Polytunnel protection

[jaymac]

Hi all,

I am going to erect a polytunnel and the gable end will take most of the winds so I would like to protect it with an edible hedge, I am looking for ideas on what to use or should I just put up a fence.

Cheers

[Bigmallly]

Hello Jaymac & welcome to the jungle. I think the main question is when is the windiest part of the year? I would hazard a guess it will be when your edible hedge is bare..............I would go with the fence. Others of course may disagree.

[Kristen]

A windbreak needs to be somewhat permeable, rather than solid - otherwise the wind will accelerate over the top and the turbulence behind it may be worse than the wind itself. Thus if erecting a "fence" I'd use something like Paraweb. I'm not sure how "dense" a deciduous hedge needs to be, in Winter, to do a good job as a windbreak. In some areas of my garden (the deciduous hedge near the Hydrangeas which start to shoot very early in Spring) I put some scaffolders debris netting along the hedge, because the cold wind coming "Under" the hedge definitely mucks up the Hydrangeas.

[Bill HH]

Welcome jaymac, What is an edible hedge? I have never heard of anyone having hedge butties. The closestI can think of is bay, that is very thick, evergreen and smells lovely, but would take a few years to reach a decent size.

[Kristen]

What is an edible hedge?

One with berries?

[jaymac]

Hi all

Thanks for all your information I think it will need to be a fence. I was thinking of berries or something similar so I would get the protection and I could also eat the fruit.

Cheers

[Bill HH]

Yes of course berries, I was having a senior moment. However as kristen says mostly they will be devoid of leaves when the wind is at its worst. If your worried the poly is going to blow away there is a lot you can do to make it more secure.

[veggiechicken]

Hi jaymac and welcome to the Graoevine
My suggestion is to have both - A trellis-type fence with soft fruit like loganberries/blackberries trained against it.

[Kristen]

Other benefit of some decent protection around a greenhouse / tunnel is "insulation". Wind whipping over the surface of greenhouse / tunnel will rob heat, so well worth having a windbreak so that doesn't happen. Need to be far enough away from greenhouse not to cast shade, but in Summer that is not-very-much ...

[Robinson Polytunnels]

Forgive my cheekiness , why not buy a quality polytunnel that will stand up to the wind and put up whichever you prefer!

[Kristen]

why not buy a quality polytunnel that will stand up to the wind and put up whichever you prefer!

I think that every time I see one of these types of questions. Folk frequently replacing covers with ripped zips, or blown into the neighbours' gardens, with all the associated cost and hassle - and often months worth of plants, in the ex-tunnel, ruined too.

Robust polytunnels are a lot more money of course ... and need the ground anchors properly digging in, and the plastic stretching like a drum ... but I don't see how a loose fitting cover, particularly if it has "windows" built in, can withstand windy weather.

[skeggijon]

I have a 'cheap' polytunnel with a loose fiiting cover. It is 3m by 2m, but by anchoring each corner with stakes and using ratchet straps to tighten it down even further, plus fitting the cover properly and thouroughly burying the edges, I can assure you that my cover is tight as a drum - even tighter than the covers a couple of other plotholders have on their expensive ppolytunnels in fact.
By spending more time at the preparation stage and making sure that everything is tight and secure, a cheap polytunnel should be just as safe as the more tradional ones, although the cover won't last as long of course, but at around £60 for a new cover its a damned site cheaper to replace

[spamvindaloo]

using ratchet straps to tighten it down even further

I'm trying to picture how you use the ratchet straps....the only thing I can come up with is a long strap around the outside of the tunnel and over the frame and then fed underneath the cover and frame and joined in the middle but I would have thought that would put a lot of pressure on the frame so I suspect I am completely wrong....

Or am I getting completely the wrong end of the stick and the ratchet straps are just to keep the frame in place and not to keep the cover taut?

Can I ask how you use the straps and perhaps any other suggestion for getting the cover taut on a cheap tunnel?

[spamvindaloo]

* * bump ** (just a little one!)

Hoping somebody can explain the use of ratchet straps on a polytunnel and how to keep the cover taut.

If it helps, this is the cheap (ish) tunnel I am hoping to buy with this month's pennies:

6m x 3m Polytunnel Pollytunnel Polly Tunnel Greenhouse Green House + Metal Door | eBay

[unclefudgly]

I have never had any problems with my polytunnel on the allotment whilst almost everyone else has. I put this down to doing exactly as skeggijohn suggests, i staked every down post in the polytunnel frame to a sturdier post buried at least 2-3 ft in the ground, then just used a couple of heavy duty zip ties to strap the posts together, this and burying the cover all the way round in a trench.