This has always struck me as odd, since black plastic doesn't absorb a lot more sunlight than dark colored soil. But I guess it adds a layer of insulation, so that to the extent the soil warms up, it won't cool as fast. In that regard, any plastic would do. Clear would probably work as well as black. Fruit production starts to tail off for tomatoes when nighttime temps don't get much below 75F. Peppers and eggplants should do fine. But that's air temperature. Your plastic on the ground won't affect the air temperature, one way or another. To the extent you have plants growing on the black plastic, they'll shade it, and you won't get any ground heating at all. I mean, the idea is that once the plants are mature, the sunlight should hit THEM, not the plastic. I assume this plastic is perforated, so you can irrigate? You can just check the soil temp, and if it starts getting uncomfortably high, just throw some leaves or newsprint over it.

Wayne: I've got the seeded Star Brite, Long Crimson, and Peddler. Seedless include Sweet Slice, Orange Crisp, Cut Master ESL, Trillion, Super Seedless 7167, Crispy Red, SX7405, Cooperstown, and Pasha Red. Once again Star Brite is the clear leader. It way outgrew all the others and is the only one ripening fruit at this point. Harvested one today at 42 lbs and have a bigger one coming soon. Brix has been very good at about 13.5-14. I'll post pictures and a brix reading on the biggest one when it ripens. They are actually bordering on too sweet this year. And SB has good texture plus not too seedy. Not sure why I keep planting anything else when Star Brite works so well for me. I've gotten the water and fertilizer just right this year for high yields and great quality.

I do raise melons under cover and have used the netting on pumkins/ squash when young to protect from the squash bugs. I don't use the remay or other floating row cover, it is too hot down here and as you mentioned the plants don't do well due to lack of circulation. I use insect netting that is designed for outdoor use (UV protected) and designed for use on pollination cages. I have used it on a small scale in the past and this year I am using it on a much larger scale. The netting is very durable allows good air circulation, and good sun penitration. I am using it on beans and limas, field peas, and watermelons right now. ON the watermelons I planted the first patch 6weeks before the second patch. This allow the bees to pollinate the first and st a good crop of melons. When the secound patch started to bloom and the first female blooms set fruit, I removed all the fruit then covered the first patch with the netting. This allows the bees to pollinate the second patch. I have had the first patch covered for three weeks now and I have some ripe melons under the cover so no ill effects by covering and the melons have ripened. The second patch has lots of pollinated fruit. In another week I will remove the cover on the first patch. I have all the melons on the second patch marked and any that pollinate after the cover is removed on the first patch will not be used for seed only the marked ones. This can be done with squash also. Plant two rows with on variety of each family on each row.ie one pepo one mushata etc in each row. Alternatly cover one row on day in the evening. then switch to the next the next day or in a couple of days.This allows bees to pollinate mark each fruit as it developes when a good crop is set remove all covers. I use ribbin at the base and one of those little survy flags that the utility companies use to mark underground lines. Melons under cover. Patch on right covered on left open inside one of the covers over limas

Stacy, Also I think that the 3 feet deep holes are a stretch in the wrong direction. I find that watermelon roots are mostly horizonal in the top few inches. The roots mirror the vines above them a lot. I find that diseases tend to hit both watermelons and cantaloupes about the third year when raised in the same location.......fusarium wilt and mature vine decline. Wow! ....could I go on about this. Even plants raised in the vicinity can be affected. These maladies can be hit or miss somewhat depending on weather and disease pressure. Too wet soils seem to bring them on. Last year I had several plants to have the mature decline. All in unison plants wilt in daytime heat and recover at night. This goes on for about 2 weeks until the leaves get kind of crusty and some of the vinelets [side shoots] die. Half sized up melons are no longer fed so the crop on affected melons are smaller and under developed in flavor, sweetness, and perhaps texture. Still, last year I had some super watermelons, but no really good cantaloupes. This year nearly all the plants were affected in the gardens. Last year I planted a couple watermelons in a fence row away from my diseased patches. It was very wet and soggy there for a while and one plant died. Finally the other survivor took off. Wow! What an undiseased soil can do. I picked off 20 small fruits and still wound up with 11 that weighed 234 pounds off that one plant. Late developing plants often want to set one gazillions of babies...once I had 43 try to set on on a late comer-on! This year I set out 3 watermelons in the same fence row a bit up grade from last year. I watered them a time or two early on and had not checked on them for a little more than a month. In the meantime it had gotten severely dry here with only 1.25 inches of rain in a month and very hot. I was pleasantly surprised to find them exploded into growth and they have set on 7 fruits. I picked off one mishappen one. The larger fruit is nearing 30 pounds now and likely still growing. MY WHOLE POINT HERE IS TO MAKE THE POINT OF HOW FERTILE DISEASE FREE SOIL CAN MAKE SUCH A DIFFERENCE>