[Ma and Pa Snip]

Bottom line is they are not fit for the purpose for which they are sold, as everyone seems to have to take extra precautions against the wind or do continual running repairs.

I feel a bit sorry for those who are not fore-warned by postings such as this, who will be buying an expensive kite.

I think thats a little harsh DD, yes they can become a kite if not well secured,  the fixing pins could do with being longer.  Its not rocket science to sort that problem. They are after all being secured into that nice soft ground that people have prepared.

Become Kites,  so can roofs off house, telegraph poles and trees, fence panels and even glass greenhouses  in high winds. Does that make them all not fit for purpose.

Like most things there are different grades of quality, and I would guess  plastic must have its place judging by the number of poly tunnels we see on farms, garden centres and nurseries around the countryside

Amateur gardening versions are what they are, covers made out of cheap plastic, and that is not suitable for everyones needs.  

With care they work well for us, but I wouldn't try using them on an open allotment.

[Ma and Pa Snip]

chrisnchris

yours sounds like its the stiffer polycarbonate type, a more durable and longer lasting product than the plastic cover type.

[chrisnchris]

chrisnchris

yours sounds like its the stiffer polycarbonate type, a more durable and longer lasting product than the plastic cover type.

Yes, that's right,.....& all for 20 quid

[bigben]

I have about 4 friends with these things and all have either given up or have had to do major repairs. Brother in law when asked where the best place to put them said "inside a greenhouse!"

I think you get what you pay for - it is useful being forewarned though. I thought about getting one but would expect to do a lot to strengthen it before use.

Another post has this link http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/offers/offers_week07Thursday11.htm

[plum crumble]

yup - mine is now used as shelving inside my "real" greenhouse! 

[Kristen]

Bottom line is they are not fit for the purpose for which they are sold, as everyone seems to have to take extra precautions against the wind or do continual running repairs.

I feel a bit sorry for those who are not fore-warned by postings such as this, who will be buying an expensive kite.

I think thats a little harsh DD, yes they can become a kite if not well secured,  the fixing pins could do with being longer.  Its not rocket science to sort that problem.

If you have to sort it out then it's not fit for purpose in the first place. And if you don't know that you have to sort it out you are going to be disappointed.

I've got two "blow aways". I only use them for Mar - May inside my unheated conservatory (so I can keep my seedlings above 10C using a light bulb), and then they are carefully boxed and stored until the following year; they are never subjected to any external weather. I know they are fragile, and therefore I am very careful with the zips.  The zips still tore in the second year

Become Kites,  so can roofs off house, telegraph poles and trees, fence panels and even glass greenhouses  in high winds. Does that make them all not fit for purpose.

Yes, but in the main they don't, and you don't have to put extra guy ropes on your roof, and weight your fence down with paving stones just to be "fit for purpose" in normal conditions ...

Like most things there are different grades of quality, and I would guess  plastic must have its place judging by the number of poly tunnels we see on farms, garden centres and nurseries around the countryside

Take a look at First Tunnels. I don't own one, but they strike me as a "quality plastic tunnel"; they do various types "anchors" (depending on whether you are building direct onto soil, or some sort of hard standing) - they have done a nice job with a selection of videos showing exactly how to construct them, and why they are important (there is a video of one of their tunnels in a 60 mph wind).  That's the sort of quality and engineering that  is needed for a poly-tunnel.

Buy cheap = pay twice.

[DD.]

Thank you, Kristen.

Precisely the point I was trying to get across. They are simply not built for the purpose if you have to do extra things to them.

If I buy a car, I don't expect to have to fit brakes to get it to stop. People can go bindly into buying one of these and find it's not there the next day.

[JayG]

I can't contribute to the debate about the durability of plastic greenhouses but I would certainly be concerned about the performance of  the 3 or 4 tier mini-greenhouses as featured in the Aldi ad Bigben has referred to.

We've had posts on here in the past about people losing plants housed in these things and I'm not surprised; the air volume inside is much too small to offer any buffering of the different temperatures between day and night (especially a sunny day and a cold night); you would surely need to be zipping and unzipping like the proverbial fiddler's elbow to avoid shocking the plants on a daily basis (and from the sound of things the zip would then break!)

[Goosegirl]

I have a Guardsman plastic greenhouse with 4 shelves, cost about £19, but just use it in my greenhouse as I am in a very exposed and windy area. I also bought a similar greenhouse fleece cover from Wilko which I put over the plastic cover for added frost protection for newly-sown seeds etc. I put a thermometer insde it last year to assess the temperature when we had some frosts and it seemed to keep the temperature about 5 degrees warmer than the greenhouse itself. When things got warmer, I just used the fleece cover as it admitted air and helped to prevent damping-off. Later in the early season, I just used the staging with no cover as extra space for stacking my seedling trays. Brilliant ! 

[Ma and Pa Snip]

 
I'm simply playing devils advocate

For some peoples use they will be ok, others they wont.

You dont pay the price of a Mini and expect it to perform like a Rolls Royce

 'you pays your money and takes your choice'

[Paul Canning]

precisely. I wasn't trying to infer that the reason people had problems was all operator error, so sorry if that's how my post came across :-(

I was simply trying to make the point that there are several factors to how well these will last and again, if mine only lasted one year, financially it's still cheaper to replace it yearly for 5 or 6 years

[DD.]

My greenhouse has stood since 1976 (35 years) for a one off payment and has been moved twice. I'm sure many have stood a lot longer.

I'd hate to think I'd replaced something that many times

[Paul Canning]

Granted, however when I had a greenhouse many moons ago, i fairly regularly replaced broken windows then we got rid of it due to losing interest etc. wish now i hadn't.

But again, it's a cost thing, I don't have £300 simple.

[Kristen]

My greenhouses came off eBay. Can't remember the price of the 12' x 10' (about £200 I think), the 30' x 10' cost me about £400 and was less than 5 years old. They come up on Freecycle too.

That sort of purchase is not straight forward of course, usually you have to go and take it down (but that has the benefit you can photograph everything as you do so, and you  have a fighting change of remembering how to put it back together again!), plus then cart it home and re-erect it, so probably best suited to someone comfortable with DIY, but in my case it represented a huge saving.

[Silkworm]

We have two of these plastic green houses on our allotment site green arched type,
both were crushed in the snow   and have now been blown apart by the strong winds we just had , althought the bases are still anchored firmly to terre firma.

Silky