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Silver mulch experiment

theghostpepperstore

theghostpepperstore

So let me first apologize for the lack of cleanliness of my growing area. I got in way over my head with trying to manage 3 seperate gardens, a greenhouse, two websites, a farmer's market and a full time job.

These are the plants in which I am testing silver plastic mulch from Harris Seeds. There was some University reasearch on this method and increased yields in peppers. The main purpose of it is to confuse aphids and thrips by not providing them a shady place to reproduce. So far I haven't found a single aphid on these plants so I am pretty happy with the result. I won't know for sure about the increased production until the end of the year, but just eyeballing it, I would say there are 10% more pods on these plants, with the exception of the TS Butches which are dropping blossoms.

May 30th
From right to left - Yellow bhuts, Chocolate Bhuts, TS Butch T

IMG_20120530_064143 by GhostPepperStore.com, on Flickr

June 25th
Red Bhuts

IMG_20120625_064445 by GhostPepperStore.com, on Flickr

Yellow Bhuts

IMG_20120625_064425 by GhostPepperStore.com, on Flickr

Chocolate Bhuts

IMG_20120625_064412 by GhostPepperStore.com, on Flickr

TS Butch T

IMG_20120625_064401 by GhostPepperStore.com, on Flickr

Chocolate Bhuts Close Ups

IMG_20120624_080540 by GhostPepperStore.com, on Flickr

IMG_20120624_080454 by GhostPepperStore.com, on Flickr
 
10% is within the margin for error I would think...

Maybe they are 10% more effective for some other, less obvious reason.. Not to put a damper on things, but it seems to me you could have a 10% swing from year to year just from more/less favorable weather patterns.

Though if it does really keep thrips and aphids away, with or without yield increase, its wonderfull
 
I agree with 10% not being any real definitive result. This early in the season it is way too difficult to tell anyway. I do like that this stuff keeps my soil temperatures down by about 4 degrees compared to the other gardens. I think that will come in handy in a couple of weeks when we start seeing 100+ degrees regularly. The other issue was even after hardening plants the seedlings got burned in places due to hotspots. Now that there is a good canopy over the mulch it hasn't been too much of a problem.
 
Interesting thread. So the whole purpose of the "silver mulch" is to deter ahpids and thrips? Seems like it would also be helpful in redirecting the sun upward allow lower leaves a bit more attention as well.
 
LGHT said:
Interesting thread. So the whole purpose of the "silver mulch" is to deter ahpids and thrips? Seems like it would also be helpful in redirecting the sun upward allow lower leaves a bit more attention as well.
Click to expand...

I guess it is a multipurpose piece of kit. The redirecting of sun upward is exactly what deters the aphids and thrips, the idea is that they can't determine where the underside of the leaf is, therefore having nowhere to hide. Something else I forgot to mention is that normally when my plants reach 1ft tall I prune all of the leaves off the bottom 2/3rds of the plant to promote side growth. With the silver mulch I never had to do any pruning, within a couple of days the plants all started seeing serious side growth.
 
Sounds like a win win. I may have to try some out on my home made earth boxes next year. Right now I use thick white plastic so there is some room for improvement for sure.
 
I think the only drawback I have found so far is that in the Spring and Fall having the soil cooled by the mulch may not be ideal. I guess I will see the actual effect in about 4 months.
 
Agricultural yield testing is done by comparing yields in different parts of the same field in the same season. The comparison plants can be as close as the next row over if the parameter under test allows it. 10% is plenty big, and if that was a study published in a peer reviewed journal then you can be assured the results were shown to be statistically significant. If the 10% is just a manufacturer's claim, there is no way to know if it is legit or not.

Black plastic, red plastic, reflective mulch and all kinds of other things have shown positive results in the right situation. Good luck on your experiment!
 
Johnny's seeds in Maine sells this stuff too. I was wondering how it would work for the folks with aphid/thrips issues, and I see it certainly hasn't done your chiles any harm either. Thanks for experimenting and posting the results!
 
I will try to keep this thread updated. Also I want to say what a great company Johnny's Seed is. They rock, end of story. Harris seeds had this stuff at either a lower price or in smaller rolls, I don't remember which. I get all of my vegetable seed and cover crops from Johnny's though.

I have been looking for the research paper I read that led to this experiment. I cannot seem to find the link but I know it was either Tenn University or Penn State.
 
So the peppers in this experiment have started ripening and I have noticed a possible drawback to this method, sunscald. It seems as though probably 50% of the peppers have developed severe sunscald. I am not yet sure if it is from hotspots developing because of the reflection off the mulch, or if the sun is just THAT scorching hot this year.

