Well I had my day planned out and was working on my to do list when Jeffrey called just before lunch to inform me that the weather forecast for the night was 28 degrees. As soon as he said it my heart sank-that meant that row covers had to be put on the strawberries. I absolutely love everything that we do with the strawberries with the exception of having to put the row covers on. This is in my opinion one of the worst jobs ever!
It is a gauze like fabric that allows rain to go through and lets the plants breath somewhat but it's main purpose to hold the heat in and protect the plants from the freezing temps. There was a breeze today so that didn't help speed up the work at all. We also didn't carefully roll or fold these up from the spring either so there was alot of sorting and untangling. Typically we were only supposed to get 2 years use out of them but this will be year 3 for this set. We are thinking that next year we will order one roll and replace some of the really worn and torn ones. It took 3 rolls of row cover material to do the field the first year. These rolls are expensive and to give you an idea one roll cost us about $700 two years ago. I am sure the price has since gone up. So we are hoping we can just buy one roll a year and keep replacing the most worn sections. This will keep us from having to come up with about $2400 at one time.
To hold this fabric down because the least little wind will send these things flying we have to fill bags with rocks and lay along the edges. The first year we bought this mesh material that was specifically made for this. They held up really well but were awkward to deal with and were expensive. Last year we had a rush situation to get the field covered and didn't have enough bags so we purchased orn sacks and filled those with rocks but they didn't hold up well at all. Not a single one could be reused this year. Today I purchased 4 inch nylon pipe sleeve to use. It was a lot easier to use and to fill. It was also a lot more economical than the first two options. Simply got it at Lowe's for $21 for a 100 foot roll. 5 rolls and the field was done. I won't even go into how much we spent on the first two choices.
So now that you know the material I have to deal with today, let me start laying it all for you. It took 2 trips from the home farm to the strawberry farm to get all the row covers. Once we got then to the farm they had to be pulled apart and evaluated for use. So while this is going on by one group (Jeffs group) my group was working on cutting the nylon and filling them with rocks. We finally decided that if both groups worked on one project together that we might get done sooner. This worked MUCH better. It was soooo cold with the wind blowing that my fingers were frozen. But the circulation quickly returned when I was tugging row covers across the field. We put the large whole sections on first and then worked with the smaller pieces that had ripped or had either been cut to fit the field last year. With about 75% of the field covered I stopped and was going to work on get some of the rips sewn up. We had purchased one of those hand held battery powered Singer sewing machine. We thought this would be perfect for this job but we didn't know how slow a process this was. And for me it worked for a left handed person. The thread wouldn't hold and didn't provide that bottom loop that I needed. So it was pretty much useless. It did however raise my blood pressure which helped to battle the increasing cold.
The lower field was covered about 97% and the upper field was not covered at all. Jeff set the overhead irrigation on the timer to come on and provide them with a layer of protective ice. I know that sounds crazy but it somehow holds the heat in and protects the plant.
Now here's the reason that row cover time is my least favorite task-tomorrow morning we will have to go back up and take them off! In the south the weather is so fickle that you can freeze your buns off one day and the next day be wearing shorts and a tank top. The temps for the next week are supposed to be in or near the 70s during the day and that would just be too hot to keep the covers on the plants. Imagine yourself under a wool blanket on 90 degree day-not very healthy. But the very first cold snap we will have to be out there putting the covers back on. It won't be so bad because we will leave them in the field. We simply roll them back and leave it laying in the aisle between the hills. It is still a time consuming job.Last year we fist put them on the berries on November 15th and just like this year we pulled them off the next day. I think all total last year we put them on and pulled them off about 4 times.
With that being done and out of the way, it is back to working in the greenhouses for me tomorrow.
It is a gauze like fabric that allows rain to go through and lets the plants breath somewhat but it's main purpose to hold the heat in and protect the plants from the freezing temps. There was a breeze today so that didn't help speed up the work at all. We also didn't carefully roll or fold these up from the spring either so there was alot of sorting and untangling. Typically we were only supposed to get 2 years use out of them but this will be year 3 for this set. We are thinking that next year we will order one roll and replace some of the really worn and torn ones. It took 3 rolls of row cover material to do the field the first year. These rolls are expensive and to give you an idea one roll cost us about $700 two years ago. I am sure the price has since gone up. So we are hoping we can just buy one roll a year and keep replacing the most worn sections. This will keep us from having to come up with about $2400 at one time.
To hold this fabric down because the least little wind will send these things flying we have to fill bags with rocks and lay along the edges. The first year we bought this mesh material that was specifically made for this. They held up really well but were awkward to deal with and were expensive. Last year we had a rush situation to get the field covered and didn't have enough bags so we purchased orn sacks and filled those with rocks but they didn't hold up well at all. Not a single one could be reused this year. Today I purchased 4 inch nylon pipe sleeve to use. It was a lot easier to use and to fill. It was also a lot more economical than the first two options. Simply got it at Lowe's for $21 for a 100 foot roll. 5 rolls and the field was done. I won't even go into how much we spent on the first two choices.
So now that you know the material I have to deal with today, let me start laying it all for you. It took 2 trips from the home farm to the strawberry farm to get all the row covers. Once we got then to the farm they had to be pulled apart and evaluated for use. So while this is going on by one group (Jeffs group) my group was working on cutting the nylon and filling them with rocks. We finally decided that if both groups worked on one project together that we might get done sooner. This worked MUCH better. It was soooo cold with the wind blowing that my fingers were frozen. But the circulation quickly returned when I was tugging row covers across the field. We put the large whole sections on first and then worked with the smaller pieces that had ripped or had either been cut to fit the field last year. With about 75% of the field covered I stopped and was going to work on get some of the rips sewn up. We had purchased one of those hand held battery powered Singer sewing machine. We thought this would be perfect for this job but we didn't know how slow a process this was. And for me it worked for a left handed person. The thread wouldn't hold and didn't provide that bottom loop that I needed. So it was pretty much useless. It did however raise my blood pressure which helped to battle the increasing cold.
The lower field was covered about 97% and the upper field was not covered at all. Jeff set the overhead irrigation on the timer to come on and provide them with a layer of protective ice. I know that sounds crazy but it somehow holds the heat in and protects the plant.
Now here's the reason that row cover time is my least favorite task-tomorrow morning we will have to go back up and take them off! In the south the weather is so fickle that you can freeze your buns off one day and the next day be wearing shorts and a tank top. The temps for the next week are supposed to be in or near the 70s during the day and that would just be too hot to keep the covers on the plants. Imagine yourself under a wool blanket on 90 degree day-not very healthy. But the very first cold snap we will have to be out there putting the covers back on. It won't be so bad because we will leave them in the field. We simply roll them back and leave it laying in the aisle between the hills. It is still a time consuming job.Last year we fist put them on the berries on November 15th and just like this year we pulled them off the next day. I think all total last year we put them on and pulled them off about 4 times.
With that being done and out of the way, it is back to working in the greenhouses for me tomorrow.
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