There seems to be a lot of advertising of red mulch (looks like red plastic to me) and other red stuff for growing tomatoes. Anyone got any comments about this stuff? Has anyone used these products and found a difference in their tomatos?
I haven't used red mulch on Tomatoes, but I have used red mulch in my gardens. I liked the way the finished product looked, but it stained my wheelbarrow, my gloves, my hands. The bright red color didn't last too long in the weather either. Just something to keep in mind Donna.
Donna, are you referring to the red plastic mulch that comes in sheets/hard plastic type "dishes" that you plant in or the dyed red mulch that is for your flower beds?
Our neighbor has the red mulch and even though it is pretty to look at her gardens, my eyes are drawn to the mulch before I notice the flowers...in the off season this is a plus .
Parks seeds has red plastic sheeting, red water kozy and a red tray all for tomatoes.That is what I was referring to. And Netty, your right the red mulch is very messy.
I have never seen the sheeting in our area, I will have to look at it in the spring at the landscape places if they carry it. I want to clear this up so no one is upset with me....I like the red mulch as I stated before but with so much color in my gardens my eyes would be drawn to look at the mulch first. I am not saying anyones gardens are bad to look at because of the mulch....plus with our high winds, I would have too many bare spots and I would be adding more all of the time.
One of my friends put the red plastic under matters. Said got more from less plants.I have put red cedar mulch under couple trees. And got red lava rock in arbor area.
This is what I found out today. Red mulch film is a specially engineered reusable red mulch film that will enhance tomato crop yield by 20%. The film's color and wavelength reflection are very specific to achieving these results. Can also be used for other crops that fruit above ground, red peppers, eggplant, strawberries, cantaloupe etc. It reflects a specific range of light frequencies found in sunlight into the underside of crop's leaves and to the developing fruit. It is perforated, helps retain moisture, control weeds & warms the soil. I like that it is reusable. Think I'm going to try some this year. Amazon has it for $7.35 for 8 3ft.x 3ft. sheets. I'm hoping it scares the squirrels away.
I haven't used enough or done side by side comparison of the product. We had a neighbor who has a farm market and he used it once. He thought it didn't produce as much difference as he thought it should have. I think this could be influenced by the weather/rain also for the year. We do use the WOW's, which are green, and cozy cotes, which are red, but I don't notice any difference in the growth. I'll try to watch a little closer this year.
On of our church member owns a tree trimming business. He said going to cut and chip up some red cedar tree. Said to bring pickup this spring give it to me. I have learned from 3 customers not to put around house. All 3 got carpenter ants.
