Polythene greenhouse in high winds

Johnny Crosby

Hi everyone.
i have one of those metal framed polythene covered greenhouses, with over 500 bedding plants, all grown from seed, some already in flower, and just waiting for the end of the month before being planted out after further hardening off. The greenhouse stands in a corner on top of some flagstones, so is not anchored as such, but at ground level it is heavily weighted with plastic boxes and sacks of clay soil, the polythene is well tucked under the frame and tied with string to the frame etc, and in the current 45 mph winds, it is rocked, but stays firmly on the ground. My problem is that I dare not open the zipped door, because once the wind get inside, I expect it to play havoc with the plants, or even rip the cover. Consequently, it has now gone 36 hours without opening, apart from 5 minutes when I got inside to check and water. With the lack of ventilation, the whole thing is humid and awash with condensation, perfect conditions for mould to develop. Today, I have opened it for 5 minutes every hour or so to try to alleviate the environment, but the winds are not forecasted to drop until tomorrow morning. Do you think another 24 hours in a sauna is going to ruin things? What would you be doing?

mrtjforman

it isn't necessarily going to cause a problem, hard to say. I think the worst that will happen is the flowers might get mouldy but that will happen before the plant is affected.

If it was me I would remove the polythene completely and keep it in a sheltered spot. Or take them uot completely and place on the ground, it is warm enough here but yes very windy atm

Fairygirl

The only way to use these things is to tie them securely to something - wall, fence etc. Rope right round them, top and bottom. Weighting them down is no use if you have windy weather - they just rip and take off into the  far blue [or grey] yonder. 
If you have them tied down, you can open them more easily though. I gave up on them a long time ago, because they do tear so easily.

Is there room inside your house that you could move them into for a day? Perhaps that would be easier. I'm not sure leaving them outside would be great either, unless you have loads of sheltered spots you can tuck  them into. 
Is there room in behind the greenhouse in that pic @Johnny Crosby?

BryanC

I have the same thing. I secure it to the wall with Eye-hooks and bungee cables. In an unguarded moment, well, maybe longer I didn't do that yesterday. Left to itself, the greenhouse took off across the garden! Mine wasn't as well stocked as yours and I have hopefully recovered most of what was in there. It also did a fair bit of damage in the border. Of all the weather phenomena I dislike wind most!!

Astro

Similar to you I just do a periodic opening letting some air in to reduce condensation . At times it seems fine to open it just a little at bottom,  I feel perhaps the wind isn't as strong down low in my garden. The plants seem fine.

Failing that is there a possibility of putting up something of a windbreaker? 

Skandi

Depending on the wind direction and how your door opens. can you just unzip it a tiny bit? The draft from that should be enough to keep it dry. I have two pollytunnels both cheapo jobs and they have more than enough drafts in this wind to keep everything dry even with the doors as firmly closed as they get! Luckily we've not had wind and sun that is a real killer.

Bilje

Mine is attached to a fence by bungee cord, and it's pegged into gravel, it's front is rolled up and has been for a couple of weeks. Im in NE England it's been buffeted by the current strong winds but has been ok so far. Very impressed with your plants well done 

Johnny Crosby

Thank you thank you to all who replied. In the end, I continued to open up for a few minutes every couple of hours, and thankfully, when the winds abated midday on Sunday, I was able to open up fully, and the plants have not suffered, other than some wilting, but a good watering sorted that out. Although the frame rocked a bit in the 50mph gusts,  it remained earthbound. I am now in the daily process of hardening off, and so looking forward to planting out. Thank you for your posts.