Time to Put Down Plastic

[oosik]

Jeez, glad I got in early - its like opening a flood gate. Interesting, interesting. I have to go about 50 miles south to really find a good farmers market. And I've found that almost 100% of the local Chinese gardens got to their restaurants. Ha, ha - - weeding, a curse on the earth. When I had a large home garden I put the rows far enough apart so I could weed with my Troy Bilt tiller. It was always a challenge to till only the weeds and not the veggies. It will be very interesting to see your production differences between last year and this year. Anymore, I just don't have the back needed to weed a garden. My garden is a large hill of Butternut squash and one of Acorn squash.

 

[Western]

David, what are you going to grow? sure it isn't a cheap crop for the expense your going through. Specialty fruits/veggies? almost looks like a strawberry, or similar beds.

 

[EddieWalker]

We are just getting into gardening this year and have planted 4 rows, six feet wide and 150 feet long with a variety of veggies. We have room for at least twice that and maybe a little more. Since we are so new to this and lack any experience or knowledge of what is to come, can you explain what the plastic does and how much it costs? Do you lay a new drip line every year? Do you reuse it or get a new one? What are you growing?

Eddie

 

[Reyer Farms]

Looking good! Soil moisture looks good too! Is that a nolts? Your beds are 4" tall?
I have found it helps to lay in one direction and deadhead back to lay out next row. Does that make sense??? When you are pulling the bed you can't afford to look back, get used to how the rollers sound too so you know when something bad happens.

 

[MossRoad]

The plastic acts like mulch. It keeps the weeds down. It keeps the moisture in. It heats up the soil faster in the spring for warm soil loving crops like tomatoes. It keeps fruit off the dirt, like strawberries. You use less water and you spend less time weeding. You can feed the plants through the drip irrigation system..... etc...

 

[Otto Syracuse]

This will be a good thread to watch over the season. I helped my uncle make a plastic laying machine in the early 70's, my job was to walk behind with a shovel and fix mistakes or loose plastic while he drove the tractor.
We also laid clear plastic to start the sweet corn a couple of weeks earlier than the other farmers around. One tractor planted the seed then we followed along with clear plastic rows that acted like a greenhouse. When danger of frost was gone and the seeds had sprouted we cut small circles for the corn to come up through. After it was knee high, we cut the plastic down the middle and pulled it completely out. Man what a lot of labor involved all to be the first farmer at the market with fresh home grown sweet corn!

 

[snowbelt geauga]

I have been using plastic mulch for a few years now. There is a sizable increase in yield. I have been putting it down by hand. Hopefully not this year I ordered a Nolts 2 weeks ago but was told their is a 6 to 7 weeks back log.

 

[snowbelt geauga]

Calling for 1 to 3inches of snow today. Good thing I planted snow peas.:laughing:

 

[charlz]

We are just getting into gardening this year and have planted 4 rows, six feet wide and 150 feet long with a variety of veggies.

That is gonna be a lot of weeds!

We have room for at least twice that and maybe a little more. Since we are so new to this and lack any experience or knowledge of what is to come, can you explain what the plastic does and how much it costs? Do you lay a new drip line every year? Do you reuse it or get a new one? What are you growing?

Eddie

The plastic is mulch to keep the weeds down and the moisture in. It is quite nice to not have to weed pretty much every day all summer long when you have a big garden. I see the farmers roll up the drip tape at the end of the season but I doubt they re-use it.... too messy. I use the 1/2" black plastic pipe with those push-in emitters. Each spring I lay it out on the beds and run it for a bit while I go around and replace clogged emitters. Works fairly well, dealing with the 'extra' stuff and in the fall when you pull it off the beds is kind of a pain, seems to always be laying in the way of mowing etc. By 'extra' I mean I have certain hoses with different spacing. Some at 4' some at 2' some at 1'. What I am planting that season dictates what I use that year. Last year there were some cutbacks on water allotments and I saw a lot more drip tape go in on farms around here, especially in the areas where the soil type is kind of borderline for traditional flood irrigation.

I am also curious about the plastic costs.... stuff is not as cheap as it used to be. I haven't checked prices this year but IIRC a box of 4'x100' black plastic (4 mil? 6 mil?) runs about $16 at the local farm store. Only thing they have close to a row width. I would have to assume buying in bulk reduces your per square foot costs and maybe you can go a bit thinner?

 

[hunterridgefarm]

Dennis,

On the plastic I will plant around 400 tomatoes, 5 types; 350 pepper most will be 4 types of bell, with the balance being banana, jalapeno, and a few (5 plants each) cayenne, and piquine peppers; zucchini and yellow squash, cucumbers, green beans, okra, and a few other things. I am not sure if I will put cool season crops broccoli and lettuce on plastic this year. I my add those to the plastic for fall once harvest is complete, replacing one of the other crops on plastic.

On the part of the field not shown in the pictures I will have two 180' rows of Athena cantaloupes, and 2-3 rows of Crimson Sweet watermelons on plastic.

I currently have 100 lb of potatoes in the ground, 1500 onions, and some garlic that I planted last October. We will put crowder peas and fordhook limas on plastic or do those conventional.

I total expense for the plastic and drip is a little harder to figure since when I bought the layer it came with a full roll of drip tape and 75% roll of plastic. I did buy an extra roll of plastic 4000' x 4' for $130.00 (it may have been $140.00). A 7500' roll of drip tape is around $150.00.

So plastic and drip cost me $280.00 which will be an every year expense. It will be more if I increase the amount of plastic, which I plan to if this goes good.

I already had my main line but had to buy 400' of sub-main line and the connectors as well as a pressure regulator and a couple of pressure gauges, for a cost of around $220.00. This will not need to be replaced for several years.

So all said and done counting seeds, which I start in the greenhouse, fertilizer and lime I will have invested around $700.00 in getting this years crop in the ground. I will make that back in two weeks of market sales.

We paid for the mulch layer with last years market sales. Right now everything we make goes back into buying equipment and supplies. So after this year I should have everything I need and maybe make a little change.