Pros & Cons of Using Black Plastic in Your Garden & Why We Are Using It
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ก.ย. 2024
- We have quite a bit of plastic here at our Ramona location. It's a key tool for weed management, and I'll dive into all the details about its uses and why we went with it.
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O:17 Intro
1:15 Plastic in the Garden
Unfortunately, plastic is everywhere and has become deeply embedded into our lives, including in agriculture. We take a lot of steps to minimize our plastic waste and reduce our carbon footprint. We try to prioritize reducing our use, reusing what we have, and recycling as the last step. As part of that, we also purchase high-quality products that aren't going to end up in the landfill after a growing season.
With that said, we are using plastic at our Ramona location, and you'll often see rows of crops with plastic at the base. Why is this so common, and could it make sense for you to use it?
The primary function is weed management. Weeds are unable to penetrate the plastic. The seeds that do germinate (because it creates a warm, moist environment) aren't able to get any light and die out. Because we run our irrigation under the plastic layer, evaporation is minimal. That means the soil is staying wet. On top of that, the black attracts heat. It's the perfect situation for germination. Most weeds, though, need light to grow, and we deprive them of that.
Because the plastic heats up the soil, it also extends your growing season a little bit. We were able to transplant a little earlier than normal. That's a great benefit for people in colder growing zones so you can make the most of the warmer months.
But does it get too hot? Nope! Because we have regular irrigation and the plastic isn't too thick, temperatures won't get out of control.
This land was neglected for so long, and the weeds simply took over. We have several types, and four of them are especially tough to beat. They'll end up choking out our plants so we have to bring in the big guns (but never spraying weed killers).
If you have a manageable space, you can weed regularly and eventually come out on top. I recommend doing something like cardboard (like lasagna mulching) and mulch to suppress weeds. It won't entirely do the trick, but it's a great start and will make things easier down the road. Heck, you can even use some newspaper like my grandmother used to!
Because this is during the spring which is one of our busiest times of year, our time is limited so we are unable to weed all of this by hand. Until we are able to get dozens of truckloads of mulch here, the plastic is our best bet to help manage weeds and ensure good crop production.
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Oh the weeds 😂🤦♀️😂🤦♀️😂. I have battled them for 12 years and Bermuda is the worst. Why why why did our parents and grandparents think this was the grass to plant. Love the drone shot. Looks amazing!
Big changes huh?
Oh my God I'm battling some of those same weeds and I swear that Bermuda grass is Straight From Hell
The roots go all the way down there!
@@SanDiegoSeedCompany yes and back again🤪
Funny about you mentioning Bermuda as a weed. Our homebuilders in TX use it as grass!
First-time plastic user and new homesteader here. Thanks for the tips! Hoping this solves my creeping thistle and white clover plague problem up here in BC!
Ooo some stubborn ones!
Yes do what you got to do to 🥰there pro and cons I put card board and much I’m 80 can’t do what I could before
Thank you for sharing. I should use more cardboard to help in the garden, I spend alot of time weeding.
Check out the biodegradable “plastic” mulch. It keeps down weeds for most of the season and turns into compost at the end ❤
I have a small garden and not sure what kind of grass it is i have but it's the most stubborn thing i've ever seen. i've seen it push through a mulch of shredded cardboard. can't try wood chips due to price and lack a supply where i live but i'm sure they would get through even that. Hell i've seen 2 manage to grow right through even the weed barrier but it was just two so i could live with it. People can cry all they want about plastic but it can make or break ones drive to garden. It's crazy to weed out a bed and come back the very next day to see new weeds poping up where you just weeded.
Purslane is actually edible. I do leave some in my garden I threw it in my salads and soups.
How do you pull the plastic without using a tractor mounted lifter?
Your left and right Armies! And Time!
I love using wet newspaper + cardboard in my garden, but I garden on such a small scale 😅 plastic- especially if you can reuse it- just makes a lot of sense for larger scale farming.
Plastic Comes from the Environment. It's called Petro Chemicals. Woody Guthrie warned about it's emergence in the early 1900's in a song titled "Talking Columbia" in which he states.. "And atomic bedrooms and plastic --
Everything's gonna be plastic".
I use weed barrier here in Wyoming with Drip Irrigation. Fantastic Stuff! Helps with Evaporation and Weed Control. Maintaining a Garden the size of a Football Field with a low yield well by yourself? Not easy even with good weather.
Remember, there are about 15 calories of HydroCarbon in every Calorie of Food you Consume. Wake up America! Finished diggin my spuds yesterday with my two dogs.... ~ 700 #'s ~ Plenty of Vodka this winter! I don't know how I'm gonna drink it all?
