HORTICULTURE

  Benching: If you intend to grow pot plants in a greenhouse, you probably need some benches. Benches enable you to raise plants off of the greenhouse floor, keeping them away from disease and often in better light. A tiered system of benches usually provides more useable space than if you were to only use the floor. Benches can be made out of metal, wood or plastic, and are usually either slatted or solid in construction. The surface of a bench should drain freely. Wooden benches if not treated with preservative can rot and may become infested with pests such as ants or mealy bug. Capillary matting (i.e. a continually moist, absorbent material, sold by some greenhouse companies) will help reduce the need for watering if used on a bench, to sit pots on. The duration of crop in greenhouse is the key to make the greenhouse technology profitable or the duration of production in greenhouses should be short. In this context, use of containers in greenhouse production assumes grea...