I have also developed some pretty serious BER on all of my plants this year, including the ones in this experiment. I am thinking that has to do with the fact that they have been getting tap water for the last 6 weeks since we haven't seen a single drop of rain since May. They get Cal-Mag in every watering and weekly doses through foliar feeding but nothing seems to be helping at this point.
 
Can you list your grow conditions like amount of full sun, temps, etc. I wouldn't think that much sun would get directly back up to the point it would scald the fruit.
 
Too much fluctuation in water levels at the root zone is the 'root' cause (heehee) of BER. These plants really don't need that much calcium - tomatoes, which tend to like more than peppers, only need 14 mg/L. the problem with Ca and to a lessor extent Mg, is that it doesn't mobilize well within the plant. Foliar feeding does literally nothing as far as Ca absorption.

Some finicky heirloom plum tomatoes started showing sign of early BER this year. Upped the water content of the root zone and it went away.

I think it's funny how many people yell "CALCIUM - LOTS OF CALCIUM!" at many symptoms. While BER is technically linked to Ca deficiency, the cause is simply mobilization of Ca within the plants, which is linked to water supply.

As long as you're watering with anything that's not reverse osmosis or D/I water, there's probably enough calcium in it and the ground to supply your plants with as much as they need.

It's been REALLY hot this year so make sure the plants have enough to drink. I like to keep plum tomatoes around as a "canary in the coal mine" for BER and related symptoms.

Good luck!

theghostpepperstore said:
So the peppers in this experiment have started ripening and I have noticed a possible drawback to this method, sunscald. It seems as though probably 50% of the peppers have developed severe sunscald. I am not yet sure if it is from hotspots developing because of the reflection off the mulch, or if the sun is just THAT scorching hot this year.

I have also developed some pretty serious BER on all of my plants this year, including the ones in this experiment. I am thinking that has to do with the fact that they have been getting tap water for the last 6 weeks since we haven't seen a single drop of rain since May. They get Cal-Mag in every watering and weekly doses through foliar feeding but nothing seems to be helping at this point.
Click to expand...

theghostpepperstore said:
probably 50% of the peppers have developed severe sunscald. I am not yet sure if it is from hotspots developing because of the reflection off the mulch, or if the sun is just THAT scorching hot this year.
Click to expand...

This year is ridiculous in the heat and lack-of-rain department. Pretty funny here in PA since we got 72" of rain where 40" is normal. Peppers are doing a LOT better with insane heat though!

My equivalence of row cover is black (I use above ground flexible tubes), so no reflectance there - just thirsty plants this time of year!

This growing season is such that I think we will all see some EXTREMELY spicy peppers compared to last year. I keep my root zone during ripening at no more than 60% moisture, usually 30% if possible which definitely boosts capsaicin content. This autumn, I'm going to start keeping my toilet paper in the freezer! :shh:
 
FarmerGuy said:
Too much fluctuation in water levels at the root zone is the 'root' cause (heehee) of BER. These plants really don't need that much calcium - tomatoes, which tend to like more than peppers, only need 14 mg/L. the problem with Ca and to a lessor extent Mg, is that it doesn't mobilize well within the plant. Foliar feeding does literally nothing as far as Ca absorption.

Some finicky heirloom plum tomatoes started showing sign of early BER this year. Upped the water content of the root zone and it went away.

I think it's funny how many people yell "CALCIUM - LOTS OF CALCIUM!" at many symptoms. While BER is technically linked to Ca deficiency, the cause is simply mobilization of Ca within the plants, which is linked to water supply.

As long as you're watering with anything that's not reverse osmosis or D/I water, there's probably enough calcium in it and the ground to supply your plants with as much as they need.

It's been REALLY hot this year so make sure the plants have enough to drink. I like to keep plum tomatoes around as a "canary in the coal mine" for BER and related symptoms.

Thanks for those observations, they're very helpful!





This year is ridiculous in the heat and lack-of-rain department. Pretty funny here in PA since we got 72" of rain where 40" is normal. Peppers are doing a LOT better with insane heat though!

My equivalence of row cover is black (I use above ground flexible tubes), so no reflectance there - just thirsty plants this time of year!

This growing season is such that I think we will all see some EXTREMELY spicy peppers compared to last year. I keep my root zone during ripening at no more than 60% moisture, usually 30% if possible which definitely boosts capsaicin content. This autumn, I'm going to start keeping my toilet paper in the freezer! :shh:

:rofl: I laughed so hard I nearly peed myself when I saw The above post... Cheers!
Click to expand...
 
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