Posted on 11/01/2013 12:11:04 PM PDT by greeneyes
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Some folks I knew in Marble Falls, TX that grew greenhouse tomatoes for grocery stores would go through the greenhouses with a chainsaw fired up, threatening to kill the plants. They swore it worked to really up the tomato yields.
If you staple to treated wood, you need stainless steel staples or an equivalent corrosion resistant coating. It would be labeled safe for treated wood. I bought SS T-50 staples from Lowes last year to put up the extra-heavy plastic to our back porch openings making a green room for the winter. But I used a regular squeeze type stapler, an Arrow, I think. The plastic that we used was something like 12-15mil thick or some such; very, very heavy stuff. We will re-use the same pieces that we cut and used last year for this year’s enclosure. One trick that I used was I took regular file folders for office use, cut them into pieces 1” by 2” or 3” to use like gaskets between the plastic and staples to distribute the stress to prevent tearout at the staples. The system worked as planned, with winds blowing against them, we had no(0) staples tearout all winter. Invest in some seriously thick plastic film, our came from Lowes, but it was not with the thin painters drop cloth, it was over in building materials somewhere. Look enough and you will find it. Worth every penny of cost, $10-$12 I think for a big roll.
WE brought in my ghost peppers to the garage. They are bearing so I didn’t want to harm the crop. Boy, are they hot. I have some thats ground to powder about a 1/2” deep in a small medicine bottle. I think that amount would would last a couple of years. Got more on the way, too.
There's an ice cream shop here that does a ghost pepper sundai. If you can eat the whole thing, you get your picture on the wall, and bragging rights.
Thx for the info on the staples for treated wood, and the "gasket" idea to disstribute the stress. The plastic I have is 6 mil. thick. It's from Warp Bros. It's supposed to be for greenhouses, and its' what was recommended for theTexas Prepper's greenhouse.
a chainsaw might be a little over the top !!
There is a book I read ,way back when , called : "The Secret Life of Plants "
It said that plants could read your intent be it good , or bad and wish them harm, and that they would respond accordingly .
For those who complain of having a "Black Thumb" , it still makes for an interesting read , and is quite thought provoking in horticulture .
It is a book sorta like Dale Carnagie's book , "The Power of Postive Thinking ", and it states that plants can respond to our thought processes and plants respond .
Plants are like people in that they too can become complacient; but if you shock them a little , they respond with the need to propogate .
I'm not sure I would have believed it myself ,had I not gotten the positive response , on several occassions ....YMMV
An excelent idea to distribute the stress from wind on the staples by using gaskets .
Do you get mutiple years usage of the 12-15mil plastic ?
I would imagine that the UV rays would make the plastic brittle and unstable after one winter .
We folded the plastic up after using it last year and are planning on using it again. If it is unusable, there was plenty more on the roll. I am going to Lowes in a few minutes, I will try to find the plastic again and take notes on thickness and mfg.
One a tangent, we like re-usable stuff. We have used our landscape fabric two years already and will use it next year. It was recommended by JADB a few years ago as being a good value and very durable, so we bought it. It is Preen, 4’ x 300’ for about $30 from Sam’s Club. At that price, if you only used it once, it would be a bargain. It keeps us from having to weed the garden and help hold some moisture on the top couple of inches of soil from drying out. Being naturally lazy gardeners(or old and broken down) we like to get the garden going in the spring and not have to do anything but feed every couple of weeks till harvest time. If I would ever buy an injector for the drip system, we wouldn’t even have to feed it. Pictures on my home page.
I have the utmost respect for ghost peppers. Use very sparingly. I would not come close to getting my picture on the wall. But I do like it on some foods. Never occurred to me to use it in ice cream.
I may have to backtrack(mis-spoke in Liberalize)on the thickness of the plastic. The thickest I could find at Lowes was 6mil. I do not know where ours is at to check, but my wife does.
This is the 6 mil plastic I bought for my greenhouse. Only, I see it’s gone up by ten bucks since I bought mine.
http://www.amazon.com/Warp-Brothers-6CH20-C-Plastic-Sheeting/dp/B00004YSW8
Apparently Home Depot has it at a better price.
Just read this Amazon Review from Sept ‘13:
“I had this in my Amazon cart, but when I stopped in at the big orange home improvement store (H.D.) not sure if I’m allowed to mention the actual name here.
I found the same exact 6mil 20x25 clear plastic sheeting for $25.”
There is a greenhouse grade of plastic film which is UV resistant and should last for several years. It is what commercial growers use on their big hoop houses and the illegal dope growers here use it by the boat load...
The 6mil was about $24 at Lowes, but I think it was 10ft x 100ft. All we use is 6 pieces 32” x 58” I dont know about HD ‘cause I dont buy anything from them.
I looked into the commercial stuff online before we moved 3 years ago. It was such huge sizes, along with the price for the huge rolls, that I dont use that. We just need 6 pieces 32” x 58” for 3 months.
If I really wanted to advertise that we are deep South rednecks, I would use unpainted plywood.
Hmmm... maybe if I painted some plywood to match the house. lol
There is a local nursery who stocks 2 or 3 widths and will cut it to length for me but is is a little pricey...
That is the way to get it if you can.
The thickest I could find thusfar is 3.4 mil. , but it will do for now.
Thanks for the 'heads-up ' for Lowes 6 mil.; 6 mil makes the plastic more versatile for a variety of chores around the house .
Yeah , I hear you about the Preen ground cover .
It seems that about a month ago, I got the last roll at my local Sam's Club , and the price was $30.oo .
So I have it now for next years garden , but have to weed the garden out for now ..
Good to know that it is reusable , and will last several years ; the purchase was a thoughtful whim about possible avaoiding stoop labor. Two nights ago , we got hit with 23 º temps( killing frost); todays high in the mid-50's so today is leaf raking and compost pile building.
— avaoiding stoop labor—
Thats something that is getting more scare every day around here.
The Preen is a great value just based on the amount for the price vs the little rolls from Lowes or somewhere. But getting several uses from it is icing on the cake. We have a small(tiny) garden so we can align the fabric so as the openings for the plants come out in the correct location. Most of the fabric gone from the roll is from my wife putting it down over her flower beds then covering with mulch. — Everything around here is set up for low maintenance. —
I opened the “Gardman Foldaway Garden Kneeler Seat $28.53” I ordered from Walmart and it is perfect for the house and outside. It's easy to hold on to the two sides and lower your knees to the pad. It's nothing to hold onto the two sides and raise yourself to standing. If you turn it over, it's an instant seat. It's not a huge thing so it fits in a small space. It's folded when it comes and you just pull it open. I'm leaving it open for convenience since it takes up so little space.
The company that made this deserves a medal. People with bad knees like I have will appreciate being able to get down to floor or garden dirt level and easily get up.
Glad you got your “stoop preventer” and am happy with it.
My wife has a little garden seat with a rounded base that allows her to rock around a bit as she reaches over for something. It still is no help in getting up though.
You are a lot like me, when you have a problem, you get online and find the solution.
I use Youtube a lot for learning new stuff and improving skills, like woodworking, welding, also for cooking.
— People with bad knees like I have —
My wife goes to the Ortho Dr at 3pm to get the results of her MRI on her knee. I suspect a slightly torn meniscus since she is walking better every day. I’ve had that before and mine healed w/o surgery.
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