Construction plastic

[BigVanVader]

Has anyone tried using this? http://http://www.homedepot.com/p/Am...R612/203635222

Its rated well but I assume it isnt UV protected, just curious if anyone here has had experience with it. I just threw up a low tunnel this weekend for growing greens all winter and cukes during summer. I can get a 100ft roll of 6mil/4 year 14x100ft for $126.00 from my wholesale supplier but the reinforced is 326$ so if the home depot stuff works it would make me happy. Any info appreciated.

[Cole_Robbie]

The UV roll that is three times the price will last five or six times as long and give you a lot fewer headaches.

[BigVanVader]

Thanks Robbie, do you use just plain 6 mil 4 year?

[Cole_Robbie]

My greenhouse and high tunnel both have 6-mil. It's rated 3-5 years. I'm going into year 4 for the greenhouse and year 3 for the high tunnel. Both of them are still in good share. I have read of people getting 8-10 years out of plastic, but that was in northern climates, which I assume have less intense sun and UV ray degradation.

My greenhouse plastic is clear, and the high tunnel plastic is opaque. The latter is less likely to sunburn tomato fruit. The clear heats up a little faster, but then easily gets too hot as well. I throw mud on it in the late spring to make shade.

[BigVanVader]

Ok I will just go with the stuff from my local wholesaler. Thanks for the info, this is the first time I've had enough property to build a hoop houses so I'm really freaking excited about it. I will need to cover mine somehow in summer to reduce heat but im hoping I can use some old row cover?

[Cole_Robbie]

Don't use diluted latex paint. I learned that two years ago. It's too hard to get off. I had thought a pressure washer would take it off, but it doesn't. I had also thought that the spray from a pressure washer might slice through the plastic, but it will not at all.

If you double up anything over it, the two layers will rub together in the wind. I had a double inflated layer in the greenhouse, which worked fine with the blower running. But the area below the sidewalls that made my roll up sides was not inflated. That plastic turned from clear to cloudy very quickly from the abrasion of rubbing together in the wind.

Last year I used mud on the greenhouse during the last month or two of the plant-starting season, which ends for me in early June. Throwing buckets of muddy water on a structure makes me feel like a teenage vandal. It works well, at least until the next hard rain washes most of it off.

[BigVanVader]

Lol I can see the look on my fiances face now...wait your doing what? Mud on the greenhouse? Followed by eyeroll and head shaking. That alone will make it worth trying

On a more serious note though thanks for the tip, it beats paying a bunch for a custom made shade cloth. As always thanks much!

[madddawg]

I have been using 6 mil construction plastic on my green house since the start (5 or so years)
My experience is that its good for 2 winters maybe 3. I take my plastic off as soon as its not needed anymore and store it in a shed. On that note I better get started framing up my greenhouse. Tore last one apart wasn't big enough anymore 10' x 32' ,,,And was getting a little loose. from being Built every winter and takin down every summer
(I build mine out of lumber fyi)