Paperclip Insulating your greenhouse with bubble wrap: A complete guide Insulating your greenhouse with bubble wrap: A complete guide

Insulating your greenhouse with bubble wrap: A complete guide

Andrew White

Andrew White

Rhino's Gardening Enthusiast & Greenhouse Expert

Greenhouses do an amazing job in summer months of containing heat and creating the best conditions for growing. But as the days get shorter, the sun lower and the cold sets in, every greenhouse owner has a decision to make about how to care for plants over the winter months. Using bubble wrap as insulation has been growing in popularity, and, with a few helpful tips, can be a relatively easy and affordable way to both extend the growing season and protect plants in winter.

 

Why should you consider using bubble wrap for greenhouse insulation?

Tender and less-hardy plants won’t survive the lower temperatures and reduced sunlight of our British winters without a helping hand. A greenhouse offers some protection from wind, ice and potential snow, but without addressing the issue of warmth, all the care that has gone into growing and tending for your plants could be undone. Greenhouse gardeners are left with the choice of either adding heat or insulating.

Traditionally, plants have been insulated using fleece or burlap, and more recently with horticultural fleece, a readily available plastic alternative to natural fleece.

A greenhouse offers us the opportunity to maintain a higher temperature throughout the space, and some gardeners use electric or oil heaters to heat their greenhouses. This, of course, comes with ongoing costs and maintenance, leading many to lean towards insulation, for both financial and environmental reasons. And of course, many will choose a combination of both.

Bubble wrap as an insulator is a lower-cost way of containing precious heat from sunlight during the day, and stopping temperatures from dropping quite as much overnight.

 

Why is bubble wrap a good greenhouse insulator?

Bubble wrap insulates in the same way as double-glazing. The air pockets in the wrap create a buffer between the outside and inside temperatures. They heat up from sunlight during the day, and then slow the transfer of heat out into the cold nights. Just like in a double-glazed house, this insulation helps to contain the heat, retaining valuable degrees in heat.

Impact of bubble wrap

 

Choosing the right bubble wrap for your greenhouse

If you’ve decided insulation is your preferred option, the first step is choosing your bubble wrap. Packing wrap, while cheap, will not be up to the task. It’s not made to withstand the elements, and the bubbles have not been designed with insulation in mind. It’s recommended that you invest in horticultural bubble wrap, which is more durable and has larger ‘bubbles’, so is significantly more effective. It has been made to withstand the cold and UV from sunlight, so it can also be reused for several seasons.

Before buying your bubble wrap, make sure you have your measurements ready. The best way of holding the heat is to have as few joining sections as possible, and rolls come in multiple widths. In general, the wider the better, so that you can cover more of the wall in one go.

 

Preparing to bubble wrap your greenhouse

The best time to wrap a greenhouse is just after a big autumn clean, which may take place in October, at the end of your growing season. This means you can make sure that dirt and any pests have been removed before it goes up. It’s also a good idea to make sure the greenhouse has been aired out and has dried properly after the cleaning, because the bubble wrap will be covering your vents, and you won’t want to trap in excess moisture.

Ideally, you’ll want someone on hand to help as you do it, especially when it comes to the roof panes – but if you do have