Which Is Better? Black or Red Plastic?

Happy Earth Day!!

I'm sitting here trying to decide which would be better to order for my tomatoes - black or red plastic mulch. I'm purchasing black for my melons, since we don't have a very hot/long growing season here in north central PA. I figured since I was getting plastic for my melons, that I might try it with peppers and tomatoes, too. I've heard that it really does help. Now, I find there are different colors - silver & red, besides the black.

Would love some imput on using this - is it worth the $ and also - do the other colors make a difference?

Thanks!
Theresa

Theresa... I would suggest red for the tomatoes. It was developed by the USDA and Clemson University and got the approval of Consumer Reports magazine. Supposedly it reflects red light wavelengths up into the plants, which triggers a protein that stimulates their growth and development. I hope this helps.

Tweezle:
I used both red and black last year on my tomatoes. I didn't see any real differneces between the two; BUT last year was a bad year for tomatoes here in Michigan. Ohio State conducted a survey and they recommend the red for tomatoes. I am goin to give it another try this year.
Good Luck

The center for plasticulture is at Penn State.
Dr Mike Orzolek being on of the top experts in the field.
Dr Dennis Decoteau now a Dept head at Penn State was one of the orginal researchers, when it was called photobiology

I attended a seminar put on by UNH on this topic.

At the time Dr Otho Wells was one of the Head plant scientist at UNH. The topic was plastic mulchs in peppers and tomatoes.

The IR mulch seems to work better for tomatoes, Tomatoes see the IR reflection and think it is competition and grows a little strong.

Problem as I see it. The yeild increase is only about 10%.
Does it justify the cost?

I asked Dr Wells about colored mulches, He said over a 20 year study it all depends on the actual weather. If you have a cold season Black and dark green are better, If you have an exceptionally hot season then white or silver is better.

Grin

Byron

hi all

Gardening Which this month has an article on the same matter. they tried red, blue, white, black, silver & brown. the research was inconclusive.

Mark

I have found tomatoes do better with a thick straw mulch that any color of plastic. Plastic tends to kill the microbes in the soil and compact it. I have not used red but have used black and IRT green with tomatoes side by side with straw and we had better yeilds and fewer disease problems on the straw. Not only that but the straw adds organic matter to the soil and not more plastic trash to the trash stream.

Don't get me wrong, I use lots of plastic mulches for lots of different crops and this is what I have observed.

I agree with Lucy,
I also noticed more bugs and fungi underneath the plastic.

A test a Penn State shows that blue attracts thrips.

Byron

Thank you so much for all the imput! I am getting plastic for my melons, and thought about trying it under the tomatoes, and may try a few test ones. I'd originally planned on straw, but had read a few different articles where plastic was used. They sounded interesting.

Johnny's Select seeds carries a paper mulch that is used like the plastic but las a 2-3 degree less soil warming than plastic. Anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks for all your help. You guys are the greatest!!!
Theresa

How thick does one need to mulch with straw? I have some red plastic mulch coming in the mail, but I thought it would be fun to do half and half, just to see how they do in our tiny garden -- Definitely identical conditions other than the mulch! :o)

Gardenwife...After reading the posts to this thread I was thinking the same thing. :o) Carol

I have had my best results w/straw but it has a deffinite drawback as the slugs LOVE it too :( so I have to pull it away from the plants as they grow and put down egg shells. The eggshells add calcium to the soil and tomatoes love calcium I have not had any problems w/blossem end rot since I started doing this. :)

I vote for red, too. I used it and took lousy care of my plants because it got to be a crazy year and I still had a great crop. Like someone mentioned research has been done to show red is best. I heard strawberries like red too.