[mashbintater]

Would they have a similar action as shading a greenhouse roof to prevent plant scorch? Or would they not be beneficial to use as a cloche at all do you think?

[Yorkie]

Just a little confused.  Are you intending to use them as shading for the greenhouse, or as a cloche for plants in the soil?

[mashbintater]

Sorry Yorkie, I'm brilliant at causing confusion  . As cloches for plants in the soil.

[Yorkie]

 

I think they will reduce the light levels to a degree.  The potential difficulty which I foresee, depends on your timing.

If you are using them as cloches in the spring / early summer, the light levels will still be relatively low so you don't want to reduce them further.  If you are using them later in the year, the light levels won't matter as much but you won't need cloches as much then either.

[mashbintater]

I won't be using those then, thanks Yorkie 

[DD.]

I think maybe there would also be an issue with filtering out the spectrum of light the plant needs as well as the light level issue.

[mashbintater]

I dare-say D.D., they've been binned  .

[DD.]

Re-cycle binned, I trust!

[Fisherman]

Here's an alternative use for your pop bottles: -
Once when on holiday in Mexico we visited an island near Playa Del Carmen / Puerto Aventuras (Mayan Peninsular) that was made up of plastic pop bottles. Out of memory I think mangrove cuttings were planted in sand in the bottles that eventually grew into a floating island. A guy called Reishee Sowa lived on the island and a very nice lifestyle he had to.

So if you fancy Mashbintater you could build one on the Douglas or Mersey Estuary. Oh I forgot to mention you need 250,000 pop bottles to get started! A warmer climate also helps.

Google his name if you want a few tips

[Trillium]

Must admit that I've used the green soda bottles as mini cloches and they're fine. Probably because they don't stay on that long. For long term use (over a month) I probably wouldn't use them, but for a few weeks I haven't noticed any difference in plants.

[Benandbill]

You could just use them for puting on top of your sticks that mark off your allotment, or to stop peole/animals catching and injuring themselves on sticks or whyever people use them?  Maybe so they rattle in the wind and deter scavengers?  It'd be a change from the drab old transparent ones anyway.

Fill them with your homemade gooseberry wine 

[hamstergbert]

I think (based on somethign heard long ago) that it works something like:
 
transparent/translucent coloured materials (such as green PET pop bottles) tend to screen out selectively most of the light that is of a different colour - so green bottles will allow through most of the green components of the light while blocking most of the non-green components.

opaque materials (such as leaves etc) tend to reflect selectively most of the light that is of the apparent colour - ie a green leaf looks green because it reflects most of the green component of the light hitting it while absorbing most of the other colours.

So, if my cobwebbed-covered memory is not misleading me it would appear that using green PET bottles as mini cloches will only allow through to the enclosed plants the wavelengths  (ie colours) of light that the said plants are least able to make use of.

No doubt someone with a doctorate in optics will be able to amend this interpretation as required!



However green bottles are useful for holding a come in handy ready-use couple of litres of strained off sheep-poo tomato feed in the greenhouse!

[DD.]

I think I said something similar, but in one sentence!

I think maybe there would also be an issue with filtering out the spectrum of light the plant needs as well as the light level issue.

[hamstergbert]

I think I said something similar, but in one sentence!

I think maybe there would also be an issue with filtering out the spectrum of light the plant needs as well as the light level issue.

Indeed you did - my post was just the anorakky one of at least the overview of how it comes to be like that!  I don't get out much.

[stompy]

How big are the bottles, do they have the tops still and how many have you got?
They would make very good home brew beer bottles!
What did they have in them?