securing the Winter Palace cover

A couple of people have asked me how we secured the plastic to the pvc frame of the hoophouse.  We used 2 methods.  In some places, we pinched the plastic between the base or a purlin with a piece of old wood lathe and used our brad nailer to nail them together.  This works best where the plastic won’t be removed because it leaves holes in the plastic cover.

For the open end of the Winter Palace, or on low hoops used in the garden, we used plastic clips which fit tightly over the conduit, pinching the cover in place.  When I purchased a second shade cloth from Lee Valley, I also the white clips seen holding the shade cover on, but they were expensive and I was concerned the UV would make the plastic brittle over time.

Nonetheless, we had them, so we used them.  I didn’t like the squared edges, feeling they were more likely to tear the plastic, so we cut up an old microfiber cleaning rag to put between the clip and the plastic cover, adding some cushion and making the fit a bit more snug.

We needed a few more clips to securely fasten the  cover on the Winter Palace and the tractor cover.  Dan came up with the perfect solution (of course).  Using a piece of 1″ (outside diameter) black pvc pipe procured from our local transfer station (aka dump) he fashioned a clip by cutting the pipe into short lengths, then cutting them lengthwise to open the pipe.  He actually cut out about 1/4″ of the pipe, then rounded the ends slightly to minimize risk of tearing.  Perfect!

I don’t know how long this clip will last given UV exposure, but it is cheap enough that being short-lived won’t be a problem.  Plus, we have more pvc pipe, and I’m sure we’ll be able to find more in the future, recyclers that we are.