You are more than welcome wildcat. I am just passing on things I have figured out or learned from others over the years.
I can't leave well enough alone so I am conducting another experiment this winter. I bought a big roll of 10' wide frost cloth 1.5 oz thickness. I am going to try using it instead of the 4 mil plastic that I have used over my hoops for the last few decades. The plastic sheeting available at fairly reasonable prices is not good but for one season down here due to its quick breakdown. I am hoping the frost cloth will be up to the job but I am not sure how good it will be if the temps get really low so I may lose a lot of plants this winter with this experiment. The blurb on the frost cloth is that it will give me 4 to 6 degrees of extra protection but that is not usually enough most winters. I am hoping with the cloth pulled over the hoops that are fairly tall the extra space will give more protection that just draping it over the plants. I have experimented with some frost cloths the last couple of years in small areas and have not seen any difference in the plants under it than the ones under plastic but we haven't seen any severely cold weather in a couple of years. I think we got down to 19 or so for a couple of nights when I first used the frost cloth and I did get some burn under it but so did some of my plants under plastic.
If this works it will surely make the tedious job of covering and uncovering much easier for me. With our sudden changes in temperatures many of which are wide variations can make it difficult due to the extreme heating up that can happen under plastic if the sun is bright. The heating up is a real problem if I don't get out there and open up the ends of the hoops with plastic but with the frost cloth it doesn't heat up as fast nor as much under the same conditions. When the temps get into the 60s and above then I have to remove the plastic off the hoops in order for it not to get too hot because just opening the ends doesn't allow enough air flow. I think it would have to get pretty hot for me to have to do that with the frost cloth. Now if it will just give me the protection I need down into the low 20s. Of course if we see low teens then all bets are off and I may have to put plastic over the frost cloth or double the thickness of the frost cloth. Keeping my fingers crossed.
I am also testing another cheap organic addition to my soil. I have been using cotton seed meal for years as a fertilizer and wonderful food for my worms in the soil. I found a huge pile of old cottonseed that were composting at a local cotton gin and for 5 bucks they would load my little pickup. The stuff doesn't smell great and it is a mix of dry seed and rotting seed so I may end up with a cotton plantation but I am hoping since it has been pilled up rotting for several years that it will continue to breakdown and be a good addition to the soil without many cotton plants popping up in my beds. I will let everyone know how well it works. I did run it by the agronomist at the state agricultural school and he thought it would be really good for the soil.
Bill
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