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Sage, Arkansas

Just wondering how many of you use plastic in your patchs to keep down weeds and help keep the soil warm. We have used black plastic in our rows with drip tape under them. We have never used plastic outside our rows...but weeds and grass seem to be a problem....any good suggestions. Brian and the 4kids.

12/6/2009 1:33:18 PM

Corryton, TN

I have not used it for my giant melons but I have for commercial ones. I will experiment with it in 2010. I plan to use a pre-emergent in some row middles and round-up on some. I may even try some of the different colored plastic mulch. 09 was my first year with CC and I gave them almost NO care after a hail storm in late May beat them leafless. Weeds were definately a problem but I did manage to find 3 over 100lbs in the patch.

12/6/2009 3:52:57 PM

formerly RGG

I have been useing black plastic extensively and had a pretty good year last year. It indeed eliminates all weeds and definitely warms the soil. I think once late June gets here the soil is marm enough though and I am starting to question how the smothering effect of black plastic impedes the beneficial biological activity going on in the soil. There is definitely a tradeoff here & I am thinking about not useing the plastic this coming season or perhaps useing it on just 1/2 of the patch.I have read that the use of black plastic is very common in commercial growing so there must be good benefits or farmers would not go for the added expense.

12/6/2009 8:50:48 PM

Bethlehem CT

Tennessee, I have seen pictures in your diary of your patch. How do you water your plants? Do you have drip hoses under the plastic?

12/7/2009 8:15:12 AM

Rochester, Minnesota

I do not use black plastic. I have worked really hard to basically remove most weeds from the garden. When crab grass starts in, I dig out all the roots to make it go away. So I try to stay on top of the weed situation, and I certainly make sure that any weeds from this year do not produce seeds for next year.

12/7/2009 10:00:35 AM

formerly RGG

Watering never seemed like a problem.I just watered the hills with as much as 10 gallons of water each day and I never noticed any signs of stress from lack of water. That is with the excetion of one plant that died very quickly and I think it may have been from lack of water. It was my largest plant and I had failed to hill up around this palnt enough to pour much water into the hill.

12/8/2009 8:48:14 AM

Bowdon, GA

I tried weeding the first few years,but found my watermelon work ethic is not as strong as MMM's. I use landscaping cloth with hoses underneath. I like the fact that the node roots will grow down through the cloth. The size of the node roots has me convinced that they have to help the plant. I'm sure that plastic warms soil better, and probably conserves water better, but I'm afraid down here it would be to much. They might catch on fire if it got any hotter here. I may be the odd ball but I like the cloth. Either one would need to be staked.

12/14/2009 10:18:13 PM