Wednesday, October 20, 2010

New greenhouse cover . . .

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Bill Waldrop and I must be on the same greenhouse cover schedule. A couple weeks ago he had his re-covered, and Monday, I had ours re-covered. For the last couple years, I have not been able to maintain air between the two layers of cover because of small (and bigger) holes in the outer layer. After 5-6 years, the plastic becomes brittle and anything that touches it punctures holes. Also, age contributes to the weakening of the plastic and it gets "stress fractures." Here is the process:


 This is the greenhouse from a distance. I show this image because of the field that it is showing. I have tilled it with the Kubota and Woods tiller and leveled it with the bucket on the John Deere. It is ready to sow perennial rye grass and for transplanting daylilies next spring.

A crew arrived about 1:30 pm on Monday, October 18 to install a new cover on the greenhouse. Before they begin to install the new plastic, they remove the clips on each end of the greenhouse and allow the old cover to protect the new cover as it is installed. The plastic is 44 X 100' and comes folded on a roll about 12' wide. A steel bar is placed through the roll and each end rests on a ladder.


Two of the crew work on the end with the roll and feed the plastic up and over the crown of the greenhouse. At this point, they start unfolding the roll and the other two crew pull the ends of the plastic toward the far end.


Here you can see the crew pulling the plastic toward the far end. You can also see that the old cover is still in place to protect the new cover.

When they have the new cover pulled over the far end, they fold it over and start pulling the second layer over the first.


They are now straightening and evening the two edges of the cover.


They begin stretching between the two ends and the holding clips are put in place.


The old cover is then removed from under the new. 


The cover is then stretched to the bottom and the retaining clips are added. Below is the finished greenhouse. They still need to return and pick up the old covering. This cover should be good for 5-6 years. The cost of the plastic and the labor was approximately $1,500.00. Cheap by any means for the amount of pleasure it returns.


Now is the time to start planning to attend the Daylily Hybridizer's Summit in Chattanooga (formerly the Myrtle Beach meeting)  on December 3-5, 2010. For more information, contact: LeePickles@epbfi.com or David Kirchhoff at Hybridizer@aol.com.

Exciting things happen to those who hybridize daylilies!

Life is very, very good. Remember, when the bloom is gone, you still have your friends!


Lee


















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