0:00Hi guys, we're going to be talking about when it's time to replace your greenhouse plastic. Most greenhouse plastic is rated for four years of use.

0:07And we have this tunnel to our left here that has been uh the plastic's 5 years old. So you can kind of see what it looks like when it's a little bit older.

0:16The one to my right here is uh at least a few years newer. Probably what what did you say? 2 or 3 years old.

0:22Well, no, it's actually less than a year old.

0:24Oh, okay. So that one's that one's brand new plastic. So, how do you know when it's time to replace it? What should people be looking for?

0:32Well, the obvious thing would be when it starts getting too many holes in it. Um,

0:39and of course, the question is, what's too many holes? These green houses actually have double plastic with air

0:47inflation, and so they can only handle a few holes before they're going to start

0:54not inflating. And obviously that's not a good thing.

0:58Now you can buy, you know, we sell greenhouse repair tape. So it's a So if it's just a a a hole here and

1:06there, you can repair it and that can give you some extra time. So holes is

1:12one thing, but the less obvious thing that it's really hard to even notice unless you're comparing is that over

1:21time the plastic starts getting I think the word is opaque. It it's not clear

1:28any any longer. Um and it it just gets kind of filmy. And like I said, the best

1:35way to to tell that is to see new plastic and it's like, wow, there is a big difference. But it starts getting to

1:44the point where it's not letting in as much sunlight and stuff. And so at at

1:50some point if if it's just getting more whitish, filmy kind of, then you replace

1:58it. So, so would you say the best thing would be just to replace it on a 4year cycle? I mean, that's what it's rated

2:05for. I mean, obviously, in a lot of cases, it'll go a lot longer than that before it tears or becomes unusable, but maybe it's starting to not let enough light through.

2:15Yeah. You know, I think that that's going to depend on your manpower and a

2:21lot of things like that, but um I I think you can usually get at least five years out of them

2:30and and we've got gotten six or seven at times probably. You know, that's really stretching it.

2:37But um yeah, so holes can be an issue. You can use repair tape. Obviously, if it's a

2:45newer plastic, like one that's only a year or two old, and you start getting some holes for various reasons, you might want to put more energy into trying to patch it up. If it's, you

2:54know, five or six years old, might be just time to start, you know, just order a new one and replace it. Um, but hail

3:01can cause damage. I mean, I know this spring down south of us, um, we had a customer that had hail that just went

3:08through two layers of plastic, just, you know, punching big holes, so they had to replace all their plastics. So, um, that

3:15that obviously is is a clear indication of time to replace plastic. I know we've had ones that have torn along the ends

3:23where the Yeah.

3:24where the spring wire is, you know, so that also, you know, if you put it on too tight and then it shrinks, you can have issues

3:33there. So, you got there is a little bit of shrinkage in it. So, you do have to keep that in mind. Don't put it on too tight.

3:40It depends on the time of year you put it on. You know, if you pull it, if you put it on in the summer when the the plastic is is naturally looser,

3:50warm warm. Yeah. Um then come winter time, if you put it on too tight, it will want to

3:58shrink and that's where you can get tearing.

4:01Inversely, if you put it on in the winter time when it's cold, you'll want to try to get it as tight as possible because as soon as it warms up, it's going to be loose. So,

4:10yeah, we had a problem with that this spring. Y.

4:13But I would just say um I for single layer plastic, I think a lot of people get too paranoid about every little

4:22hole. If it's single layer plastic, a few holes in it is not a big deal. You know, you may get a few drips in there,

4:30but um don't stress,

4:35excuse me, don't stress over the occasional hole because,

4:40you know, it's still doing its job even with a few holes in it.

4:45Yeah. All righty. Well, if it's time to replace plastic on your tunnel, we have replacement plastic for at least all of the tunnel sizes that Farmers Friend

4:53offers. So, you can check that out at farmersfriend.com. Until next time, happy growing.

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