Re: [tomato] Red plastic mulch
William McKay (Tomato@GlobalGarden.com)
Sat, 20 Feb 1999 16:08:20 PST
I have not grown on red plastic yet, although I plan to this year. Last
summer I had a long conversation with a local farmer who grows all his
tomatoes on red plastic. Says he gets a 15-20% increase in yield over
black plastic or irt plastic. Somewhere I read a study on the use of
red plastic and their findings were similar to this farmers'. This
farmer has the prettiest field I have ever seen. He grows two acres of
tomatoes. All on red plastic with white clover growing inbetween the
rows (he cuts it with a riding mower).
You gave me a great idea for an experiment, however. This year I will
try a few of my tomato seedlings in red plastic cups rather than the
usual six packs or 3 1/2 in pots. Will be interesting to see if it
makes any difference.
Bill McKay in E. Mass
>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.
>
>Gardens Alive sells a red plastic mulch called "Turbo-Tomato" which
>they say was developed by the USDA and Clemson University and
>supposedly increases tomato yields by 12-20%. I wonder if any of you
>have tried it and what the results were.
>
>I'm not a pure organic gardner, but I recommend the Gardens Alive
>catalog. It has some of the best pictures of pests and diseases that
>I have seen.
>
>Their phone # is 812-537-5108
>
>
>
>
>Dave Anderson
>Tough Love Chile Co.
>http://www.tough-love.com
>e-mail Chilehead@tough-love.com
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