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Santa Cruz, CA

We are thinking of covering the patch with clear plastic to warm the soil in the Spring. We thought we might keep it down and cut it away where the vines grow. What are the down sides to doing this? Any other suggestions to get and keep the soil warm? Since we are within a mile of the coast we thought we would need some added warmth.

1/17/2006 1:17:00 AM

Menomonie, WI ([email protected])

Remember the soil needs to breath. If you cover your whole patch in clear plastic for the season. The heat that this will generate will kill just about everything underneath it. You may have heard of Soil Solarization which is similar to what you want to do. It is done for a few weeks throw a few bricks under the plastic to make an air layer and thing will really heat up.

1/17/2006 9:07:49 AM

Cologne / Germany

Even if you use "breathable" stuff (like weed blocker), there´s still a good chance you will have mold on the soil surface depending on the weather conditions. No good idea IMHO.

1/17/2006 12:41:08 PM

Wilmington.Ma.

Moles love that warm soft soil.I covered the soil to jump start my cover crop.Took it off last week .Looks like a race track.

1/17/2006 2:59:37 PM

Syracuse, NY

i think it was in 2001/2002, i covered my soil with
BLACK plastic to "retain" all the nutrients, lol...
cow manure i had spent actual money on....
well, the soil test in the spring said my pH had
risen in each patch by nearly one whole point (7.0>>7.8),
as an example, so only do this for a short time in case that is generally what happens....NOT ONLY THAT,
weeds, if they don't get killed along with your plants from the heat, will thrive under the plastic.
i did, however, grow a 307 nice orangey one from my 300 seed
in '04 and the entire plant was ON TOP OF the black,
Micro-Funnel type of weed block from Easy Gardener, Inc.
would have been a lot bigger except i did not soil-over
any of the vines! good news was? NO WEEDS!
maybe try that on one plant for your enjoyment.
the entire plant, but make a hole in the fabric under each leaf node and bury the nodes over with soil from nearby---eric

1/17/2006 6:52:02 PM

Syracuse, NY

depending on your growing area/size, please follow the Joel Holland technique of putting large squares of clear plastic on the soil to be grown in, followed by a hoop house and
clear plastic over that...get the most recent Joel Holland
video package---i would explain, but gotta go....eric

1/17/2006 6:58:58 PM

Santa Cruz, CA

Thanks everyone! I can see it's not the best idea. We did get the Joel Holland video and the hoop green houses look great. I think we'll try that instead. Thanks as always for all your insights- it will make our next season much more successful.

1/17/2006 7:22:01 PM