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market-farming - Re: Row covers or not

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  • From: Lucy Goodman <goodows AT infinet.com>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT franklin.metalab.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Row covers or not
  • Date: Sun, 27 Oct 2002 09:26:53 -0400


According to a study snippet in Growing for Market. Spanish researchers
used row covers all summer and recorded temps of no more than 80°F under
the covers though the outside temps reached over 90°F.

This makes sense actually as the covers are white and white reflects
heat. I mean, if things are cooler under black shade fabric which
absorbs heat than it does stand to reason that a white cover would make
it cooler than a black one.

I found this summer where it was rarely under 95°F during the day that
we had almost no heat damage to plants under cover but lots of damage to
plants with no covers.

I know what you mean about doing lots of acreage. We usually have around
4 to 5 acres in crop and half of that is covered. Next year this will
double-woo hoo!

A note for those of you just getting into row cover use-start small.
There is a fairly hefty learning curve for RC's and in the beginning you
will loose many to wind, critters and heavy handedness and they will
come off and damage plants when you least expect it (or in strong
storms). I started using them about 9 years ago when the choice was
remay and it was expensive. I found the remay to be about as effective
as kleenex™ but saw the potential for insect protection and started
looking for better materials and found that the did exist and got hooked
but only after a lot of trial and error. My second year of using covers
I used a reinforced cover we bought from Johnny's. Nice idea that did
not work. The nylon string netting used to reinforce the covers came off
within 2 months and did lots and lots of damage to the leaf crops and
got into the soil and also did about $1000 of damage to a BCS tiller
(this was about 3 years after we tossed the stuff out). Won't use that
stuff again. over the years I got to experimenting with the different
weights and what I have found is the lightest weight to use in a
commercial garden is 30 wgt with 50 being better. These numbers BTW
indicate how much light is blocked. 30wgt = 30% of the light is blocked.
The heavier the cover the longer it will last.

I also have been experimenting with different uses for it and found the
summer uses go beyond insect barriers. They do a fine job of shading
plants and keeping in moisture like a good mulch. We also use them all
the time to aid in germination. Covers go on as soon as the seeder
leaves the bed and than as soon as germination occurs we put hoops under
the covers so the plants can grow with no pressure on them. I also use a
lot of it in unheated greenhouses to add layers



Lucy Goodman-Owsley
Boulder Belt Organics
New Paris, OH
http://www.angelfire.com/oh2/boulderbeltcsa

Looking for a CSA, Farmer's market or other venue for fresh local food?
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Voltaire (1694-1778)




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