Re: 5 gallon buckets

Angela-
    I start my seeds as early as I feel I can safely be ready to put them in my
patch.  For me that is the first or second week in April.  By keeping the plants
warm until the weather picks up in June, the plants grow to a large size, and I
had my 941 Eaton plant spanning 60 ft. by the end of June.  Go easy on the
fertilizer (particularly nitrogen) this is not the best way to get a big plant.
Here is my method for keeping the seedling warm during the cold spring weeks.  I
use black plastic garbage bags filled with water to collect and store heat around
the plant.  Then at night I use silver emergency blankets (aka space blankets)
tucked under the edges of the garbage bags and pulled up over sealing the plants
in.  I may also use regular blanket if it is really cold, but this requires some
framework to hold the blankets up from crushing the plant.  This has given me very
good results and up to 25 degree increase in nighttime temperature provided the
past day was sunny and temperatures were dropping down to freezing overnight.  I
have considered trying to work some bales of straw or hay into this design for
next spring and get even more insulation.
    Concerning water conservation, if it gets to hot during the day, you will have
to "waste" water by using it to evaporate off of the plants.  I have seen
sprinklers that cover up to 20 ft. diameter circle that will only use 10 gallons
per hour, so if you found something like this to use water use should be kept to a
minimum, and plenty of cooling effect can be achieved.

Nic Welty




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