Anyone solarize their garden?

[HunkieDorie23]

I order my seeds from heirloom seeds and they had a thing on their web site about solarizing your garden to kill weeds and bilghts, fungus and the like and recommend that you do this every 4-5 years. I have every inch of my garden accounted for this summer but I was thinking that when the onions, kohlrabi's, cucumber and potaotes are done I could do that part. With rotation I could do the whole thing in late Aug/Sept every year as recommended.

Anyone else ever heard of this or are you doing it? Does it work? I am having a terrible time with septoria leaf spot here and would love to get rid of it.

 

[journey11]

I used 6mil black plastic on one quad of my garden last summer. I did it in August when it was really hot and was able to annihilate the quackgrass that overtook that area. Fried it! Left a clean line down the edge where the plastic was.

I am not sure how hot it has to get to kill different things. I tried both black and clear plastic this spring, but it never really got hot enough. As far as weeds go, the clear seemed to do better with the lower temps and did at least kill the chickweed, nothing else though.

I know an older gardener around here that uses clear plastic on his garden every spring. He doesn't keep it on very long it seems, but he waits until last minute to do it and doesn't get in any hurry to plant. He has a very nice garden every year.

 

[patandchickens]

In the northern US it is a bit dependant on the season's weather. Last year it was so often cloudy that I doubt hardly ANYONE in these areas was able to get soil to heat up very well!

I have never used it myself to try to sterilize out a disease, but would certainly try it if I had that problem. I've used it to kill grass/weeds/seeds and am quite happy with it. The key is to start early and do it long; use CLEAR not black plastic; seal the edges very well by shovelling dirt all over them, and hope for lots and lots of sunny weather.

Works good to warm up soil for early spring planting, too... obviously you don't get nearly as much solarization that time of year but then you're not trying to kill things, just take the chill off.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[hoodat]

My biggest PITA here is Bermuda grass and it would probably love the heat.

 

[chills]

i read up on it on the internet and thought it would eliminate the bad nematodes that i think i may have, but didnt get started early enough and only have small areas to grow in. On my list of to do for next year, maybe i'll get the cover crop down sooner and the plastic on, then get the tomatoes in .... i figure i'll try it and see ..

 

[hoodat]

i read up on it on the internet and thought it would eliminate the bad nematodes that i think i may have, but didnt get started early enough and only have small areas to grow in. On my list of to do for next year, maybe i'll get the cover crop down sooner and the plastic on, then get the tomatoes in .... i figure i'll try it and see ..

Marigolds will kill nematodes. Use a lot of them and turn them under after they flower.

 

[HunkieDorie23]

It stated to use clear plastic, you have to till it to loosen and expose seeds, roots, etc, then you wet it because they stated that it helps it to heat up. Then you cover it with clear plastic, fasten it down then (especially in cooler climates) to add another layer of plastic to trap air between the plastics and heat it even more. Then you leave it for 5-6 wks and it really needs to be done when it is hot. So I was thinking that August would be good to try it here.

 

[RickF]

It stated to use clear plastic, you have to till it to loosen and expose seeds, roots, etc, then you wet it because they stated that it helps it to heat up. Then you cover it with clear plastic, fasten it down then (especially in cooler climates) to add another layer of plastic to trap air between the plastics and heat it even more. Then you leave it for 5-6 wks and it really needs to be done when it is hot. So I was thinking that August would be good to try it here.

Do you have a link? I'd like to read up more on this.. Our front yard is overtaken by bermuda and some is about 1 foot tall in places that get more water. I was thinking of mowing it like a lawn and then heavily wetting it and putting down black plastic for the rest of the summer. We haven't got to the hottest part of the summer yet and only live about a mile from the ocean so we don't get as hot as say Whittier (CA) which is more inland from us. However, we should get temps in the 90's for several days (or longer) and perhaps that alone would be sufficient to nuke large parts of the weeds.. Iwonder if I could find a way to put a thermometer in the ground to measure soil temps as we go.. Might be an interesting science experiment..

So.. Black plastic or clear? I was thinking about getting it from the local landscape supply (Aqua-Flo) in hopefully larger (wider) rolls than I might find at the local HD or Lowe's... I wonder about adding moisture to the air gap between the plastic sheets and whether that might aid in heat distribution or similar.. Hmm..

 

[RickF]

Ok.. Here's a link (one of many I found):

Early summer is best to begin solarizing your garden soil

I also learned that clear is the choice for this process, not black.. And thinner works better than thick.. With that in mind I've got a large roll of plastic that is normally used as a painters disposable drop-cloth that could probably be used.

One thing that did pop in my head would be put put sufficient amounts of dark matter in the soil to ensure the soil picks up sufficient heat thru the plastic -- but perhaps that doesn't really matter..

Below is another link I found that compares various aspects and seems like it has a bunch of great tips! A definite keeper for the old bookmark collection!

Wayne Schmidt's Soil Solarization Page

 

[patandchickens]

So.. Black plastic or clear? I was thinking about getting it from the local landscape supply (Aqua-Flo) in hopefully larger (wider) rolls than I might find at the local HD or Lowe's...

Clear, for sure.

Moisture-barrier plastic from your local Home Depot or whatever comes in 12' wide widths, not sure you're going to want to DEAL with anything wider than that anyhow

Make sure the ground you are going to solarize has "some" moisture in it (neither bone-dry nor soggy).

I do not think that moisture between multiple layers of plastic would help at all, it would probably *hinder*.

Make sure to create some reasonably airtight barrier around the edges of the plastic -- either weigh down *thoroughly* with large planks with no gaps between them, or pile dirt over the edges of the plastic. I suppose you could cut sod and pile that on the edges, just make sure there aren't a lot of gaps between clods of sod. The more heat gets out, the less it 'cooks'.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat