Re: [tomato] Red plastic mulch
John and Jan Taylor (Tomato@GlobalGarden.com)
Sat, 20 Feb 1999 14:24:43 -0600
Oddly enough, this year I have started a variety of tomatoes in red
plastic cups and the difference in those and the ones started in 1"
packs (the little plastic 1" square x 9 "holes" per pack...common seed
starter pack..) are great.
Here is what is planted where...
Before contacting Chuck and deciding to do Heirlooms this year, I had
started some hybrid beefsteak tomatoes in the plastic packs.
I started all the heirlooms in red plastic cups....(I had run out of the
packs, and wanted to label the red plastic cups to know which heirloom
plant was which)...
I started the hybrids a full 3 weeks before the heirlooms. The hybrids
are just now peeking their heads up good....the heirlooms are already
putting on 2nd and 3rd leaves.
It could of course be the difference in hybrids and heirlooms, but with
identical soil conditions, identical lighting conditions, I thought
there might really be a difference in the container.
Would like to know more about the discussion on the 'red reflective
light' you mentioned...
Note on how I am doing the red plastic cups...I am filling them 3/4 of
the way with a loose 'starter' soil.....and cutting slits on the bottom
on two sides with my scissors for drainage...all of this sits on
shelving w/grow light source....
Looking forward to this discussion....
Jan Taylor
> We have a nursery specializing in perennials, mostly daylilies and
> belong to a daylily mailing list. Yesterday a hybridizer mentioned
> that his daylily seedlings were three times larger when started in
> red plastic cups versus white insulated cups. This led to a
> discussion on reflected red light.
>
> Dave Anderson
> Tough Love Chile Co.
> http://www.tough-love.com
> e-mail Chilehead@tough-love.com