I don't think using both together would work too well.
W-O-W work by the heating of the water in the chambers during the day by the sun. If your cold frames are like mine, they have wooden sides that would block the sun part of the time. Also, you would have to manage larger vines in colder weather if you try setting them out too early either way. Plants that outgrow their W-O-W too soon is a common mistake. There are some who don't think W-O-W add anything, but it has been my experience that in using them with an early ripening tomato (I use 4th of July and SunSugar) I am eating my first tomatoes about the time the ones set out the conventional way start to bloom. My last frost date here is about April 15th.

I use WOWs and it will give you a month to 6 weeks headstart...here's some pictures from last year:

This is when I first put them out which was on April 22

And here's what they looked like on May 6 when they were just about to grow out the tops

This is how much they had grown by May 19th, about the time that is traditional w/in our zone to plant...all the plants had several flower clusters by this time

These were all late variety heirlooms and I was eating tomatoes by early July...so if it's early yield you're looking for the WOWs do work...

I am a HUGE fan of WOWs.

I have used them for 2 years now and although I lose my patience quick while filling, I will never garden here again without them.

I plant in mid-March, seedlings started in Jan, and although I've never accounted for the ripening times of the varieties (duh - I know), I have had ripe tomatoes in June the past two seasons. My plants also seemed to still bear fruit through the hot months, although perhaps abbreviated, and then take off during the cooler months again.

I've read that plants can outgrow the WOWs, both roots and stem/foliage, but I haven't yet experienced this - and I grew yellow pear the past few years.

The first year, I did have some killing of the plants' tops but I think that was because of snow/water build up. Last year, I sealed the WOW top with a rubber binder, at the sign of bad weather, and had very little foliage die back.

If you're really looking to go that far out, 8 weeks puts you in mid-March, when temps can and often do go into the teens, at least in this part of Z5.

I don't think any amount of passive protection is gonna get your baby plants through that alive...I have often toyed with the idea of building a heated coldframe, soil-heating cables aren't all that expensive. Whether it would be worthwhile in terms of earlier fruit?? No idea.

But your combination would likely work fine at 4-6 weeks.

Nice pics, bluemater...do six plants do OK in that space? I'm assuming that's some kickin' soil!

So far I am extremely pleased with Wall o Waters, and I don't think another layer is good. Here in the Tucson area, I put out a few test seedlings on January 1. (Last year I planted out on March 1.) So far, despite several 32-degree or colder nights, the seedlings seem quite happy and are growing very nicely. We are fortunate here to have warmer winter days (high 50's to low 70's), but the nights can get very cold. I am hopeful that the WoWs will let me enjoy some of the later season varieties that normally would be killed off by our 105+ temps starting mid-June.

Bluemater, did you intentionally fill the WOWs so that the tops are narrow like that? Does that make a difference in your opinion?

Also, do you think that the red colored WOW are more helpful than other colors (such as green)? Also, would you say the red plastic plays a big part in planting that early?

Can't speak for Bluemater, but I deliberately slightly underfill the WoW's to make them close on top. This helps keep the heat in. On really cold nights I'll even tighten the closure by putting a rubber band around it. On warm days, I'll open the top a bit to expose the plant to light. I'm using light blue ones, and apparently they let enough light through that the plants are looking very healthy so far. I'll look forward to reading about any extra value from red ones. Instead of using red plastic mulch, I'm using black plastic to help further retain heat in the soil. In May, I'll change this to silver reflective plastic.

Russ in Marana, AZ

I see. I had been putting WOW around a cheapo cage, with the plant inside (someone at my community garden told us this was the easiest way to use them), which I guess held the WOWs open at the top. So when you use WoWs, do you just stake the plant, and have the WOW surround it without a cage to hold it in place? Also, we would leave the WoW in place even after the plant had more or less matured (by that time it would be impossible to remove the WoW). Does this make a big difference either way?

I guess I was also concerned that light might not get through to the plants if I let the top of the WoW close in too much... does anyone know if this should be a concern?

My WOWs tear easily - too careless with them I guess - and would collapse on my darling plants - truely horrifying. Last March, I bought bamboo sticks at Home Depot and used 4-5 per plant to create a tee pee.

I also laid black landscape fabric across the bed, cut holes in fabric for the tomatoes, dug the holes and planted the tomatoes. Using a 5 gallon bucket as a prop, bottom removed, I set the WOW around the bucket and filled with water. Before removing the bucket, I set up the tee pee. This set up held up through the winter and not a single WOW collapsed. By mid May, I pulled up the WOWs. I use the dark green and almost whitish WOWs (prefer the lighter ones due to easier filling). The red WOWs look like they work very well. I haven't ever worried if enough light was getting to the plants and haven't noticed any issues.

instar8...
"Nice pics, bluemater...do six plants do OK in that space? I'm assuming that's some kickin' soil!"

I am cutting back to 4 plants this season simply because 6 plants become too much to handle and I think it will help the yield as well (though I don't usually have much of a problem)...and I do amend the bed with compost and organic fertilizers quite a bit...foliar feeding during the growing season helps as well...

My raised bed is also very deep and fluffy and judging by the earthworm population it has developed, there's a lot of good organic stuff in it!

plantslayer...
"Also, do you think that the red colored WOW are more helpful than other colors (such as green)? Also, would you say the red plastic plays a big part in planting that early?"

I put down the red mulch (which you can get from Gardener's Supply -- see link below) before I plant and the reflected far-red light has been proven to increase growth and yield by 20%...I assume the red light from the WOW helps as well but as far as I know it's not been proven in any studies...also, I think the red mulch probably has its biggest effect in the first few months while the plants are not big enough to shade it...

The WOWs should be somewhat closed when you first plant and then, as the temps warm and the plants start peaking out, you add more water to the columns to open it up...

