Content
You can wash a polycarbonate greenhouse in the fall using various means. Some of them are sold ready-made in specialized stores for gardeners, others can be diluted and prepared yourself. It is only important that washing and disinfection be done, since quite a large amount of toxins, as well as harmful microflora and pathogens of various infections, accumulate on the walls and frame during the season.
Greenhouse care after harvest
Polycarbonate greenhouses appeared relatively recently, but quickly gained popularity among both amateur gardeners and agricultural producers. Polycarbonate is quite strong, durable and reliable, and a lightweight frame made of profile metal pipe makes the entire structure mobile.However, during the gardening season, dirt, insect waste products, and various pathogenic microflora accumulate on the walls and load-bearing elements, which multiply intensively in conditions of high temperature and humidity.
Autumn greenhouse care includes several mandatory activities. These include:
- Cleaning up tops, fallen leaves, and plant residues after fruiting crops.
- Digging up soil, cleaning weed and larvae of insect pests.
- Disinfection or replacement of soil.
- Washing the walls and supporting structures of the greenhouse.
- Disinfection of the internal surface of the greenhouse.
If the shelter is not used in winter, you can dismantle various auxiliary systems, if any have been installed (lighting, drip irrigation, etc.). The less cluttered the interior space is, the easier it will be to clean and disinfect it.
Do I need to maintain a greenhouse?
If you do not wash the polycarbonate greenhouse in the fall and do not remove all organic residues from it, next year the greenhouse crops will be exposed to a whole “bouquet” of various diseases. It is very important to carry out a kind of general cleaning at this time, disinfecting not only the greenhouse soil, but also all elements of the structure.
When is it better to wash the greenhouse: in autumn or spring?
It is best to wash and disinfect polycarbonate greenhouses in the fall. This is due to many factors. One of them is free time, of which there is much more in the fall, which means that all processing and disinfection work can be carried out slowly and with the required quality.
It is also important that chemicals that can be used for washing and disinfection, even if they enter the soil before spring, are guaranteed to decompose and will not cause any harm to future crops.
Do I need to wash the greenhouse after harvesting?
The time after harvest in the fall is the most optimal time for washing and disinfecting the greenhouse. During this period, it is easier to remove all organic residues from the walls and frame; if you leave them until spring, they will petrify and it will be much more difficult to wipe them off. There is a direct analogy here with dirty dishes, which are much easier to wash after eating than to then soak dried food residues.
Preparing the greenhouse for disinfection
In order to efficiently disinfect the interior space, you need to remove everything unnecessary from the structure, leaving only bare walls if possible. Before starting processing, it is necessary to remove the garters, remove the nets, and remove the trellises. If auxiliary systems are installed inside, it is advisable to disassemble them and remove them from the premises.
How to disinfect a greenhouse in the fall
Before disinfection, the entire surface, as well as the frame, must be thoroughly washed. After washing, you can disinfect. Chemical and biological preparations are used for processing.
Means for disinfecting polycarbonate greenhouses in autumn
There are quite a few ways to disinfect a polycarbonate greenhouse in the fall. Here are some of the compositions with which you can carry out sanitary treatment:
- copper sulfate;
- sulfur bomb;
- potassium permanganate;
- bleaching powder;
- cutting sulfur.
If the structure is old, badly neglected and has not been disinfected for a long time, then formaldehyde is used to treat it.This is a potent substance, but it will kill not only harmful, but also beneficial microorganisms.
Sulfur checker
An effective method to disinfect a greenhouse in the fall, simple and reliable, but absolutely not applicable for structures with a metal frame. During the fumigation process, the saber releases sulfur dioxide, which, when interacting with water, turns into acid. The contact of such drops with metal elements leads to very severe corrosion, which cannot be stopped.
To disinfect a polycarbonate greenhouse in the fall, it is sealed with tape, and sulfur bombs, the amount of which is calculated from the formula 100 g of active substance per 1 m3 of volume, are placed evenly on iron stands and set on fire. After making sure that the reaction has begun and the saber has begun to emit smoke, the doors are closed. The room should remain in this state for 3 days, after which it should be ventilated.
