polytunnell- best method?

temujinhayes

hi all
am moving my polytunnell to a more sheltered spot on my smallholding, just lost plastic on it for a second time to high winds. up to now i had buried the plastic on either side of the tunnell, but i have seen plastic put on with laths. basically the plastic is wound around treated 2x1's then screwed to bars at side of tunnell- gets the plastic very tight. the poles are also concreted into the ground. any suggestions/thoughts?
chris

Red Neck Hughie

did the plastic lift out of the ground? if so you had it done wrong, make sure you have a deep enough trench and enough cover to allow you to pull hard. it should anchor as securely -and even better than the wood laths or the aluminium clip system. I worked at building them for a while and could easily get it tightened to breaking point using the trench method, so I think the wood system won't necessarily help. Above all make sure the gable faces the prevailing (usually south west-ish) wind.
What size polytunnel? Single sheet or separate sheets over the gables? Were the doors secure??

temujinhayes

the doors were left open and the wind got under it. it was well secured in the trench. i use two sheets to cover the tunnell. thanks for the advice, good to know this method works.