[Donnay]

Hi, I'm thinking of buying a polytunnel and I'm unsure which type to buy. The ones with the white tight cover seem to be expensive and I often see Those covers with holes in them on out plot.

I have seem ones on eBay, much cheaper, and I wondered what people thoughts are. Can anyone recommend a good but not to expensive and d anyone have one from eBay with the green cover? If so what do you think? I was thinking of the 20ft one.

[Sparkyrog]

Buy from these not the cheapest but cant fault the quality ,my 22x14 is in it's third year and well happy http://www.firsttunnels.co.uk/growing_guide_march.asp#growingguidemonth

[snow white]

I have a cheap one with a greeny cover.  I  reinforced the frame with duct tape at the joints.  I banged posts into the ground and cable tied them to the frame.  i put a door frame in as the zips break the first time you use them, again buried the door frame into the ground.  Put hot spot tape on the frame. Buried the cover edges under the ground.  Put shelving up buried in the ground and attached to the frame.  See the theme here?  It has survived since January when it went up.  Many a gale force wind.  Whether it will survive winter remains to be seen.  Not expecting the cover to last more than a year, but will buy plastic sheeting as and when.  It only cost 40 pounds.  Wood was free!  Cheap is as cheap does.  But couldn't afford 3 or 4 hundred quid on it.  I am quite happy for was it is.

[mumofstig]

When the green cover on mine went holey I found that re-covering with poly worked out nearly as expensive as buying a new tunnel.

[TheWhiteRabbit]

I bought one of the cheapy jobs from eBay - it was a 3.5m x 2m one. Easy peasy to put up, took about 30 mins and even managed to get the cover on myself.

They are a bit wobbly but the covers do help with that when on. I anchored mine down reasonably well and the gale force winds we had a few months ago, meant I returned to it upside down and jammed up against the fence. It was all intact though, not bent and I just righted it and then set to work anchoring it better. I sunk mine into the ground and laid concrete slabs on the cover flaps, it's held since no problems.

For the money, I think they're great. I figured I need to replace it ten times to equal the cost of an expensive tunnel or greenhouse so don't really mind if it only lasts a year or two.

[brianbishop]

I agree with snow white and rabbit. My ebay tunnel was erected last may and is still going strong, with a door relacing zips.Only advice is to get the 25mm tubing model,and make sure it is VERY well secured!!!
Bish

[BabbyAnn]

I agree with snow white and rabbit. My ebay tunnel was erected last may and is still going strong, with a door relacing zips.Only advice is to get the 25mm tubing model,and make sure it is VERY well secured!!!
Bish

25mm anti rust galvanised steel rather than powder coated, and go for the 0.8mm thick rather than the 0.65mm - more expensive but it won't collapse at the first strong wind.  As well as being secured and anchored down, do site it where it will be protected from strong west-south winds such as against a fence or hedge - my garden is sheltered with trees and privet hedge so the 4M x 2M polytunnel is holding up really well

[allotmentann]

You can also buy replacement covers for the cheap ones.  As long as you follow all the advice about securing it, even if you have to replace the cover every couple of years, it will still work out substantially cheaper than buying the more expensive tunnels (whose covers only last 5-10 years anyway). The other thing to bear in mind is that there is a lot more work involved in assembling the expensive ones. (You need to build your own door frames and accurately measure for anchoring them down et,). I think if I was going to splash out on the 'proper' thing, I would do this:
http://www.self-sufficient.co.uk/Make-Your-Own-DIY-Polytunnel.htm
It is lovely if you can have the real deal, but the cheap ones work perfectly well too. It is worth splashing out on decent ground anchors for them though!