tomato row, plastic sheeting as mulch

11 years ago

Howdy,
From the Texas Vegetable Book, by Dr. Cotner; this year i'm trying his plastic sheeting as mulch idea. I think i'm suppose to leave that sheeting in place the entire growing season. I went with plastic sheeting from Wal Mart, 3.5 mil thickness, 10 foot wide; cutting the 10 foot dimension to 5 foot wide. I ran the drip line down the top of the mulch and then covered the mounded mulch row up with the black plastic. I also figured if you can do this with plastic why not try black weed barrier. So i'm also going to see what happens with cheap weed barrier covering up a row portion. I don't imagine i'll be able to reuse the black plastic next year; besides that it'll be full of holes, and i didn't go with UV resistant plastic sheeting. Oh and better be sitting down for this, but neither the black plastic or weed barrier remnant has been blown off by the wind; today gusts are northerly at 30 mph! Now to see if this something i'll do again. It wasn't that much work at all. I already think that from a water savings standpoint the plastic makes sense.

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Comments (3)

Okiedawn OK Zone 7
11 years ago
Nate,

It looks like you're ready for planting season to just go ahead and get here. Now, if only the weather will cooperate a little bit.

I don't use plastic sheeting because it sheds water and I want the water, most years (2004 and 2007 being exceptions) at least, to soak down into the ground instead of rolling off. I do use weed block fabric in my tomato rows and have done so for many years. If you put your drip irrigation beneath the weed block fabric and mulch heavily on top of the weedblock (or the plastic sheeting) you'll be able to irrigate your rows of tomato plants without growing a multitude of weeds along with them. Just be sure that you promptly pull any weeds that pop up in the mulch on top of the weedblock. Otherwise, the weeds will root right down through the weedblock and you'll have a hard time getting them out. The weedblock doesn't guarantee no weeds, of course, but if you promptly remove any weeds that pop up on top of or beside the weedblock, you'll be able to keep that area weed free with relatiively little effort. I never would be able to maintain our large garden as well as I do without the use of weedblock fabric in some rows (generally those with plants requiring wider spacing but not in those with closely-spaced plants like beans). I also have it in all my pathways every year which further reduces the need to pull weeds.

I hope you'll put mulch on top of the plastic once the plants are in the ground and growing. I mulch very lightly early in the season because I want the ground to continue to warm up to a point, but once the soil temperatures are getting hot, I cover plastic and fabric weedblock with mulch so the sunlight's heat won't roast the soil, earthworms and other beneficial soil-dwelling creatures i ncluding beneficial soil microbes.You can literally cook your soil in hot temps underneath black plastic if you don't put mulch on top of the plastic. With weedblock fabric, without a couple of inches of mulch on top of the weed block, weeds will get enough sunlight through the weedblock to sprout and grow and as they growth they will lift up your weedblock fabric somewhat.

The wind here has been crazy all day but none of my weedblock has moved at all, and only some of it has mulch on it at this point, while other sections are completely bare because they aren't even planted yet. I do think the wind has dropped some this afternoon. This morning it was gusting in the upper 30s and low 40s.

I'll be headed outside in a little while to cover up a few things with row cover (which I first learned about long ago from Dr. Cotner's excellent book) so they won't freeze tonight. If my forecast is correct, our temps won't actually drop low enough to damage the cool-season plants. But, we have dropped 5-7 degrees lower than forecast quite often this winter, so I'm going to cover up a few things just in case this is one of those nights. It is always better to be safe than sorry.

Dawn
JC (zone 7a, Oklahoma)
11 years ago
I have used Walmart plastic over drip-tape with great success. It is difficult to keep my sandy soil irrigated. The plastic solved the issue and saved a lot of valuable water. I did not experience excessive soil temps with the black plastic. I could not re-use the plastic, I think the UV degrades it too quickly. The cheap weed cloth you mentioned will likely suffer very quick UV degradation if exposed to the sun. This year I am trying a commercial woven polypropylene landscape fabric that is designed to be used uncovered, exposed to the sun, and will still last for years. I have a small garden so I am going to cover the entire garden with it, not just the rows. I got the idea from a Youtube video. I will enjoy the minimal weeding but for me it's mostly about keeping my soil from drying out too quickly.
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It's interesting how what works in one person's garden does not necessarily work in another's. I've tried plastic several times and never had satisfactory results. Don't get me wrong - I wanted to like it! I wanted it to work. Who wouldn't like the promise of less weeding, fewer pests, and increased yields? It just never seems to turn out that way for me. It had been several years since I used plastic, so I decided to try it again last year for all my warm season crops. Here are my observations based on MY garden (yours may be different): 1) Fairly easy to install. A bit tricky to get it tucked in nice and tight around the edges of the beds as is recommended, but it only needs to be done once. Overall, less work than other mulches. 2) Difficult to control moisture! I know one of the promises of plastic mulch is that it conserves water, but I found it difficult to keep the soil moist, despite adequate rainfall AND me sticking the hose under the plastic at least once each week. I'm sure a soaker hose would work better, but our water is extremely hard and full of iron, so it would foul up a soaker hose in no time flat. So at least once per week all summer, I would turn the hose to a moderate trickle and stick it under the plastic, positioning it between plants so as not to erode the soil around the roots. Move it every 15 minutes or so, when the soil was good and damp. My hope was that capillary action would help transport water around so plants did not have to be watered individually. Unfortunately, whenever I peeled back the mulch a few days later, the result was always the same... dry, dry DRY! 3) No apparent improvement with regard to pests. In fact, squash bugs were even worse last year. Not sure if this has anything to do with the plastic, but.. 4) No early ripening of fruits. In fact, tomatoes were later than ever. Then again, many gardeners in the Northeast reported this last year though, so I'm not blaming the plastic. My theory is that the heat wave we had in June sterilized the first round of blossoms, so we all had to wait until Round 2. 5) Black plastic definitely attracts snakes. This could be good or bad, depending on what variety of snakes we're talking about and how you feel about them. I saw them lounging on the plastic frequently and found numerous snake skins under the plastic at the end of the season. I can accept the snakes (in my case all harmless garters), but not being able to control (or easily monitor) moisture was a real problem for me. Again, your mileage may vary. This is just my experience.
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JC (zone 7a, Oklahoma)
11 years ago
I coulda swore I attached an image to my last post...

tomato row, plastic sheeting as mulch

Comments (3)

Okiedawn OK Zone 7

JC (zone 7a, Oklahoma)

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JC (zone 7a, Oklahoma)

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