Re: seeds and soil temp

pump for rainwater,,, and the list goes on. My question to the list is how
important is soil temp.? We live just outside of Winnipeg Manitoba (50 degrees
North). We build a hot house for the plants to get started in each spring but
we often have night temps. between 0 - 10 degrees Celcius / 32 - 45 F in May
and June. Do you think that some sort of heat tape would be helpful? If so
in what diameter around the main root?
Dan,

What I would do is build hoophouses that are big enough
to take you through until the end of June, or whenever your weather is warm
enough. I used hoop houses last year with great results (until they came down
and we had unseasonably cool weather for 10 days...).

See: http://idahopumpkin.tripod.com then, look in May 2003.

One important point with hoophouses, they elevate temperatures during the day
(my experience is up to 30 degrees higher) but at night they drop down to the
ambient temperature. For this reason you will probably need some heat source
that you can turn on at night. I used light bulbs, but on cold nights you may
want a space heater or just use a blanket over the plants.

Weed fabric that you can lay over the ground is also worthwhile to hold heat in
the soil. Also, I may use it next year to slow down the "rain cycle" in the houses
during the day....... that is, when these hoophouses get warm they actually create
their own microclimate, and I actually see rain in the houses. Water evaporates
out of the soil and forms drops on the plastic, then these drops fall back into the
soil. One problem I had was that this falling rain would fall on my lightbulbs and
cause them to shatter the hot bulb when the relatively cool droplet hits it.

To be specific about your question of soil temp, the key to it is having a weed
mat on the soil to keep it warm though the night. My first year using soil cables,
I didn't have any plastic or weed fabric covering the soil, and the cables didn't
warm the soil. (I measured the soil temp.) But with covers on the soil, then I was
cookin. In fact, with covers on the soil and no heating cables, I was still cookin...
A cover on the soil is essential.

Regards, Cliff

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