Polytunnels

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Polytunnels

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brightnewbaby
Guest

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 05 8:11 pm Post subject: Polytunnels
Hi ButteryHOLsomeness sent me here I was wondering if anyone here can give me advice on how to make a polytunnel CHEAPLY. It needs to be 20 foot long by 10ft wide. Thanks a lot

sean
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42219
Location: North Devon

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 05 8:33 pm Post subject:
I can't. But welcome anyway. I'm sure someone will be along soon who knows more about polytunnels.

Bugs

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 10744

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 05 8:46 pm Post subject:

There are ghosts of discussions either here, or on RC or TKG forum, floating around my mind, but I know for absolute certain that there was an article on it in TKG at some point. If nobody else comes along to look it up I'll try and find the issue and see if there are weblinks; you might be able to buy the back issue from them.

Also strikes me that the late great Bernard Salt wrote at least one book on polytunnels; might be worth checking the library to see if they can get it in for you. I don't know if it's still in print.

Welcome by the way

- glad Buttery is spreading the word

gavin

Joined: 10 Feb 2005
Posts: 93
Location: Leeds, W Yorks

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 05 9:28 pm Post subject:
https://www.powen.freeserve.co.uk/Projects/polytunnel/polytunnel.htm - any ideas? Not that I've tried yet, myself. All best - Gavin

ButteryHOLsomeness

Joined: 03 Apr 2005
Posts: 770

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 05 11:52 pm Post subject:
thanks for that link gavin! i knew i'd seen something on here about making your own polytunnel so when brightnewbaby asked about it my yahoo group i told her (and everyone else) they should sign up here... if you get a sudden influx of 300+ people you'll know who to blame

Res

Joined: 07 Apr 2005
Posts: 1172
Location: Allotment Shed, Harlow

Posted: Fri Apr 22, 05 2:49 pm Post subject:

gavin wrote:

https://www.powen.freeserve.co.uk/Projects/polytunnel/polytunnel.htm

What a cool website for us allotmenteers and gardeners. I shall be adopting some of the other ideas

Res

Joined: 07 Apr 2005
Posts: 1172
Location: Allotment Shed, Harlow

Posted: Mon Apr 25, 05 3:27 pm Post subject:
Ear, that pop bottle bird scarer only works!!!*? Had to put a point on top of the stick though, it kept going all wonky without it. I wonder if you could use this idea top pump water, like the windmills in Amsterdam. I have a nice blue 3ltr pop bottle to use as the sails. All I need now is a brainwave! Got an idea involving a cork! I wonder.........

marzdragon

Joined: 28 Apr 2005
Posts: 11
Location: Tulsa Oklahoma,USA

Posted: Wed May 04, 05 10:29 pm Post subject:
Thanks for the site, cause I was wondering, what the heck is a polytunnel and whats it for. portable green house. OK

marzdragon

Joined: 28 Apr 2005
Posts: 11
Location: Tulsa Oklahoma,USA

Posted: Wed May 04, 05 10:33 pm Post subject:
Ear, that pop bottle bird scarer only works!!!*? [quote] I need this info. I have bird netting,but need something more. my strawberries are just turning and the jays are on them like mad. also how can I get rid of or stop the sow bugs from eating the berries? Thanks

Res

Joined: 07 Apr 2005
Posts: 1172
Location: Allotment Shed, Harlow

Posted: Thu May 05, 05 9:28 am Post subject:

Hi Marzdragon,

If you look on the website that Gavin posted:

https://www.powen.freeserve.co.uk/Projects/polytunnel/polytunnel.htm

There are a few good ideas on there.

The bird scarer is make out of a 2 litre plastic soda bottle (e.g. Pepsi), it does work but tends to keep coming off the end of the stick so it just flaps around a bit. It works if you put a point on the end of the stick/cane so it spins but it still go's off centre in high wind. I found it also helps to leave the cap on the bottle but make a hole just big enough to suit the stick/cane, also remove the seal from inside the cap first, then screw in back on.

I find it does work on my small allotment plot but dont think it would be suitable for larger plots unless you can hold the bottle in place with something like a thumb tack through the bottle base into the pointed end of the stick. THATS IT, why didn't I think of that earlier, DOH! Put a tack through a small hole in the base and that will hold it in place! You could even put a small bead between the bottle base and the end of the stick to act as a bearing, that way the stick does not have to be pointed. How you get the bead into the bottle and get it to stay in place while you pass the tack through, is another matter

Sorry, but I'm not sure what the 'sow bugs' are. I will try and investigate and post back if I find out, OK.

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Thu May 05, 05 9:58 am Post subject:
Sow bugs are what we call woodlice, I think. Is it really them eating the strawberries or could it be slugs or birds? If it is definitely the woodlice, then putting black plastic all around the strawberry plants might help - the bugs like damp cool conditions and somewhere to hide. Remove the conditions they like, then they shouldn't be so much of a problem.

Res

Joined: 07 Apr 2005
Posts: 1172
Location: Allotment Shed, Harlow

Posted: Thu May 05, 05 3:59 pm Post subject:

Hi,

Yes you are right Judith and I agree with the advise you have given.

check out
https://insected.arizona.edu/isoinfo.htm

Has info on the 'isopod' with a negative about them in the greenhouse, eating plants. I wonder if it was them that have eaten out the growing shoots on my potato leaved tomato plants?

they have not eaten the leaf down to the growing tip, but just eaten out the tip leaving the bud leaves scattered on the ground. Slugs would have eaten randamly, not so precise, so I'm not only puzzled but getting worried.

marzdragon

Joined: 28 Apr 2005
Posts: 11
Location: Tulsa Oklahoma,USA

Posted: Tue May 31, 05 12:22 am Post subject: sowbugs
sowbugs are woodlice, but it is the slugs getting them. I have bird netting over the berries so the birds cant get them. but i found slugs(uhgggg, I hate slugs) eating on my good red berries! what is best? beer or what? thanks.

tawny owl

Joined: 29 Apr 2005
Posts: 563
Location: Hampshire

Posted: Tue May 31, 05 10:46 am Post subject:
Haven't heard before about woodlice eating anything living - there have been occasional rumblings about this, but it's usually been proven to be something else. The woodlice seem to be relatively harmless scavengers in the main. Has anyone tried using old CDs as scarers?

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Tue May 31, 05 2:47 pm Post subject:
Yeah, I use old CD's as scarers. They work well to scer off pigeons, till a fox comes and nicks the string to play with, leaving the CD sitting uselessly on the ground between my cabbages, with delicate little fox footprints all over the place. If Mr. and Mrs. Fox were to earn their keep and eat the bloody pigeons then I'd appreciate their presence a lot more.

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