Polytunnel - Cheap cheeful or cheap and nasty?

[Crborrett]

I have exactly the same debate going on! Can you tell me how you got on? Not sure what to go with,I need a 6m x 3m one. This is all quite new to me so any advice would be gratefully received

[Yorkshire.Dave]

Ive got the cheap one with the 25mm frame and I am very happy with it,i buried it about 1ft on all sides and added wood to the end of the flaps before filling the holes in.....

[woody21]

I have exactly the same debate going on! Can you tell me how you got on? Not sure what to go with,I need a 6m x 3m one. This is all quite new to me so any advice would be gratefully received

i have a cheapy and its still going strong even after all the snow on it and some good winds. My cover is still very strong and my little squares are not falling out yet and arent even brittle when pushed, the pvc still has a lot of stretch. It will last through this summer easily so i will get 2 seasons out of the cover.

if you look at the 6x3m on ebay you will see a couple of sellers selling the newest version and that has more hoops in it so should be better still but they sell for more than the older versions, covers will be the same though.

cheap and cheerful in my experience so far

[Vince G]

Citadel polytunnels. Cheapest of the non-blowaway types. Had plenty of polythese left over, so much so I made a 3 foot high carrotfly shield for the carrots with the trimmings and still buried 18 inches all the way around it. Also had enough timber and screws left over to build an 8' x 8' brassica cage! Happy days

[Elmo]

Well a quick update I got a cheap and cheerful tunnel, the zips went almost immediately, but it has stood up to some serious winds this winter. I dug it in and placed bricks over the cover before covering it with soil and trampling it down well. It's surprisingly solid and has been the envy of the allotment this summer, at least the buckets of peppers I've carried out of it has been. I anticipate getting at least another season out of it before it needs recovering so I'm pretty pleased with it overall.

[The Nichols']

Well done on having one that's stood up to the winds. I got a cheap and cheerful one that lasted less than a month. It was replaced by a proper First polytunnel and I've never looked back. It has taken everything the weather has thrown at it for 4 years and is still going strong. The only damage to it is when I got a bit close to it with the strimmer but as First sends repair tape it was no drama at all.

I will always advocate a proper tunnel. Not only does the clear polythene give better lighting levels than the green stitched equivalent but the bars are wider, thicker and stronger all around. I would expect it would take something like a metal shed (one was launched in 2012's winds) landing on it to even make a dent in the frame.

[Elmo]

Don't get me wrong a proper tunnel is way better than one of these cheapys, but, as a stop gap it's been great. I still can't afford an expensive tunnel so at least I have something to grow all the lovely tender veg.

[tlck9]

I bought the cheaper one, sadly it didnt last a month - however we are exposed. I've seen quite a number of these cheaper ones on other allotment sites which are more sheltered and they seem to hold their own, but it really does have to be very sheltered (regardless of how you install it), I buried my and reinforced it as per a suggestion by the seller - however just didnt last.

A neighbour bought a similar one, and again lasted around 3-4 weeks