polycarbonate recommendations

[Tina]

When we were at Davids kirkrbights greenhouses I noticed he had glass greenhouses with polycarbonate sheets tacked up on the inside, he didn't need to use netting in summer or bubble wrap for the winter so it seems like a good investment to add this.
His plants seemed to do really well with this regime.
Anyone have recommendations for supplier and the best depth to use. I will be keeping the glass glazing.

[edds]

I've toyed about doing this Tina when I build a new greenhouse.

When I reglazed the roof of my existing greenhouse I used 4mm Polycarbonate already cut to 2ft widths that I got off eBay.

[Cactus Kid]

I have done this on my newer greenhouse. No shading required.

Jury is still out on it as the succulents seem to love it but some of the cacti i.e. Arios, Astros don't seem to have flowered so well yet other sun lovers i.e. Lithops are unaffected.

[Aiko]

I don't have experience with polycarbonate. But their life expectensive is probably not a few decades, like glass. Aren't they prone to turning yellow? And I wonder if it is as easy to clean as glass. There was also something about the range of light polycarbonate panes will allow through, I believe a bit less of the range the plants will need compared to glass (which also blocks more than we would like for our plants). And the weight of glass will aid in the greenhouse being more robust. And even broken glass panes can survive a storm well enough, as some of my panes have shown in the last twenty years.

I have done this on my newer greenhouse. No shading required.

Lovely greenhouse, though. Do you have a picture of it in use and filled with plants?

[Mike P]

Given the cost of glass I have now taken to replacing broken lanes with 4mm polycarbonate sheets which as Ed notes are sold in 2’ widths. They are coated on one side to prevent UV ageing which probably negates the value they give in terms of greater uv transmittance…

[Tishania]

This seems like quite a good idea but how do you attatch the sheets to the inside of the greenhouse when using them like double glazing?

[rcapra]

I must start by saying that latitude has a great weight in discussions related to sun exposure and therefore sunburn, blooms and temperature (I live in northern Italy). That said, I have an 8mm gap polycarbonate cover and have not noticed any difference in blooms and spine formation compared to when I had the 3mm glass cover. I also use 50% shading (white net) between May and the end of September - summer temperatures in my latitude easily reach 35 ° Celsius outside ...

Ruggero

[Tina]

Thank you very much for the pictures CK, that's exactly what I want to do, although I'm not sure how easy it will be with a full greenhouse.
How did you secure the polycarb panels ?, are they 2ft x 4ft as that seems to be the most commonly available size.
That's a big greenhouse, some photo's now would be good .
David had this and his ariocarpus were on shelves growing really well, I don't know how good the flowering was but it will be worth it not to have to fight with bubble wrap every year or when it falls in pieces making a mess.

[Tina]

Mike,
You should go for a free greenhouse, they are commonly available at the start of the year, keep the glass & scrap the frame, you get paid for it if you take it to the metal recycling co.

[habanerocat]

Hi Tina.

When I glazed my refurbished greenhouse I bought full size 4mm UV grade polycarbonate sheets from these guys.
They seem to have expanded since into all types of plastics. They are based in Manchester but my delivery came direct from the manufacturer in Scotland. https://www.clearamber.com/
Prices and delivery prices were very good.

https://visionplastics.co.uk/

I dealt with a guy called Steve who was very helpful.

I also have these sites bookmarked but didn't buy from them.

https://www.theplasticpeople.co.uk/
https://www.comcoplastics.co.uk/