Self Build Greenhouse with Cling Film

quazzy

Hi all,

I have a small allotment and was thinking of trying to make some form of "ramshackle" greenhouse using wood and clingfilm (instead of polycarbonate sheets or glass)

I'm thinking 8 feet x 4 feet x 6 to 8 feet high - Mainly wanna grow tomatoes.

I've have reasonable success growing tomatoes without any greenhouse / poly-tunnel for the last 2 seasons so just wanted to try it out with minimal outlay. Anybody ever do this or have any experience. Supplies are somewhat limited during the lockd own so I'm hoping that I could figure something out with what I have in the shed etc...

Any help would be appreciated.

BarryD2

What'll happen with the first puff of wind and rain? Old windows might be better if you can get them.

Harry Palmr

The wind will rip cling film in no time at all, while as a roof section the rain will push it down and then punch a hole through it even if it's sloped. If you can get hold of sheet of polythene that'll work much better - I used it for "tomato tee-pees" in the past.

Planet X

Possibility of a bit of rough weather coming next weekend.
(Boys on Weather )

quazzy

Thanks for the replies.

I'll see what I can get my hands on and post back if/when I get something sorted.

where are you ,I have some duble glazing going to the tip soon.
You can take the glass and I'll skip the frames

BrownFinger

BrownFinger wrote: »

where are you ,I have some duble glazing going to the tip soon.
You can take the glass and I'll skip the frames

Where are you based? I'd be interested.

magicbastarder

double glazing units sound like they might be unwieldy for a self build greenhouse?

i know it's not exactly easy to buy a mattress these days, but if you know anyone buying one, they're often wrapped in decent polythene.

quazzy

Thanks for the offer of the glazing. I'm not the best at DIY and have young kids so wouldn't trust myself to self build (safely) with glass in the mix.

Was talking to my brother this evening and he might be able to salvage some polyurethane (or similar) sheets over the weekend so that my be a starting point.

Thanks again for all the replies.

Polycarbonate is what you want .
Although I don't think it's UV stable so will yellow over time.

macraignil

My problem with growing tomatoes under plastic in a poly-tunnel was the humidity getting too high and once there was a small bit of blight got in the whole crop was gone very quickly. Ventilation is very important for tomatoes under plastic or glass.

blackbox

You can get industrial strength cling film called pallet wrap. (Used for wrapping pallets!)