The Perfect Product

 

Every now and then something comes along that at first you put no faith in and you shrug it off as useless in the garden, but later it turns out to be a real blessing. The fine mesh or webbed cloth that lets sunlight and air through to the plants but screens out insects is just such a product.

I was introduced to this cloth in 1987 by a persistent saleslady, but wouldn't even try it for a year. First marketed under the trade names Ree May™ , Agri-Net™, and Gro-Web™, Garden-Ville now markets it under the "Plant Shield" label with more and fuller instructions. I first used the material sewn into a tube and fitted over tomato cages. I tried it on four plants as soon as they were transplanted in the garden.

Low and behold! They started growing so fast that they were soon twice, then three times, the size of the uncovered neighboring plants. The blooms and fruit were also greater in the same proportion.

I couldn't wait to tell Dr. Jerry Parsons, the agricultural extension vegetable specialist, about my discovery. I guess I was too excited to be credible. My story must have sounded as unbelievable to him as the saleslady's story did to me the year before, because he just shrugged it off and didn't bother to try it right away either.

Determined to see if the material would continue to give these extremely good results, I tried it in the spring and fall gardens. I got three friends from the Men's Garden Club to also try it. All of us experienced double and triple growth and fruit set on our tomatoes. After hearing so many success stories, Dr. Parsons decided to try it, and like the rest of us, he became a true believer. He's-talked about it in his newspaper columns and on his radio and TV shows so much that almost everyone in the area knows about it now.

The Net or Web works by preventing the plants from being stressed in several different ways.

• It slows down the wind. Research has shown that when the wind gets over 15 mph, plants are stressed enough to stop growth. It traps and keeps carbon dioxide more concentrated around the leaf surface to aid in photosynthesis.

• It also gives some frost protection but does not overheat the plants as plastic does when it is not removed in time. The material screens out many troublesome insects. It can actually give hail protection. In my garden, the cover was riddled from hail but the tomato plants under it survived with little damage while those in the open were cut off at the ground level by the damaging hail storm.

• In addition, if the material is put on the plant as soon as it emerges or when it is transplanted, it will prevent the plant from getting one of the numerous virus strains that can stop plant production. Viruses are usually spread from a carrier plant-usually a weed-by little sucking or chewing insects. If you are careful to cover the plant well, leaving no openings for the insects, virus prevention on clean plants is 100%.

• This material also works better than netting to prevent bird damage to grapes and fruit. It tends to hide the fruit in the first place, but even if the birds do find the fruit, they can't peck through it, and the branches of the grape vine or fruit don't grow through it as they do netting. This makes the material easier to remove at the end of the season than traditional bird netting is.

• Finally, although Dr. Parsons doesn't yet agree with me on this point, I think the material helps photosynthesis in plants by defusing and reflecting sunlight all over the plant in moderate amounts instead of being too hot and intense in one spot and from one angle.

Usually when something this good comes along, there are also some bad points. With this product, there are few. One drawback, of course, is that the material is not free, but if you are careful not to tear it, it will last several seasons. Second, it is an extra gardening chore to put it on the plants. I have found that wooden clothespins work well to hold it tight around cages, and they are easy to remove later without damaging the web or the plant. Another minor drawback is that in extended cloudy weather, the material doesn't speed up the growth of the plant as well as it does in bright sunny weather. I like to use big cages covered with the material and leave it on until the plants start to bump the top and sides. By then, the tomatoes are getting close to ripening, and viruses can't do much damage to these large plants. If your tomato plants are not in all-day sun, however, you may want to remove the web a little sooner-especially if fruit is not setting. Even if you remove it sooner, you still benefit from early insect control and virus prevention while your young plants are establishing themselves.

This material works well for crops like lettuce and other greens as a row cover. You have to be sure to weigh down the edges to make sure insects can't crawl under and the wind can't blow it away. You can use rocks or boards to hold it down, but a little soil works best. Even when using it around cages, I use a little soil or sand around the bottom to seal the area. When covering row crops, stretch the material over a horizontal pole to form a little tent. This gives the plants more room to grow and you can keep the net in place longer. Vegetables and fruit that need insects for pollination-melons, cucumbers, squash-will have to be uncovered as soon as the female blooms open.

 

The retail price for this product is around 80¢-10¢ per square foot, depending on where you buy it and what size you buy. I think this is a small investment, considering that it can be used again and again and it can make the difference between big success and complete failure. It also insures that you won't need to even consider using any insecticides.

 

The Garden-Ville Method - Lessons in Nature