Polytunnel advice

[Mrnice]

Hi I am about to buy a polytunnel and was after a bit of advise on base rails mainly, what is peoples opinion on them? I could either buy a 14x35 tunnel with a base rail or a 14x49 without. Im young and fit enough for the trench digging not to worry me, but wondered how important the extra tension from a base rail is? Any information would be great thanks.

[marchogaeth]

I'd bury it. Mine has withstood (genuinely) 90 to 100 MPH in the last week. I think if the wind could have got in under the base bar I would have lost it. The doors have caused me a few problems because they bent so much the vertical bolts came out came out of their latch and blew in.

You tension using the legs which fit inside a tube and you lift them up before tightening the bolts to get the tension. Mine is a Five Star poly tunnel with grow bars but no extra wind bracing.

We didn't concrete the legs in either on the grounds that if it started rocking they would make it worse rather than better. Bury your plastic really deep.

[Mrnice]

Thanks for the reply any other opinions? Also I thought that even if a base rail was used then there would still be enough polythene left to be buried? If there was a gap this could let nasty draughts in and also pests? Still can't decide on a base rail or not so any pros or cons people can think of would be great.

[bario1]

Base rails are great, it's very satisfying when you heel them down and the polythene goes drum tight - and yes, i left 12" of excess polythene which i buried to discourage mice etc and hopefully some weeds that spread underground. But they are quite fiddly to put together, and you have to pay extra for them.
Apparently you can use them to re-tension the polythene if it goes a bit slack over the years as well.

[marchogaeth]

The guy next door buried his polythene and then, because he wasn't putting in raised beds, he put a board all the way round so he couldn't knock the polythene with spades etc. I can only repeat that the legs on mine can be raised inside their sleeves to keep the polythene taught over the years.