When winter hits, it’s time to look after your plants and keep them in pristine condition, before the warmer months inevitably come back around. Frost can harm, if not kill delicate plants and they therefore need to be kept away from the winter chill. If you don’t have space to move plants inside during the winter, one of the most cost-effective ways to protect and insulate your greenhouse and help keep out the frost is to bubble wrap it. In this latest blog post, we’ll be outlining the importance of bubble wrapping your greenhouse in the winter months to give an extra layer of protection to your prized plants.
Why Should You Bubble Wrap Your Greenhouse?
The purpose of bubble wrapping your greenhouse is pretty simple. Essentially, bubble wrapping helps to add an additional layer of insulation to your greenhouse. Warmth generated inside the greenhouse from winter sun, is held in for longer by the bubble wrap, with it slowing down the speed at which the heat escapes. If you have installed a heater into your greenhouse, then the bubble wrap will reduce your energy bills by making the greenhouse more energy efficient and better insulated.
What Type Of Bubble Wrap Should I Use?
It can be tempting to go for the cheapest bubble wrap available, but we strongly advise against this. Cheap bubble wrap doesn’t last very long and therefore creates a false economy as in the long run, it will need replacing more often and you will therefore need to buy more of it. Instead, we would professionally advise you to go for horticultural bubble wrap which is specifically designed for greenhouses.
There are a couple of main reasons why horticultural bubble wrap is the best type of bubble wrap for your greenhouse:
Firstly, horticultural bubble wrap provides that extra thickness that’s required during the winter months to give that much-needed extra protection. Unlike traditional bubble wrap, horticultural bubble wrap is extra thick and therefore provides unrivalled insulation. This means the bubble wrap will help to retain more heat within the greenhouse, to prevent the greenhouse being affected by frost during the evenings and cold exposed winter nights.
Secondly, horticultural bubble wrap is UV stable. Cheap bubble wrap, which is mainly sold for postage and packing, is not designed to be outside or exposed to the sun’s rays. When left in a greenhouse, the UV rays from the sun will break down the material, making it brittle and fall apart. Horticultural bubble wrap however, is specifically designed to be in a greenhouse and exposed to the sun. The UV stable materials used means it will last many seasons, rather than having to be replaced every year.
The Best Way To Bubble Wrap Your Greenhouse
The best time to bubble wrap your greenhouse is usually just before the cold weather hits, but after a good 6 monthly clean. Your deep clean of the greenhouse will ensure that the glazing is looking as good as new and that all dirt is removed before placing bubble wrap on the greenhouse itself. This means it will catch as much winter sun as possible, but more importantly not trap dirt or disease that may harm your plants while being over wintered.
Wrapping the greenhouse itself is a fairly straightforward task. Aluminium greenhouses will have a bolt channel in the glazing bars, in which you can attach lining clips, often referred to as Alliplugs, that clamp the bubble wrap to the frame. If you want to create even greater thermal insulation, bubble wrap spacers or Alliplug extenders can be used. Working in a similar way to the lining clips, these spacers attach to the glazing bars but pack out the bubble wrap by about 2cm. This air gap then traps a layer of warmth, meaning the sun warms the 2cm gap, plus the air in all the bubbles.
If putting bubble wrap into a cedar greenhouse, the easiest way to attach it is with drawing pins.
From experience, it’s best to run the bubble wrap horizontally, as you can use longer lengths with less joints. Where the lengths overlap or you have to have joints, you can sticky tape them together, meaning all air gaps are sealed and less warmth can escape.
Contact Berkshire Garden Buildings
Need to purchase some greenhouse insulation or fixings? Looking for a new greenhouse for your garden? If so, look no further than Berkshire Garden Buildings. We are experts in greenhouses and supply a multitude of styles including aluminium greenhouses, cedar greenhouses, and others. We also stock a wide range of greenhouse accessories from the leading suppliers. Find out more by calling us now on 0118 940 1104 or use our contact us form.