside as if it was an outside plot. Presumably you need an access path down the middle - you could use paving slabs as stepping stones. This will leave you with two long beds either side of the pathway. You can either plant direct into the beds or use pots. Me, myself and I would favour planting into the borders. BTW what are BBs?

[Bigmallly]

I'm with Rusty on this one. Make 2 15'x3' beds with a 1 foot path down the middle. You can always polytunnel one of them if you wish.

[ChrisG]

Right, if your polytunnel is on garden(earth) why bother growing stuff in pots? Clear all your pots out and dig over the inside as if it was an outside plot. Presumably you need an access path down the middle - you could use paving slabs as stepping stones. This will leave you with two long beds either side of the pathway. You can either plant direct into the beds or use pots. Me, myself and I would favour planting into the borders. BTW what are BBs?

BB's = Broad Beans

[Hans Mum]

in my poly i've used old scaffolding boards to on their edge to stop the beds falling out onto the middle 'path' and plant everything directly into the soil, as RL & BM have said dig it over & incorporate some compost/manure. I clean the poly cover in the spring with hot soapy water (inside & out)

[ChrisG]

I quite like the flexibility of containers plus the ground is heavy clay and most of the top soil was moved 'down the hill' when the houses were being built - God Bless builders! So rather than spend time shoveling muck I thought containers were a good compromise. However, what does the team think?

[Two_Sheds]

Containers need more watering: stuff planted in the ground can find its own water, to an extent.
You're going to have to fill the containers every year (with compost) so why not just top the soil instead? With garden compost, well-rotted horse muck etc.

Clay is very nutritious, you just need to improve it with a bit of the good stuff.

[OverWyreGrower]

We used grow bags and containers this year, as after buying the tunnel, we couldn't afford the stuff to make raised beds.

We can't plant directly due to the quality of soil, and the abundance of perennial weeds! E.g. despite taking off the top 3 inches of weeds/grass/soil when building it, and pulling/digging out what roots we could... within 2 weeks of the tunnel being built (and having landscape fabric and bark chips inside) we had couch grass, bindweed and docks growing!