Pollytunnel Tips Needed

RiderOnTheStorm

When do you open your pollytunnel doors?
When do you leave them open all day / night? (if ever?)
My polly is always damp inside because of damp ground (even with both doors open all summer long). Any tips to keep mould at bay?
Is it too late to add compost / seaweed to raised beds in polly?



Have tried googling this, but results vary and spend ages reading, only to get to end and realise that article was based in different country / climate. Looking for good old-fashioned personal experience.... Thx!

vistafinder

I leave mine open most of the time even in winter day and night.
Only time they are closed is when a bad storm is on the way.

When the wind is strong but not stormy I close the door from the direction of the wind and leave the opposite open.

I have three tunnels two have half doors they are great but the bottoms are left open too all the time during the summer. The tops all year.

Air flow is the only way to help with mould in my tunnels. Weeks of no wind and damp and mild is when I start getting problems on damp ground too here.

A good thick compost mulch that is left dry on the top is a great help too but keep the underneath at soil surface moist.

I do that by watering in the morning on a sunny day and the surface of the compost has time the to dry.

I add finished compost any time during the year if it needs it. Depending on when you plan on growing id say the seaweed would need a few months to break down.

RiderOnTheStorm

Thx VistaFinder. Good tips there. Will try those this year. Every day is a school day!

macraignil

RiderOnTheStorm wrote: »

When do you open your pollytunnel doors?
When do you leave them open all day / night? (if ever?)
My polly is always damp inside because of damp ground (even with both doors open all summer long). Any tips to keep mould at bay?
Is it too late to add compost / seaweed to raised beds in polly?



Have tried googling this, but results vary and spend ages reading, only to get to end and realise that article was based in different country / climate. Looking for good old-fashioned personal experience.... Thx!

My pollytunnel has no doors so never have to worry about opening and closing them. It's just a recycled frame and some odd end timber door frames and some plastic sheeting that was the only component I had to buy. Have built a small stone wall and put a trellis across the door frame at one end and the grape vine grows all over this so there is never a very strong wind through the tunnel. Here is a video of that end with the grape vine from a few years back. Unfortunately the lemon tree has given up but the grape vine is producing loads of grapes each year. I left the other east facing door frame with just the plastic from the pollytunnel hanging down to discourage birds getting in and helping themselves to too much of the fruit. There is also an area of flattish stone I cobbled together for a threshold there. I never heat the tunnel so not loosing anything by leaving the ends a bit open all the time.

I usually stop watering once the fruit stops and the courgettes die off from the cold in the autumn and the ground still has enough moisture to keep the herbs growing healthy without actually seeming very damp. I'm mainly using the tunnel for raspberries, strawberries and courgettes so it gets plenty hot enough for what I am using it for. Actually surprised by the amount of fennel and parsley that is growing away well at the moment.

Reckon organic material can be added as a mulch at any stage once you are not too pushed about how long it takes to break down. Obviously fresh manure and other materials will produce acids when they start to break down but mature compost should be neutral and not burn anything you are planting.

RiderOnTheStorm

Thx macraignil.

I def think I have been leaving doors closed too much.