Post by heavyhitterokra on May 27, 2020 21:57:53 GMT -6
The dangerous thing about row covers in my part of Oklahoma, is our tendency toward unexpected high winds. We had a tornado go overhead a few years back. It never touched down, but the next morning I had to pick up 114 tomato cages that had been ripped out of the ground, Tee posts, 1/8" inch aircraft cable and all.
The saturated soil from heavy rains had left nothing for the Tee posts to grip on to. When the high winds stirred the cages, I suppose they collectively created enough resistance to be picked up and get tossed about.
It didn't kill most of my tomato plants though. They were only about a foot tall at the time. That year, I had spread about 100 bales of straw, so mud didn't spatter them and the straw braced them from being pounded in the ground by the rains. Some had broken necks from being battered by cages though. I was able to save a few of the broken vines by cutting fresh, green stems on the bias, then fitting them back together by stripping Romex cable and using the jacket and a few ty-wraps as splints. That didn't work in every case, but some healed back together that way just fine. Once they healed, I cut the Ty-Wraps and Romex loose. The cages supported their weight once they branched out a little.
I think that was the worst gardening mess I've ever had to clean up.
Thank goodness I didn't have a hoop house back then!
I've stood out there watching my old hoop house in a 30 to 40 mph wind. It sounded like it was strapped to the back of a semi truck trailer, speeding down the highway until it finally ripped in half at a seam in the plastic, where it had been folded in the storage box for too long before they shipped it to me. After the high winds tore it to shambles, I dug it up, one hoop at a time and relocated it to a shady area. It has made a way better goose run than it ever did make a safe place to grow a garden.
The new arrivals in April of 2019.
Bandit's dream has always been to be a sheep dog, but a guy has to work with what he's got.
The wire catches less wind than the old plastic cover did.
This is Chester, inspecting my work, before Sweet Pea took over that title.
Last year, there were only 4 goslings. The hoop house looked like huge over-kill. Now, that there are 10 of them, the fit is way better. The goose run is their 'safe place' after going outside to graze every day. It's hard to put a price on that.
Instead of row covers, I've used milk jugs with the bottoms cut out in some years. They work pretty good and they are free. Once the tomato has grown to the top of the jug, you have to lift it off though or the leaves will touch the condensate inside and get cooked off.
The saturated soil from heavy rains had left nothing for the Tee posts to grip on to. When the high winds stirred the cages, I suppose they collectively created enough resistance to be picked up and get tossed about.
It didn't kill most of my tomato plants though. They were only about a foot tall at the time. That year, I had spread about 100 bales of straw, so mud didn't spatter them and the straw braced them from being pounded in the ground by the rains. Some had broken necks from being battered by cages though. I was able to save a few of the broken vines by cutting fresh, green stems on the bias, then fitting them back together by stripping Romex cable and using the jacket and a few ty-wraps as splints. That didn't work in every case, but some healed back together that way just fine. Once they healed, I cut the Ty-Wraps and Romex loose. The cages supported their weight once they branched out a little.
I think that was the worst gardening mess I've ever had to clean up.
Thank goodness I didn't have a hoop house back then!
I've stood out there watching my old hoop house in a 30 to 40 mph wind. It sounded like it was strapped to the back of a semi truck trailer, speeding down the highway until it finally ripped in half at a seam in the plastic, where it had been folded in the storage box for too long before they shipped it to me. After the high winds tore it to shambles, I dug it up, one hoop at a time and relocated it to a shady area. It has made a way better goose run than it ever did make a safe place to grow a garden.
The new arrivals in April of 2019.
Bandit's dream has always been to be a sheep dog, but a guy has to work with what he's got.
The wire catches less wind than the old plastic cover did.
This is Chester, inspecting my work, before Sweet Pea took over that title.
Last year, there were only 4 goslings. The hoop house looked like huge over-kill. Now, that there are 10 of them, the fit is way better. The goose run is their 'safe place' after going outside to graze every day. It's hard to put a price on that.
Instead of row covers, I've used milk jugs with the bottoms cut out in some years. They work pretty good and they are free. Once the tomato has grown to the top of the jug, you have to lift it off though or the leaves will touch the condensate inside and get cooked off.