Cutting sulfur
To fumigate with sulfur cuttings, you will need to mix it in equal proportions with charcoal and grind it. The mixture is poured onto metal baking sheets and evenly distributed over the area. In total, you will need to take 1 kg of sulfur for every 10 m3 of greenhouse volume.
The principle of operation is similar to a sulfur bomb, so this method is also contraindicated in greenhouses with a metal frame. The ignited sulfur is left in a hermetically sealed greenhouse for 3-5 days, during which time not only the surface of the greenhouse, but also the soil in it will be disinfected. After this, the doors open. It is necessary to ventilate the structure for several weeks; all work in it must be stopped during this time.
Copper sulfate
Copper sulfate is an effective broad-spectrum fungicide. To prepare a solution for treatment, you need to take 100 g of powder per 10 liters of water. Disinfection of a greenhouse in the fall with copper sulfate is carried out using a spray bottle, sprayer or sprinkler of any type.
Bleaching powder
To treat the surface of a greenhouse with a solution of bleach, you will need to dissolve 0.4 kg of the substance in 10 liters of water. After this, the mixture must be left for several hours to settle. Then carefully drain the solution from the sediment and use it to treat the internal space. The sediment can be used for whitewashing wooden structures. After treatment, the greenhouse must be closed for several days.
Potassium permanganate
Potassium permanganate is a well-known potassium permanganate. This drug is sold in pharmacies and is a fairly strong disinfectant. To disinfect greenhouses after harvesting in the fall, potassium permanganate is diluted to a bright pink color, after which the walls and frame are treated with a brush or spray. In addition to disinfection, potassium permanganate also enriches the soil with microelements.
Repair and processing of the greenhouse frame
During operation, the frame suffers almost more than the covering material. The metal profile collapses and rusts, the wood rots and turns into dust under the influence of high temperature and humidity. In autumn it is worth paying special attention to this. The metal profile needs to be cleaned of rust and painted. Wooden elements that have become unusable must be replaced.
The places of contact between frame elements and polycarbonate sheets are the most contaminated, since many different harmful microflora are packed into such cracks. Therefore, such places need to be treated especially carefully, sparing no disinfectant solution.
How to clean a polycarbonate greenhouse in the fall
You can wash a polycarbonate greenhouse in the fall using warm water and laundry soap. You can also use liquid detergents, for example, for washing dishes, such as Glitter, Fairy and others.
How to wash a polycarbonate greenhouse in the fall
The detergent dissolved in water is applied to the walls and frame elements in the form of foam with a large brush or foam sponge, and after 10 minutes it is washed off with clean water from a hose. Increased attention should be paid to the treatment of joints, places of contact of polycarbonate with the frame, cracks and corners, since these places are where the greatest accumulation of dirt is observed.
Processing auxiliary elements
Everything that is in the greenhouse during the season (containers, dishes, equipment, nets, trellises and others) is contaminated with pathogenic microflora no less than the soil or walls of the greenhouse. Therefore, after completing all work in the greenhouse, these auxiliary elements must be put in order, washed and sanitized.
Plastic containers and nets must be cleaned, washed, disinfected with a solution of any fungicide (for example, copper sulfate) and dried. All the ropes that were stretched in the greenhouse, as well as the wooden pegs to which the plants were tied, must be burned.This is, in fact, a consumable material and there is no point in disinfecting it. But there is no need to reuse them, since there are no less harmful bacteria on them than on soil.
Conclusion
It is recommended to wash a polycarbonate greenhouse in the fall, as well as disinfect it, even in cases where no diseases were observed in the plants being grown during the season. This is a very effective preventive measure, which allows you not only to get aesthetic pleasure from the look of shiny polycarbonate, but also to prevent the occurrence of dangerous diseases that can significantly reduce or even destroy the entire crop. A clean greenhouse is the key to a gardener’s peace of mind.
