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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] row covers and flea beetles and white-on-blackmulch

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  • From: "Beth Spaugh" <lists AT rhomestead.com>
  • To: "'Market Farming'" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] row covers and flea beetles and white-on-blackmulch
  • Date: Fri, 15 May 2009 11:33:34 -0400

Watch out with unused white on black. I bought a roll in 2006. Didn't use it
until 2007. It broke into pieces and strips soon after putting it down. Was
impossible to get out of the field. Turns out there were defective rolls
sold in 2006, but since I didn't make my claim until 2007 I didn't get
reimbursed. Check it before you put much down. I had the manufacture's
representative's contact, but his accent was so thick I couldn't understand
him on the phone and gave up.

Beth Spaugh
Rehoboth Homestead, Peru, NY
Farm Fresh Food Club CSA - http://rhomestead.com
Garden fresh vegetables, organically grown, and pastured chicken, duck, and
geese

"How we eat determines, to a considerable extent, how the world is used." -
Wendell Berry

"Without power over our food, any notion of democracy is empty." - Frances
Moore Lappe
-----Original Message-----
From: market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Allan
Balliett
Sent: Friday, May 15, 2009 7:01 AM
To: Market Farming
Subject: [Market-farming] row covers and flea beetles and
white-on-blackmulch

I'd like to grow a decent crop of rapini for the CSA this early summer.

Flea beetles are a big problem for us.

My early experiments with row cover and flea beetles gave me crops
that were devoured by flea beetles when I finally lifted the row
cover. For this reason, I've remained dubious.

But I hear so many proclaim the benefits of row cover that I'm ready
to try again.

One error I apparently made was that I didn't put the row covers on
on the day of seeding. Is this a necessity? In an area of the garden
known to have flea beetles is bare soil/worked soil enough to repel
them for a while or do you spray a repellant or insecticide on the
bare soil before putting on the row cover?

I have a roll of the white-on-black plastic mulch that I've never
used. I'm wondering if those of you who use it think it w.b. a good
plastic to use with a row covered raab/rapini planting. (I'm
concerned about leaving the row cover on until harvest, so I don't
want to have to worry about weeds.

And, do I have it straight on this white-on-black plastic mulch? It
really will COOL the soil rather than heat it, thereby prolonging the
non-bolting life of brassicas grown on it?

Thanks for listening.

-Allan in WV
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