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Plastic mulch, yay or nay?

filmost

filmost

I've been thinking of picking up some plastic mulch to use with my containers and garden beds this year. What's the verdict in them? If you use them, do you use black or white?

My reasoning by the way is to hold in moisture and prevent the nasties from laying eggs in the soil. Last year I was plagued pretty badly by Japanese beetles, as evidenced by the massive amounts of larva I discovered at the bottom of containers.
 
Here in the north, it's very much yea! We need every chance to warm the soil and create a warm microclimate for our peppers, eggplants and squashes. Keeping weeds down is a happy  bonus! If you're looking for a way to keep the Japanese Beetle grubs controlled organically, have you thought of using scent traps to capture the adult beetles and a soil-dwelling fungus called "milky spore" to control the grubs? Apparently, the milky spore works much better if combined with the introduction of beneficial nematodes as outlined in this web article.   http://www.arbico-organics.com/category/grub-beetle-control-products
 
One thing the plastic mulch could do for you if combined with low row covers, is to give you a big head-start at plant-out. That's what Devv is finding out down in Texas this spring. He only used the low row covers this time around, but it got him a 2-week head-start on getting his plants in the ground. Cheers!
 
stickman said:
Here in the north, it's very much yea! We need every chance to warm the soil and create a warm microclimate for our peppers, eggplants and squashes. Keeping weeds down is a happy  bonus! If you're looking for a way to keep the Japanese Beetle grubs controlled organically, have you thought of using scent traps to capture the adult beetles and a soil-dwelling fungus called "milky spore" to control the grubs? Apparently, the milky spore works much better if combined with the introduction of beneficial nematodes as outlined in this web article.   http://www.arbico-organics.com/category/grub-beetle-control-products
 
One thing the plastic mulch could do for you if combined with low row covers, is to give you a big head-start at plant-out. That's what Devv is finding out down in Texas this spring. He only used the low row covers this time around, but it got him a 2-week head-start on getting his plants in the ground. Cheers!
Click to expand...
 
Hey thanks for the ideas on controlling those little bastards. I will have to see what is available here, the hard part is translating the labels and finding equivalents to stuff available in the states.
 
Are you using black or white mulch or both? I was thinking I would go with white since it tends to get really hot here in the summer and I didn't want to have to change it out down the road.
 
Glad to help deal with the beetle bastiges... drive on!  :)
 
For peppers, eggplants and squash I use something called Solar Mulch. http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-5448-solar-mulch-4-x-50.aspx
 For tomatoes I use red plastic mulch. http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-7888-srm-red-mulch-4-x-100.aspx
 
If you used the black plastic mulch to warm the soil in the early spring, you could put shredded white office paper over it when things get too warm and remove it again in the fall when things cool down. The shredded paper could be composted when you're done with it and added to the garden soil in the next year. The reason I mention it is that two years ago I mulched some squash plants with the only paper I had at the time, which was shredded white bond paper from my wife's office. The squash failed to thrive for a couple of weeks while everything else was growing well. I peeled back the white paper and felt the soil underneath, and it was at least 10 degrees cooler than the rest of the garden. Once I removed the paper mulch the squash plants started to grow normally.
 
Good luck!
 
The black plastic works really well for soils that do not get up to a good temp, I do not know about your temps or your location in Japan but I'm sure it would not hurt and would help with the Jap Beetles, we have them bad here in Tennessee.
 
Just watch out if you have a lot of rain, I had one year where we used the black plastic, it rained quite a bit and rotted the roots of all my plants. 
 
The black plastic works really well for soils that do not get up to a good temp, I do not know about your temps or your location in Japan but I'm sure it would not hurt and would help with the Jap Beetles, we have them bad here in Tennessee.
 
Just watch out if you have a lot of rain, I had one year where we used the black plastic, it rained quite a bit and rotted the roots of all my plants. 


Oh that's a good point with the rain actually. We have a monsoon season here, so I'll definitely have to keep an eye on the weather forecasts.
 
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