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Using agribon covering for seedlings

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BarG

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I was reading about agribon row covers and wondered how well they would protect very young seedlings from over exposure to sun after planting. My seedlings are only a couple inches tall but temps are already hitting high 80's and 90 degrees with mostly sunny days in foreseeable future.
I saw that Bob was using on his bigger seedlings. One site had 7'x 50' for about $18.00 and you could make 4-7 50' row covers depending on size needed to anchor, and all the seed head covers you need after removal. The least expensive grade allowed 85% sunlight.
 

Daniel

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BarG, I saw his post also but did not have time to respond to it. The post was directed straight at me and the details at my end are that I already own Ag15. It is what I make the blossom bags out of.
As for your question "How can it be used" here is a link to some pictures with just some ideas.

http://www.environmentalgreenproducts.com/store/agribon-ag-15-pr-16354.html

Scroll down the page a bit. In short you can make anything from a tent to just laying the stuff right over the plants.

My problem is that I need 2000 feet of the stuff. That and abotu 2 days hard work for the four of us to get it laid out and staked down. IF I use it I will just build mound of dirt on either side of my rows of plants and stretch the agribon over those mounds to keep them off the plants. I will also only need it for about 2 weeks. I like to grow my starts indoors for 6 weeks but because of the number of plants we have this year I will only grow them inside for 4 weeks. The agribon will help make up for some of the early full sun problems.

The cloth is very light and air and water will pass through it. It is intended as a frost cover but does provided some reduction of sunlight as well.

My rows are 18 inches wide and 127 feet long. From the link above I could probably get by with the 9'10" By 1500' roll for $234. I could also probably get two 500 foot rolls and cut them in half down the middle for around $180. My problem is I am already over budget on this and I am not sure it will get here in time. I am working again today and will not have time to deal with it making it one day less to get it done. Still it is a great idea and I will be talking to my wife about doing it.

My other concern with using it is I will not be able to check on my plants daily and do not know if I can rely on the person that will be watching it if anything went wrong.
 

BarG

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That site has a slightly different listing Daniel. I only checked one site to get a ballpark. It was agribon 19 @ 83" x 50'. Your recomended site was agribon 15 @ 9' 10" x 50', for $.50 more. Thats a better deal on quantity and probably not a enough difference between Agribon 15 and 19 to pay the same for less. I would cut into about 16" strips to cover seedling rows for a couple weeks or however long needed for them to toughen up ang grow bit bigger to handle heat and sunburn. I'll decide in a week or so. My plants are starting to show some promise.

Edit: The agribon 15 info says it does not retain unneccesary heat and allows 90% sunlight, whereas the 19 may be more suitable for frost prevention and allows 85% sunlight.
 

Chicken

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thats sort-of what my black row material is like,,, just a thicker mesh,,,

it allows water to pass thru perfectlly,
 

Jitterbugdude

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Just be careful if you are cutting the width of your material in half. When you lay it down leave enough slack to allow for the plants to grow up. If you lay it down real taught the plants will hit it and bend over .... reminds of what the government wants me to do.. be slack and bend over
 

Daniel

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I am planting in double rows that have the rows 18 inches apart. I am thinking I woudl need strips at least 36 inches wide to fit and leave some slack. I could get three of those from a 9 foot 10" roll. I mentioned this to the wife and she said money is gettign tight and we have to be able to cover gas costst to the field. Not sure we are going to fit it in just yet. I think she will be happy to hear we could cut it all down to a single 500 foot roll though. I have 13 rows that are about 130 feet long for a total of 1690 feet of row to cover. With what we already have and a 500 foot roll it would work.
 

Chicken

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daniel

IM ANXIOUS TO SEE YOU CROP PICS. ONCE IT GETS GOING<
 

BigBonner

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Just be careful if you are cutting the width of your material in half. When you lay it down leave enough slack to allow for the plants to grow up. If you lay it down real taught the plants will hit it and bend over .... reminds of what the government wants me to do.. be slack and bend over

The old tobacco beds we used to make around here . We uses bows placed in the beds to hold the cover up off the plants .
A tobacco bed bow was nothing but used power line wire . The heavy stiff wire cut into 3' long pieces . Stick one end in the ground then bow it over and stick the other end in the ground . Looks like a rain bow . Not to tall maybe 6 " off the ground .
 

Chicken

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^^^^^

i like it when people uses thier redneck ingenuity,,,, damn good idea, i usually bend over small p.v.c. pipe,

but that cable i bet is more flexible,,,,, thanks for mentioning that<
 

BigBonner

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^^^^^

i like it when people uses thier redneck ingenuity,,,, damn good idea, i usually bend over small p.v.c. pipe,

but that cable i bet is more flexible,,,,, thanks for mentioning that<


The wire is a stiff wire like inside the brace cable .
 

Daniel

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I've made a support for a cover with 6 foot sections of drip irrigation line before. We have line left over so I will look into that. It was strong enough to hold up plastic. I meant to bring this up with my wife again yesterday and totally forgot about it. If we are going to get he bond ordered we have to get on it. 15 days until we plant. 20 if I set the plant date back due to the seed starting delay but I am not sure that will happen. we are late by 20 days the way it is. Our 50% last frost is may 15th. we had that as our plant date last year and had frost until July 1st. this year I planned for 5 days after the 75% last frost date and could have planted on April 30th. Mother nature can be a real mother sometimes.
 
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