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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] Holding Down Row Cover

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  • From: Road's End Farm <organic87 AT frontiernet.net>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Holding Down Row Cover
  • Date: Sat, 5 May 2012 09:23:09 -0400


I use repins, two on each side of each hoop, and find that this works in most wind. Occasionally a really strong wind will pull up covers and it's necessary to run out and replace pins and/or add rocks or other weight. The advantages of the repins are multiple: they allow for easy removal and replacement of the row cover; and I can carry enough for several hundred feet of row cover easily, in one hand, in a five gallon bucket, which means I don't have large quantities of heavy bulky stuff to haul into and around the field when placing the row cover, or to haul back out of the field when I'm done with it and need to mow or disc.

Part of the trick is to make sure the soil is firm (step on loose soil to tamp it down before setting pins) and put the two pins at each point in at different angles. -- It occurs to me that they may not work as well in sandy soil as they do in mine, which has a fair amount of clay.

If you have a lot of really strong wind, there are actually heavy plastic bags sold for the purpose; they're UV treated and last for years. You fill each one with as much soil as you think necessary (or as much as you want to pick up over and over). I suppose you could empty them when removing from field and refill each time but filling them is a nuisance so we don't. They won't tear the plastic and make it relatively easy to remove and replace; but it takes a significant bulk of them (once full) to weight down a few rows of row cover and they're a lot harder to schlep around than the repins. I think that would also apply to rebar and bricks, though; and the smooth plastic doesn't rip the covers.


-- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 6A now I think
Fresh-market organic produce, small scale







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