Comments on: Wall-O-Waters and Weather

By: ro

ro — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

From what I have read on the subject, at least with peppers and eggplants, is that they just hate cold weather, and will sulk, and never recover. It is not about freezing and dying, it is about sulking and pouting. I have even read that about eggplants grown from seed outgrowing transplants that were started 10 weeks earlier.

I bought that white cloth stuff whose name eludes me, you know, row cover stuff, both for soil warming and insect protection, but I can’t find it now, but that might be a better approach.

Why not experiment and start a tomato plant now, and one in the ground later on and see what the difference is?

We are blessed with a giant wall of water called Lake Ontario. I generally use May 21 as a last frost date.

By: Talitha

Talitha — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Oh, I’m certainly not putting all of my tomatoes in the ground at once! The three I put out last week were the earliest ones, but I have about eight more under the light stand, and if I was up on things I’d have a few more started as well. I figured I’d plant them in shifts to see which ones grew the best, because, like you were saying, I know that there’s a difference between growing and thriving. I guessing that the tomaotes that will do the best are the ones planted out mid-May; I think that even with wall-o-waters it gets too chilly for tomatoes to like it in April. But I’ll still be impressed if tomatoes I planted in early April stay alive!

By: Alice Nelson

Alice Nelson — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve used walls-o-water with good results, but then I have flat ground and sandy loam. I fill mine all the way up, but I can reach with a hose.
One of the reasons they work is that as the water freezes in the tubes, calories of heat are released, which warms the center. I prop the tops open with lengths of lathe when planting, and then remove the lathe until the plants grow bigger. I prop the plants as they grow with stakes leaving the walls up the entire season, since nights are sometimes cold in summer and days can be very warm (the walls also keep thngs at a decent temp in hot weather.) When I water the plants, the walls help keep the moisture at the root of the plant, and they can be fed the same way. So the benefit is not just starting the plants early, though that is true too. Can you add your compost and improve your soil, and level your planting area at the same time? Berms on the downside of each place would help, too. Goo d luck!

By: Alice Nelson

Alice Nelson — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Further comment: row cover will not work as well since you don’t have the additional effect of water freezing and giving off calories of heat. I agree that some plants make up for lost time if planted later. Brocolli, etc. will bolt if hit by cold weather early on, though later in the year it can go through hard frosts fine. Up here in the UP we don’t plant annuals before June 1st. By the way, we still have snow pile sitting around.

By: Jim OK

Jim OK — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Titi- Plant first, put the 5gal bucket over the plant, then fill the wallo’ waters (WoWs), finally remove the bucket. I have used them extensively over a number of years. I don’t think you will get earlier tomatoes. I agree with Ro, even if she is my sister, that row covers will get you earlier tomatoes. WoWs will protect from frost, but the tomatoes won’t really make any progress in that weather anyway, so leave them under the lights in the warm house. Once they’re in the ground get them as hot as you can in june and that’s where row covers shine. WoWs always moderate the temperature, and once it’s warm that’s not what you want.

By: Talitha (a.k.a Titi)

Talitha (a.k.a Titi) — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I do have my WoW around a five-gallon bucket when I’m filling them up–but according to the directions on the package you’re supposed to set them up at least a week before you plant anything in order to warm the soil. Do you just plant yours out into cold soil?

Also, this whole row cover v. WoW thing has me confused. If it was Row Cover v. Wow, wouldn’t you either use one or the other? I suppose you could use both–but if you don’t think that WoW are as good as row covers, why have you used them so extensively? Or were you saying that you don’t use WoWs any more?

Even if what you say is true–that WoWs won’t get me any earlier tomatoes, I would probably still use them. If I can spread out my planting instead of needing to put half a million seedlings in the ground in the same week, that’s a plus. I’d rather plant some needlessly early, if my only other choice is planting needlessly late.

Amending the soil when I level the ground is a good idea. I felt kind of stupid I hadn’t thought if that myself, but it’s my first year with WoWs, so I didn’t really know what to expect.

Another thing I didn’t quite get. Alice, do your WoWs close themselves when you fill them all the way up? The package said to fill them 2/3s of the way so that they would “teepee”. I still had to coax some of mine to do that, even filling them 2/3s. If I could fill all mine up the first time, I’d rather do that (instead of having to go through the hassle of adding water twice). But I don’t understand how they would close if they were filled all the way up.

By: Jim OK

Jim OK — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Yes, I planted into the regular soil temperature. I don’t believe WoWs can raise the soil temperature. They work too gradually and moist soil is a good thermal conductor. If the tops are closed they can heat up the air inside. But a note of caution: I’ve killed plants with that heat. I guess I used them extensively but without doing side-by-side experiments. I assumed they worked w/o giving it too much thought. After a while things happen – I don’t get around to setting them all up or I didn’t have enough for all my tomato plants – and I’ve accumulated some side-by-side anecdotal experience to base a hunch on. I would say WoWs for frost protection, row covers for earlier fruit. If you needed both I don’t see any reason you couldn’t use both. I’m moving away from WoWs because I realize that by the time I get tomatos in the ground I don’t really need frost protection.