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Table of Contents (Items Covered on This Page)

WARMING THE SOIL

HOW MANY PLANTS GO IN ONE WoW?

CROPS THAT WORK BEST IN THE WoW

SHOULD I START SEEDS OR TRANSPLANTS IN THE WoW?

START THE SEASON, END THE SEASON, OR OVERWINTER?

Chart 1. Wallo’Water USE CHART

FALL USE

WINTER USE

OVERWINTERING ROSES AND OTHER EXPENSIVE PLANTS

 

WARMING THE SOIL

Although the tepee WoW instantly takes care of the cold air that occurs in early spring, it takes longer for it to take care of the cold ground. The tepee WoW should be allowed to warm the soil for one to 2 weeks before you transplant into it. We have found the longer time is recommended for those areas that have deep frost lines (to 12 inches or more). Of course the longer you can put it out ahead of time, the better, but in more snowy climes, availability of the garden may be the limiting factor.  It may also be helpful to dig a hole where the plant will be going so that the deeper soil will be more readily warmed. Finally, the Wallo’Water can be used in conjunction with black plastic to warm the soil (see "THE WoW AND BLACK. PLASTIC").

 

HOW MANY PLANTS GO IN ONE WoW?

Usually you will want only one plant per WoW. Although one plant may look lost in a WoW at first, it will grow rapidly and fill the WoW in several weeks. People have suggested starting several plants in a WoW and transplanting them out later. This is not recommended because it defeats the purpose of the Wallo’Water (see "HOW DOES THE WoW WORK?"). However, with certain crops, it is desirable to grow more than one plant in each WoW (see next topic).

 

CROPS THAT WORK BEST IN THE WoW

Cold-sensitive plants that produce a harvest over an extended period are the most economical to use in the WoW. These include tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, summer squash, cucumbers, pole beans and broccoli. Crops that don't yield until the end of a long growing season are also appropriate. These include melons, winter squash, pumpkins, sweet potatoes and corn. In fact, some customers with short growing seasons have used the WoW to grow these crops for the first time in their garden.

 

With the above crops, the rule is one plant or one hill of three to five plants per WoW.

 

Spring harvests can be obtained with lettuce and Chinese cabbage.  Crops appropriate for fall and overwintering are covered in the next topic.

 

SHOULD I START SEEDS OR TRANSPLANTS IN THE WoW?

The tepee Wallo'Water will get the soil warm enough to germinate seeds 9 to 1 weeks earlier than normal, depending upon your area and the seed variety. But if you come from an area with cold winters, you really don't gain as much as you could gain if you used transplants (see "HOW DOES THE WoW WORK SO WELL?" ) . Whether or not you're from an area with cold winters, the best seeds to use are large seeds such as pole beans, peas, corn, cucumbers, and summer squash that grow quickly once germinated or seeds that germinate in cooler soil such as broccoli, Chinese cabbage and lettuce.  We have found that cucurbits (squash and cukes) actually do not do as well if planted too early.  You'll have to experiment in your area.

 

DO I NEED TO HARDEN THE PLANT?

The plant needs to be hardened to the cold.  Even though it will not freeze inside the WoW, it can get cold.  If, after germination, it is allowed to grow in a cool place, it should be adequately hardened.  If, however, the plant is grown on a window sill or some other warm place, it will have to be hardened.  This can be done by placing it in a cool place for a week or putting it outside for increasingly longer periods when the weather is above freezing.

 

START THE SEASON, END THE SEASON, OR OVERWINTER?

Most gardeners use the tepee WoW to start the season early (see "TESTIMONIALS"). The open WoW also can be used effectively to extend the season in the fall (see "FALL USE") for small plants such as celery, lettuce and peppers. In areas with mild winters, the WoW can be used to overwinter these small plants. In colder areas (but not really cold areas, like Vermont), cold-tolerant crops such as broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, cabbage and lettuce can be started in the late summer and overwintered in the tepee WoW or open WoW depending upon the severity of your winter (see "WINTER USE"). In my garden in Vermont, I use it to start many different plants from the cold hardy cabbages to the cold sensitive tomatoes.  I find by the end of the summer, I’m ready to put my garden to bed.

