Packing up the Polly tunnel for winter.

Packing up the Polly tunnel for winter.

That's packing indeed.

What kind of winter temperatures do you get in your part of Somerset and do you have any heating and/or insulation in the P'tunnel?

that is packed, but its not anything like winter yet - usefull for keeping the excessive rain off tho

Man, that's packed to the hill! Seems it'd be hard checking watering needs. I bought steel shelving that i put along the sides and rear wall. Very clean and easy to maintain plants. Plus, leaves me room to have a small work station. Just an idea.

I saw the photos of your poly house, very nice. But I have a question:

Why did you use the blue tarp on the ground and did not place the containers directly on the soil which is a heat source and improves drainage. Yes, I know the blue tarp will keep the containers clean, but the horticultural aspects are more important in my opinion.

Just wondering, because I've never seen that before.


Bill

fiona wrote:That's packing indeed.

What kind of winter temperatures do you get in your part of Somerset and do you have any heating and/or insulation in the P'tunnel?

Hi Fiona, No heating or insulation, just used to keep the wind off trees that have recently been worked on or are soon due to be. Temps at ground level rarely drop bellow -4 in my garden.
Thanks Sam

William N. Valavanis wrote:I saw the photos of your poly house, very nice. But I have a question:

Why did you use the blue tarp on the ground and did not place the containers directly on the soil which is a heat source and improves drainage. Yes, I know the blue tarp will keep the containers clean, but the horticultural aspects are more important in my opinion.

Just wondering, because I've never seen that before.


Bill

Hi Bill, Just there as the wood underneath had to be covered as I had nowhere else to store it.

you've been a bit lazy tho

Really the deciduous trees should be made winter ready before packing them in like that - all the leaves should be allowed to fully turn and mostly fall off (so the trees have fully absorbed the locked in sugars - this also changes the sap consistency so it acts like a natural antifreeeze). Then it is better to make sure all the brown leaves are off before the trees are put in. Left like this you will get the fallen leaves all over the pots and tunnel increasing the chance of moulds, mildew, botrytis and other fungal attacks in the spring, plus there are so many hidding places for overwintering pests now.

I've been fully weeding each tree, killing off or picking off moss, removing all leaves from trees & soil surface and finally spraying the deciduous trees with dilute lime sulphar - then they are winter ready

wont take long to whip them all out again will it ?

cheers Marcus

marcus watts wrote:
I've been fully weeding each tree, killing off or picking off moss, removing all leaves from trees & soil surface and finally spraying the deciduous trees with dilute lime sulphar - then they are winter ready

wont take long to whip them all out again will it ?

cheers Marcus

Ditto, same routine done here too Marcus.

marcus watts wrote:you've been a bit lazy tho

Really the deciduous trees should be made winter ready before packing them in like that - all the leaves should be allowed to fully turn and mostly fall off (so the trees have fully absorbed the locked in sugars - this also changes the sap consistency so it acts like a natural antifreeeze). Then it is better to make sure all the brown leaves are off before the trees are put in. Left like this you will get the fallen leaves all over the pots and tunnel increasing the chance of moulds, mildew, botrytis and other fungal attacks in the spring, plus there are so many hidding places for overwintering pests now.

I've been fully weeding each tree, killing off or picking off moss, removing all leaves from trees & soil surface and finally spraying the deciduous trees with dilute lime sulphar - then they are winter ready

wont take long to whip them all out again will it ?
cheers Marcus

Hi Marcus, This is only a small portion of my trees. Only the ones which are due for work soon or have received it. Along with one that is looking weak. No trees have been winter washed in my garden as yet. Will do these plus the ones outside and in the greenhouses around mid December when the work on the trees is complete.
Thanks Sam

I also do not think it is a good idea to cover the surface soil in a tunnel. When the air temperatures drop and the surface soil temperatures are higher, heat transfer can take place by radiation. Changing the surface soil temperature takes longer than changing the tempertature of the air. If the surface soil is warmed up slightly during the day, at night when air tempertures drops heat transfer can take place. Covering the soil insulates the suface soil both from warming up during the day and from radiating when the air temperatures in the tunnel drop. It would therefore seem to me that either placing the containers on the ground or on low narrow benches in the tube is a better option.

Hank

Shit.

No, I'm not being rude - I actually mean that literally.

I had a friend who used to put a thick layer of cow shit into his unheated glasshouse during the winter. He had two slightly raised beds on either side made from thermalite breeze blocks topped with a grating, and he'd half fill these beds (depth of about 6 inches I reckon) with the manure. He wasn't into bonsai but he kept all sorts of plants in there - including things he'd been growing on from cuttings or seed.

He said it worked very well and was really just an adaptation of how the Victorians heated their glasshouses in winter.