Thanks for the info!
I just pulled a row of plastic, cut Xs, and planted beets. Will they come through fine or will it be too hot? I've never sowed seeds with the tarp in place.
I am surprised you do not use the decomposing plastic made from cornstarch. Farmers are using
Do tell more about this?
The Veggie Boys utube channel use it in their farming. They are a Pennsylvania family.
Thank you so much
Plastic... I use plastic and it works. Everyone saying we need to reduce plastic needs to invest in research to find an alternative. You drive a car that is mostly plastic, shop in a grocery store where everything is packaged in plastic. I like plastic.
I use black plastic to get new plants, fertilizers, and soil for my garden!
Where did you get that hat? I want it
We've been working on offering our own since this exact one was a one-time thing. sandiegoseedcompany.com/product/tools-and-merchandise/large-brimmed-san-diego-seed-company-sun-hat/
Purslane is very nutritious.
If anyone wants to bully you over using a roll of plastic, please remember there is a maintenance worker at a plastic manufacturing plant who is thankful for you!
Then why is it rotting in my environment in my front yard as we speak in causing absolute insane problems
If you are in organic gardener cardboard should not be used as it has forever chemicals in it that break down into the soil.
Does the plastic barrier get super hot? I worried about it cooking the roots
It’ll be fine because there’s probably drip irrigation underneath, but it will help warm the root zone. The only issue maybe is when planting new young plants like tomato on a 90f degree day, you have to make sure the plastic isn’t touching the stem.
Any concern for the black plastic becoming hot enough to burn plants that contact it? What if you were in TX?
After spending some time on your channel I thought I utilized my time in the correct way by seeing the correct video about Pros & Cons of Black Plastic Mulch. I appreciate your work.
It was really a nice channel and I was really impressed by seeing this video.
This video is very helpful. Thank you! So it looks like you place the edges of the plastic under dirt to keep it in place. Do you have trouble keeping weeds from growing between the rows of plastic? If so, do you just let the weeds grow there or do you do something to try to eliminate them?
I didn’t understand what is the name of the fourth weed?
Purslane was the fourth weed mentioned! It’s the worst!
@@monikaam9449 thank you. Yea it’s the worse problem in my garden
The four terrible weeds we have is: purslane, Bermuda, nutsedge and bindweed.
Purslane is edible
I have the same terrible weeds here in upstate NY.
Hope this video helps!
i wonder if you have experimented with bio360 or other bioplastic agricultural products?
We have not- do tell us more.
*How do you get rid of nutsedge?*
I put in 18" raised beds over lawn and used A LOT of cardboard in the bottom thinking there was no way the nutsedge would find a way through...
Now it's borrowing up through my barriers and infiltrating and spreading through my garden beds.
I started pulling it out by hand. I was thinking I could "wear it out," that is, cause it to use up all it's energy in it's nut and eventually die back....
I saw an article that said pulling nutsedge is a big mistake because it actually triggers a hormone that causes the sedge to proliferate with vigor. It may be true because I am seeing it come up in clusters and where I've dug down deep to root it out I am finding that it is branching underground and sending up multiple shoots.
I saw another article that said molasses was the only effective organic way to eliminate nutsedge. It feeds microscopic life in the soil that will eat the nuts and roots of the sedge and works in about three applications.
Have you tried this? What affect might it have on my desirable garden plants - especially root crops?
And advice would be GREATLY APPRECIATED 👍🥵
We cannot is cardboard on the farm since it is not practical on a tractor level. However, on our 1 acre farm which is hand scale, we do use tons of cardboard and mulch which helps a lot but we still have to pull the nutsedge by hand deliberately getting out the underground “nut”
@@SanDiegoSeedCompany Hey, thanks for the reply. You must be busy because my question wasn't about cardboard - that doesn't work - I was wanting to know if you have tried MOLASSES - what was the result after three applications and does it have any adverse affects on ROOT CROPS.
I'M TYPING THIS IN CAPS TO MAKE IT EASIER FOR YOU TO FIND THE "NUT" OF THE CONTENT, LOL
Have you tried solarization at all? Obviously on non-planted areas.
Yes we have with very mixed luck.
What's that?
@@mamamj19 it's when you cover an area with clear plastic to heat up the soil and kill the weeds.
@@SanDiegoSeedCompany I’ve struggled to keep the ground covered because of the wind here in Florida. Interesting to hear about your results.
Purslane is good to eat
I definitely grab off little bit for a snack when I see it