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Bill's theory on the superiority of clear plastic

Bill DeWitt said,
>        Clear is better and here is the reason. Black plastic absorbs sunlight
>and turns it into heat... in the plastic. Right on top of the plastic
>where the wind can blow it away.
>        Clear plastic absorbs very little of the light. Most of it is passed
>into the soil, heating it. Then the plastic acts as an insulator,
>keeping the heat in.
>        I've tested it and have gotten almost a 30` difference.

This makes perfect sense to me.  In addition, black plastic came out first
and was supplemented with clear and then red.  It follows, given the
capitalistic market setup in play, that these new versions would not have
been developed except as improvements to the original. We are looking at the
formation of a fully segmented market here, on a small scale where
non-economists can follow what's going on.

It may be true, though, that clear plastic is what we want for solarizing
the soil (i.e., killing bad microorganisms) while black is what we want for
gently warming the soil.  Although I know almost nothing about this subject,
it does not escape me that the Victory Gardener (Swain) used black plastic
from a position of greater knowledge on the matter when he wanted to warm up
his Cape Cod garden hills for growing sweet potatoes.

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

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