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Bill's query to Janet re warming the soil


Whoops!  When John Huff said this:

>I would elect to go with the plastic. Warm water would cause the plants to
>go into shock.

and attached this:

>-----Original Message-----
>From: William N Ryan <wnryan@JUNO.COM>
>To: Multiple recipients of list SQFT <SQFT@UMSLVMA.UMSL.EDU>
>Date: Saturday, October 18, 1997 12:12 PM
>Subject: Re: Amy's tomato-starting query
>
>
>>Janet,
>>
>>Since soil temperature is critical for tomatos and peppers, how can it be
>>warmed?  Would you advise covering the soil with black plastic prior to
>>transplanting?  Would the application of warm water when transplanting
>>help?

it was the first time that ol' Janet saw Bill's query.  This one never made
it to my inbox!

I understand that black plastic does help the soil warm up more readily than
clear or red plastic.  It's also more weed inhibiting than the clear stuff,
though I've heard good things in general about the red plastic.  Haven't
tried it yet, though.

When the guy on Victory Garden did the segment in summer '96 on how to grow
sweet potatoes on Cape Cod, he showed ridged planting hills with black
plastic on them and said that it's considered a mark of gardening expertise
to be able to grow sweet potatoes that far north and the plastic sheeting is
integral to success up there.

Using warm water at transplantation time would probably help for no more
than the first 30 seconds or so, IMO.  But I'm not sure it makes for shock
to the transplants as John Huff said above.

--Janet
------------------------------------------------------------------
Janet Wintermute             jwintermute@idsonline.com

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