Thickness And Varieties Of Greenhouse Films, Film Repair

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Treat greenhouse films with care

It is known that in our climatic conditions it is impossible to grow a good harvest of heat-loving crops (tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, eggplants, etc.) without covering them with a film. Unfortunately, many summer residents and gardeners buy either unreliable films, but cheap, or durable and expensive, but poorly conducive to the harvest.

Since the choice of film is a delicate matter, the author found it necessary to show the main factors that reduce the durability of films. The main ones are:

Thickness and thickness difference of films

Experience shows that such films are less durable if they have a small thickness and a large difference in thickness. Most often, the market offers customers a film with a thickness of 0.100; 0.120 and 0.150 mm, and with an increase in thickness, its price increases. The same is observed with the difference in thickness, which, according to my experience, can be from 0.01 to 0.015 mm. From this it is clear that a thin and different thickness film will serve a shorter period. This means that it is best not to skimp, pay more, but choose a thicker film. Thanks to this, it will last three seasons instead of one with a minimum thickness.

Film frame material

Most summer residents and gardeners do not take this factor into account at all. Meanwhile, according to experimental data, on a rough unpainted frame or rusty metal, the film intensively loses its elasticity, becomes brittle, fragile, and quickly collapses. The actual elongation at break in such cases reaches less than 100%. If the wood is planed, the metal is not rusted, and both materials are painted white, then the elongation at break of the film is 250-350%. All this indicates that with a smooth frame, the film, deforming and rubbing on it, can serve not 1, but 2-3 seasons.

Film type

An indicator that determines the level of light nutrition of plants, and hence the yield of cultivated crops, is the transmission of photoactive radiation, which reaches 85-90% for stabilized, hydrophilic and PVC films, which last for an average of three years. Many years of experience helped me make a choice: I prefer a hydrophilic film, which, although expensive, but excludes the ingress of concentrated moisture drops on the plants, preventing the likelihood of their disease. In addition, this film provides a minimum transmittance of infrared radiation (35%), turning the coating into a kind of trap for radiant energy. A version of the stabilized film has also appeared on the market. It is pinkish due to the pigment in it, does not fade, gives an enhanced orange-red spectrum of light, favorable for plants. I have been using one of these films for two years now, while there are no complaints about its quality.

Securing the film

The rupture of the film, perhaps even more often than from the reasons already mentioned above, occurs from errors when it is fixed on the frame. If you look closely at various greenhouses and greenhouses in the areas, you can find that often the film is attached with nails, and even without washers, because of which it often comes off and gradually breaks into pieces. The film must be attached to wooden structures not directly with nails, but with the use of slats and glazing beads, which tightly press it to the frame. If the frame is metal, then a rail is first attached to it, to which the film is nailed, pressing it with wooden slats. When the film is laid on the arcs of the garden, it is usually recommended to simply cover its lower edge with earth. However, this method is unreliable and worsens the conditions for the care of plants. In practice, more and more often, a strip of dense material with loops is attached to this edge of the panel, and a board or pegs with nails for the loops are installed on the ground. At the same time, to access the plants or ventilate the greenhouse, it is enough just to remove the hinges from the nails.

Film repair

As practice shows, even a very good film, if all the above conditions are met, after three years of operation, ceases to serve due to aging, thickness variation and inaccurate handling. However, based on personal experience and the experience of other summer residents and gardeners, I can say that the durability of the film can be extended for another 1-2 seasons due to its repair. Today, experienced gardeners usually use five methods of repairing films. It:

• stitching the edges with threads, for which the pieces are connected with a strip of thick paper between them, while the lines are made rare;
• melting of the edges to be joined, for which they are clamped between two smooth metal plates, and the parts of the panels protruding outward by 1 cm are exposed to either a blowtorch or a spirit lamp;
• welding, in which the edges of the panels are superimposed on each other, covered with paper or even newspaper, and carried out at the junction with an iron or a soldering iron;
• gluing the damaged edges of the panel with glue, for which the patches from the film are smeared with glue, for example, PVA brands and quickly applied to the damaged areas, and the glue quickly sets;
• gluing the edges of damaged areas of the film with adhesive tape such as adhesive tape, available on the market.

From my own experience I know that well-repaired films can still successfully serve, if not for their intended purpose, then in a new way. The experience of their use during frosts is especially successful as a second layer of shelter for a greenhouse, greenhouse or garden bed, as well as when the ground is cold before sowing or planting, and it must be heated.

It is very important to take good care of your films after the end of the summer season. It is advisable to wash all films from adhering earth and dirt, dry, and then roll up and store indoors.

In conclusion, I would like to note that all the described recommendations for choosing films and methods for storing and repairing them will undoubtedly not only help to get good yields of thermophilic crops, but also significantly save your money.