Watering in Greenhouses / Tunnels

Overview:

Unlike outdoors, keeping plants grown under cover supplied with sufficient moisture to meet their needs can often be a daunting task, particularly in very hot weather, when they may need to be watered more than once per day.

Luckily there are a number of things that can be done to make this task easier.

Examples:

Placing pots on capillary matting set in shallow trays part filled with water allows the plants to absorb water when they need it.

Damping down the floor of the Greenhouse / Tunnel with water every morning will increase humidity and reduce drying out.

Placing a bottomless carton or plant pot at the base of each plant at planting out time ensures the water gets down to where it is most needed.

Idealy these containers want to be 0.5 -1 litre in size.

Good shading and ventilation will also reduce rates of evaporation

Investing in an automatic drip system with a built-in reservoir, should take care of most of the necessary plant irrigation required, particularly at holiday time, this system is particularly suited to potted plants.

For plants planted out in the greenhouse / tunnel border laying a Leaking hose on the surface of the border allows water to trickle out onto and percolate down to the root system.

Both of these systems could be connected to a water timer to give even more control.