Here is a link that might be useful: Gardener's Supply

plantslayer - I don't use a cage, stakes or anything to support the WoW. As long as the fill tubes are about 3/4 full it seems stable enough on its own. By the time the plant starts peeking out over the top of the WoW, it should be warm enough here to open it up and place a cage over the plant. When it comes time to remove the WoW I probably will squeeze out about half of the water and just lift it off, maybe with the help of a friend.

Keep in mind that this isn't so much of a chore for me because I'm limited by space to no more than 12 plants. Also, if I don't do this, I won't be able to enjoy anything but cherry-types and some early season varieties, because our Arizona growing season is quite short, interrupted by 3 solid months of 95-105+ degree heat, mid-June to mid-September. So I'm motivated to push the early envelope with nature and to experiment annually.

austinnh... the WoWs I'm using are made of rather strong plastic. It would be fairly easy to puncture one of the tubes, but I think it would be difficult to tear them. There are several brands of these things out there. Mine are Gardeneer brand Season Starters.

In case it hasn't been mentioned yet, remember to add a couple drops of bleach to each tube to keep the water clear. Algae loves those sun heated tubes!

When exactly IS the right time to remove the WOW???
Thanks

I remove mine when I believe that the last killing frost is past. Sometimes, like this year, that's earlier than the traditional predicted last frost date. I stay prepared to protect the plants until about two weeks after the later date. Some of my plants were so big I had to cut the WOW to remove them.

I'm using the WOW for the first time this year, are you supposed to fill it with water, and then put it over the seedling, or put it over the seeding and then fill it with water?

are you supposed to fill it with water, and then put it over the seedling, or put it over the seeding and then fill it with water?

I fill 5 gal bucket, plant, dip WOW, place.

Dan

I cut the bottom off of a 15 gallon round container, and place the WOW around that. Then I fill it. Then I lift the container and WOW together and place it over the seedling, and gently remove the container. It's the safest (for the plant) and best way I've found to get the WOW in place. I have never had a WOW collapse onto a plant this way.

If you discover a leak in one chamber, that's not too much of a problem. If there are leaks in more than one, your WOW may become unstable and eventually collapse. Discard it, or keep a very careful eye on its stability. I used 12 new Gardeneer Plant Protectors this year, and only one had double leaks--not a bad ratio, in my mind.

Reverse the directions for removal of the WOW, if your plant is still small enough. If it has grown too large and there's too much danger of harming the plant, you can try removing the WOW by hand with two people, or cut it with scissors down one of the seams and lift it away.

Technically, you're supposed to put the WOW's out in your bed a week before you plant...this warms the soil for the seedling.

bluemater is quite correct, but I still use the technique I described for removing and placing the WOW. It holds the right shape and prevents collapse.

I plant the tomato, then put a 5 gal bucket over the plant and fill the WOW in place over the bucket, then remove the bucket. I do put 3 stakes TeePee style in each WOW "just in case"
Andrea

I used the Wows as 'pots' and left them on until frost in the fall.

I buried the Wows 5" deep all around in a circle, then planted a tomato in the middle. As the tomato grew, I buried it with soil to the first leafs until the soil filled the Wow to within 5 inches of the top.

I turned this 5 " over to the outside to seal the tubes.

When I planted the tomato, I fertilized it as directed and misted it lightly every 3 weeks with Eden Bioscience' Messenger as the plant grew.

I had huge crop of 85 day Celebritiy tomatoes that ripened with the 70 day Early Girls.

A couple of questions and suggestions:

(1) No one has answered the question of how to get the WOW off the plant. I am afraid that I will have to cut them off my plants.

(2) I used two kinds of WOW protectors this year, both from Burpee. Some were clear and had interconnecting tubes. The others were green and had individual tubing. The clear have been the most successful, although one was punctured and the tubes on another ran together. Four, however, remain supporting fairly large and healthy plants. The green ones, however, all collapsed on days when the temperature reached into the high 70s and low 80s.

(3) Instead of putting up the WOW before you plant, why not heat the soil by putting down black plastic? This seems to have worked for me, especially since early April temperatures vary so much. I just waited for a couple of warm days and then planted the plants.

(4) I have heard that you are supposed to use small plants but have been most successful planting 10-week old, fairly large plants that I had started in the cellar.

I have an answer for your first question, about six posts up from this one. It worked for me. I was able to remove the WOW from 3' plants without losing a leaf.

I used 12 Gardeneer brand WOW's, light blue-green, and had only one collapse, which was partly my fault for improper filling. (The plant survived.) I did use small seedlings, all of which grew very nicely and are producing fine fruit today.

I guess you could lay black plastic. I did that in addition to the WOW.

I use 6 W-O-W every year with 4th of July and SunSugar. Wife got them at a yard sale several years ago. What I do and do not do with them..I do not add any bleach to them for fear of spillage on my plants at some point. I plant small plants that have not been hardened off and then install the W-O-W at the same time. I have no idea how I would be able to keep them open to put the plant in after they were in place without difficulty. I time the planting so that I can remove them when the plants start to outgrow them. Otherwise, they might get too hot. My wife and I get on each side of them and lift them off. I then stake my plants immediately because the stems have not experienced wind and so are not stocky. In a few days they will toughen up. I have tomatoes by the end of May, not the greatest, but I have never been able to get the better tomatoes noticably faster using this method.

It is better to lay down some plastic cover 2 weeks before setting out the wall o water. The plastic warms the ground in a larger area then just the size of the wow. The plants should not be too large when transplanting as the roots will be outside the wow area and not be protected as well. The red colored ones will increase your tomato harvest by 10%, otherwise the main function is keeping the plant warm and color does not matter.

Here is a link that might be useful: Wall O Water