 

The following chart serves as a guide to using your Wallo’Water and the improvements in earliness and yield you can expect. Of course these improvements can vary due to crop variety or growing season. Although the chart is the product of three to seven years of carefully-recorded data, it is just to be used as a guide. The growing conditions in your area may produce somewhat different results.

 

Chart 1. Wallo’Water USE CHART

 

Key: P: plant inside; S: tepee WoW warm soil; T: transplant into tepee WOW; O; Open WoW; R: remove WoW; H: start harvest

 

The first key to using the chart is the "0" at the top, representing the ALF date for your area. This is the date you would put out an unprotected tomato plant. If you are not sure about this date, contact your county extension agent. He can be found in the telephone book under US Government, Department of Agriculture. The minus numbers represent weeks before the ALF date, the positive numbers represent weeks after the ALF date.

 

The second key is the legend at the bottom of the chart. Using this legend and the line for tomatoes, you will see that there are six critical events; You plant the seeds 14 weeks before the ALF date; set out the tepee WoW to warm the soil 8 weeks before; transplant into the tepee WoW 7 weeks before; open the tepee WoW 4 weeks before; remove the open WoW 4 weeks after the ALF date, and begin harvesting 7 weeks after the ALF date.

 

The chart is only a guide. Slipping each critical event by a week or so should not have a major effect on the results. However, the further north you are, the more critical the above dates become because the change from the winter lows to the summer highs is greater and more abrupt.

 

Since I prepared the chart, I also tried tomatillos.  I put two plants started inside about -12.  I put them out late (-4) in an open WoW.  I started harvesting at +8 and continued harvesting through +16.  That's longer than normal since we had an unusually mild fall.  The two plants produced about 15 pounds of fruit during this period.

 

FALL USE

The open WoW is large enough to protect smaller plants such as celery, lettuce, Chinese cabbage and peppers in the fall. WoW fans have protected peppers in northern Utah until Christmas and in northern Vermont until mid­ November without the daily ritual of adding and removing blankets or other improvised covers. Please note, however, each month the WoW is outside is one less month in its life. So if you use them in the fall, expect to have to replace them more often. That' s one of the reasons the life of WoWs is expressed in "seasons" rather

than "years."

 

WINTER USE

In those areas where the winter is not too severe (where O°F is the extreme daily low) , the tepee WoW can be used to grow lettuce all winter. In such areas cold-tolerant plants such as cabbage, chard and cauliflower can be planted in late Summer and overwintered in the tepee WoW to produce an extra early spring harvest. Late winter or early spring, change to the open WoW (see "OPENING THE TEPEE WoW"). If your space is at a premium, this practice will provide a crop early enough that you can plant a second crop where the overwintered crop was.

In areas with even milder winters (where 20°F is the extreme daily low), you can trim back tomato and pepper plants grown in your fall garden and overwinter them in the open WoW to give your spring garden an extra early start.

 

OVERWINTERING ROSES AND OTHER EXPENSIVE PLANTS

If you have roses or are just starting a sapling and you are fearful that the winter may be too severe or that rodents will get at the sapling, it may be helpful to put a tepee WoW around it. Even if the WoW should only last over the winter (it should last longer in areas with milder winters), you will not lose your plant and a $4.00 investment to save a $10-$20 plant is reasonable.

If you are specifically concerned with roses, the following four steps should be followed.

1) Wait until the bush is dormant.

2) Cut back as you normally would to four hardy canes, 6-8 inches above ground. Add about two inches of 1IU1ch.

3) Put a tepee WoW over the canes, be carefu 1 that thoms or the ends of the canes do not Puncture the wall of the WoW. Place newspaper between the WoW and the cane if necessary.

4) Remove about 7 to 4 weeks before the ALF date (see "WoW USE CHAR!'''), depending upon the weather.

 

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