Post by canadamike on May 12, 2008 13:21:16 GMT -5
A lot of us are going to plant crops using plastic. Clear plastic is the big winner for warming the soil over the black one, but the latter keeps being used for its weed suppressive qualities.
A trip to the ag store can change all that. I was never keen on plastic, I did not like the sight oF it. Although I have used it, it was not every year and very sparsely when I did.
Now, with the melon crossing project and a restaurant and a CSA in the cards, my love for ''eye poetry'' has to take the back burner... and efficiency is of essence.
I buy 80% corn gluten at the coop, it is horse feed, if there was such a thing as 100% I would buy it, the stronger the better, and mix it with the soil, it inhibates root growth in germinating seeds, sealing their fate.
So prepare your bed, I till it, and weed it properly, whatever as already rooted will only feed on the 10% or so of available nitrogen per weight, and then mix in the gluten, add some on top to make sure small invisible seeds seating there will be taken care of - I like overdoing it, and it is a great fertilser anyway- the put your plastic and if you have time let it work for a couple of days, altough this step is not mandatory, but it will really warm the soil, boosting the growth of your ALREADY GERMINATED PLANTS, THIS DOES NOT WORK FOR GROUND SEEDED VEGETABLES, AS THEY WILL KNOW THE FATE OF THE WEEDS...
BEWARE, YOU HAVE BEEN NOTICED.
It is an excellent way to get both of both worlds, more heat from clear 2 mill plastic( dirt cheap) and less weeds. Nothing is perfect, you will over time get some, but far, far less, and much more veggies.
I am buying a picture chip for the camera I will borrow from my wife, and when someone here tells me how to post pictures and guide me by the hands as I am a techno-nullity, I will gladly show pictures of the system, and of my gardens.
Yours truly,
The one who did everything to avoid plastic use but has to mature at a certain point
p.s. A corn gluten and alfalfa meal program for your lawn will both give lots of nitrogen and trace elements to your grass while adding to humus, the gluten will take care of germinating weed seeds while the alfalfa will also protect your lawn from freezing early, triacontanol, the growing hormone it contains that I promote so hard for roses, cucurbits and solanacaes, has a chemical formula akin to alcool, hence frost protection ( try to freeze a bottle of vodka!).
You will ended up with the last green lawn on the street, or nationa l road or county road ( whatever) in the fall and the first green lawn in the spring, that is a promise, unless the neighbours do the same.
A trip to the ag store can change all that. I was never keen on plastic, I did not like the sight oF it. Although I have used it, it was not every year and very sparsely when I did.
Now, with the melon crossing project and a restaurant and a CSA in the cards, my love for ''eye poetry'' has to take the back burner... and efficiency is of essence.
I buy 80% corn gluten at the coop, it is horse feed, if there was such a thing as 100% I would buy it, the stronger the better, and mix it with the soil, it inhibates root growth in germinating seeds, sealing their fate.
So prepare your bed, I till it, and weed it properly, whatever as already rooted will only feed on the 10% or so of available nitrogen per weight, and then mix in the gluten, add some on top to make sure small invisible seeds seating there will be taken care of - I like overdoing it, and it is a great fertilser anyway- the put your plastic and if you have time let it work for a couple of days, altough this step is not mandatory, but it will really warm the soil, boosting the growth of your ALREADY GERMINATED PLANTS, THIS DOES NOT WORK FOR GROUND SEEDED VEGETABLES, AS THEY WILL KNOW THE FATE OF THE WEEDS...
BEWARE, YOU HAVE BEEN NOTICED.
It is an excellent way to get both of both worlds, more heat from clear 2 mill plastic( dirt cheap) and less weeds. Nothing is perfect, you will over time get some, but far, far less, and much more veggies.
I am buying a picture chip for the camera I will borrow from my wife, and when someone here tells me how to post pictures and guide me by the hands as I am a techno-nullity, I will gladly show pictures of the system, and of my gardens.
Yours truly,
The one who did everything to avoid plastic use but has to mature at a certain point
p.s. A corn gluten and alfalfa meal program for your lawn will both give lots of nitrogen and trace elements to your grass while adding to humus, the gluten will take care of germinating weed seeds while the alfalfa will also protect your lawn from freezing early, triacontanol, the growing hormone it contains that I promote so hard for roses, cucurbits and solanacaes, has a chemical formula akin to alcool, hence frost protection ( try to freeze a bottle of vodka!).
You will ended up with the last green lawn on the street, or nationa l road or county road ( whatever) in the fall and the first green lawn in the spring, that is a promise, unless the neighbours do the same.
