The Advantages And Necessity of Using The Right Greenhouse Film

When you start and maintain a greenhouse for a while, you come to learn everything you never knew but thought you did about botany!

Greenhouses are a great deal of fun, with as much work too, but it doesn't feel like it if you build it up slowly over several weekends and gradually learn the vocation.

Once you get better at understanding how the particular plants or other plant life you want to grow thrive, you will start to tweak the various parts of your greenhouse to foster a better more potent environment specific to what your growing.

Part of the learning curve is understanding how the external environment can damage or affect plant/flower growth and what you can do to harmonize it. Luckily, in today's advancements in greenhouse science, there are very little limitations to how much you can learn in a years time!

As you go through the various stages of your greenhouse build/nurturing you will start to realize how certain things are very important while others can be neglected. One example is your irrigation and temperature control needs to be good. Bugs need to be controlled or eliminated and the very covering that allows light and heat in while trapping bugs and rough weather out.

One of the most important infrastructural pieces you need to be aware of is the greenhouse film.

One major component of a greenhouse is the windows/panes that let light in but also trap heat and moisture. This greenhouse film is as important to the health of your plants as the heater in your home is on a -21 degree below zero day.

Greenhouses are used to grow flowers, plant life, herbs, fruits and vegetables, all of which are organic and nutrient rich.

Any time you have nutrient rich food growing you know your going to be having bugs for dinner. They may not call or write, or even let you know they're coming by- but you'll know they were there when you neglect to protect your garden!

(one thing a greenhouse is great for is incubating your plants from the problems of the outside world).

There are many bugs that would love to find nourishment in eating your greenhouse contents!

The need to have a covering that is clear and allows the nutrients of the sun to flow through but that will block out access to these pests that could either damage or infect (with disease) your garden is vital.

There are several different kinds of coverings that you can install on a greenhouse frame. These coverings include polycarbonate, polyethylene film (poly films), fiberglass, and acrylic panels.

A single layer of polyethylene film is a great solution to cover cold frames or starting seeds.  

Polyethylene film is available in a wide variety of thicknesses to cover a variety of gardening needs. 

This type of cover maintains optimal growing conditions better than glass and can help reduce the cost of heating. It can be used effectively in concert with glass if you insist in using glass (there are reasons glass is a good idea too!).

Using a polyethylene or greenhouse film cover is a cheaper alternative to glass as well. 

While this is a viable option for greenhouse covers, polyethylene greenhouse film does have a limited lifespan. Directly related to the thickness of the film, one will have to replace it every three to five years still (but it's still cheap).

The benefits of low cost, heat retention and light transference out weighs the negatives for most nursery owners. 

In addition to large nursery uses, polyethylene greenhouse film can also be a great option for the hobbyist. Many portable and smaller scaled greenhouses are composed of this type of coverage. If you are using this type of film, you will need to replace the film about every four years.

As you begin the task of trying to find replacement film, make sure that you are purchasing a polyethylene film intended for use in greenhouses.

Another great reason to upgrade and look for a better film is that technology is advancing incredibly fast and in 4 years they may have created a longer lasting or simply better concept.

Many less expensive versions are intended to be used as vapor barriers in construction and do not offer the necessary UV protection.

If your not using the right film you could actually damage your plants instead of protect them. If you use construction plastic, for example, too much sun could come in while blocking the nutrients (good stuff blocked bad stuff let in).

Do your homework when shopping around for this film, it's easy to find and a powerful ally in your greenhouse building.