Green tent

 I'm thinking of using some plastic sheeting to form a temporary greenhouse
or more precisely a green tent. I've been using steel garden fencing poles
as plant stakes. I'm thinking of putting them out earlier this year and
using them as tent poles by stretching plastic film over them to form a
tent. I'm hoping this might allow me to get an earlier start, maybe April
or early May instead of waiting to the end of May. When the weather is
reliably warm I'll take the plastic down.

I'm in Massachusetts, near New Hampshire.

I have a couple of questions,

1) Am I fooling myself? Will this really be helpful?

2) What sort of plastic should I use. I see that there are things marketed
as greenhouse films. Are they any better than a roll of plastic sheeting
from Loews or Home Depot?

 

<http://westsidegardener.com/howto/hoophouse.html>
How to Build a PVC Hoophouse for your Garden

<http://www.veseys.com/us/en/?veseys €29cdugg4vc0rc0bqvauiiig3>
They are in York, Prince Edward Island (East of New Brunswick and North
of Nova Scotia), Canada, for cool weather seeds,



It will help. You will lose about 5% of the sunlight, but if you have a
lot of full sun it shouldn't be a problem.

Also, add your amendments to the bed, then cover with news print, and
that with alfalfa (lucerne). Lay out drip irrigation, and cover
everything with clear plastic. It will raise soil temps by 5 - 6 degrees
Fahrenheit.

Tomatoes need soil temps of 70F to grow.

Either will have cheap clear-plastic painters drop cloths. Better yet,
check with a local hardware store, and keep your money in the community.
--
<http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2011/3/7/michael_moore>
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 General Schvantzkoph wrote:

Yes it will help but how bold you can be starting early you will have to
work out on site.


Plastic has various degrees of resistance to UV radiation after which it
weakens and disintegrates.  The stuff that is not very resistant will fail
in a few months in the sun, the resistant will last a few years.  You pay
you money and take your choice.  You will need to fasten it in a way that
does not tear in a high wind.

Air circulation may become an issue.  The tent may get very hot and steamy
which will encourage fungal diseases.

David

 On Wed, 09 Mar 2011 08:28:16 +1100, David Hare-Scott wrote:


I'm only planning on keeping the plastic up in the cold months, as soon as
it's warm enough to worry about fungal diseases I'm going to take the
plastic down.

 
And elderly friend of mine has a plastic 'greenhouse' which she uses year
round - it's no posh structure, it is just some plastic sheeting pulled over
hoops of poly over tomato stakes - she's been using the same structure in
the same place for about 5 years at least.  She lives in an area which gets
morning mists and the summers aren't overly hot but do get into the high
30sC.  She just takes the ends of it in late summer until late autumn and
replaces them with plastic fruit tree netting to keep the 4 legged pests
out.