Post by Digger on May 29, 2015 7:06:53 GMT
I've got a mini poly tunnel (3x10 feet - 4 feet tall - a giant cloche to be honest as there's no doors etc) over a raised bed of the same size and in a high wind it rolls off over the allotment!
Don't get me wrong, I'm totally delighted with the polytunnel and would recommend them to anyone - it's made by First Tunnels - here a link to the site.
I've tied string loops to the corners and use 1 foot pegs to attach it to the ground. This means that I have to pull the pegs each time I want to lift the poly tunnel which takes a while cos the pegs become well embedded in the ground, and re-pegging the loops tightly so they don't have any slack to rattle loose in a stiff wind takes ages.
I considered using some type of elastic tie-downs that I could stretch over the pegs without having to pull them each time, but my paths are grass and I strim round the poly tunnel every week so elastic tie-downs would just get cut.
In the end I ordered a 10 meter length of 2mm steel rope which I cut into short lengths, and intended using crimp ferrules to make loops of this as tie-downs which would be totally strim proof.
But of course these would still be a real faff, having to pull and repeg etc every time I needed to lift the tunnel. And you know what its like, being time-pushed, any job that looks like a pain doesn't get done so I'd just neglect whatever was under the tunnel.
What I really needed was some quick, easy and cheap way to release and re-tension the wire loops without having to pull the pegs.
After a couple of nights googling all things steel-rope related I finally came across these things called a Zip Clip.
They are actually adjusters used for suspending the giant lane marker boards from the ceilings of supermarkets, but are also perfect for tensioning and releasing my steel rope ties.
I've stuck a cable end on to stop it fraying and prevent accidentally slipping the adjuster off the cable.
I loop the loose end round a corner poly-tunnel leg and attach it using a crimp-ferrule so it's permanently attached.
You just pull the end of the cable to tighten it up nicely, it doesn't slip back - takes a 50KG weight - and use the little levers to release to cable to loosen it. Easy!
(A tip - don't scrimp on your cable cutters. I bought some cheap ones and had to get a decent pair immediatley afterwards. The cheap ones make a right mess of the twisted wires in the cable making it impossible to thread them through the adjusters and ferrules)
Don't get me wrong, I'm totally delighted with the polytunnel and would recommend them to anyone - it's made by First Tunnels - here a link to the site.
I've tied string loops to the corners and use 1 foot pegs to attach it to the ground. This means that I have to pull the pegs each time I want to lift the poly tunnel which takes a while cos the pegs become well embedded in the ground, and re-pegging the loops tightly so they don't have any slack to rattle loose in a stiff wind takes ages.
I considered using some type of elastic tie-downs that I could stretch over the pegs without having to pull them each time, but my paths are grass and I strim round the poly tunnel every week so elastic tie-downs would just get cut.
In the end I ordered a 10 meter length of 2mm steel rope which I cut into short lengths, and intended using crimp ferrules to make loops of this as tie-downs which would be totally strim proof.
But of course these would still be a real faff, having to pull and repeg etc every time I needed to lift the tunnel. And you know what its like, being time-pushed, any job that looks like a pain doesn't get done so I'd just neglect whatever was under the tunnel.
What I really needed was some quick, easy and cheap way to release and re-tension the wire loops without having to pull the pegs.
After a couple of nights googling all things steel-rope related I finally came across these things called a Zip Clip.
They are actually adjusters used for suspending the giant lane marker boards from the ceilings of supermarkets, but are also perfect for tensioning and releasing my steel rope ties.
I've stuck a cable end on to stop it fraying and prevent accidentally slipping the adjuster off the cable.
I loop the loose end round a corner poly-tunnel leg and attach it using a crimp-ferrule so it's permanently attached.
You just pull the end of the cable to tighten it up nicely, it doesn't slip back - takes a 50KG weight - and use the little levers to release to cable to loosen it. Easy!
(A tip - don't scrimp on your cable cutters. I bought some cheap ones and had to get a decent pair immediatley afterwards. The cheap ones make a right mess of the twisted wires in the cable making it impossible to thread them through the adjusters and ferrules)