Hey guys, it's Brijette with San Diego Seed Company and today I want to talk to you about row
cover. You have all heard the term. It's all over the internet if you're searching anything about
how to be better in your garden, on your farm, it probably mentions row cover. So what is it and why
is it so great? We're going to get into that today but first make sure you hit the subscribe button
and the notification button so that you're notified anytime Kellogg Garden Soil puts out
a great video that's going to help you grow. Row cover is a generic term that refers to any type of
fabric or material that goes over a row of crops, okay. There are different types of row cover
depending on your needs. Here on our farm we primarily use two different types of row
cover. This is a spun polyester, the brand is actually called agribon, but basically, it's
just a very light fabric that we use for several different reasons. It's really a game-changer.
So it goes over the crops and it actually, simply, keeps pests off the crop. So if you have your
crops covered well then a moth cannot come by and lay its eggs that turn into larvae which turn into
leaf-eating caterpillars and then destroy all of your brassicas. So it's a very simple and organic
way that you can keep pests off your crops. The other reason why people use fabric row cover
like this is actually to keep the crops warmer if you're in a really cold region there are different
grades of row cover that you can use but farmers will put them over their crops because it actually
protects them from frost and will change the temperature underneath this cloth by a couple
degrees. Now, you might be thinking oh a couple of degrees what a big deal. It actually makes a
huge difference when it is a couple of degrees between freezing and not freezing. So this
fabric can be used to keep insects off of your crops, it also can be used to keep your crops
warmer. Here in Southern California, we use the lightest grade of this row cover actually to keep
our crops a little bit cooler because it's a light white fabric it actually reflects a little bit of
the sunlight and protects our crops during the hottest time of the year. So it's just a really
great product. As I mentioned, there are different weights of this fabric. This is the lightest
because we don't get that cold, I don't need that much frost protection but if you're in Zone
7, 6, you know 5 and on you're going to need a heavier fabric to protect your crops from
the cold weather. So this is a fabric woven row cover, the brand is agribon,
and we use it on our farm to protect our plants from insects, keep them warmer, also
keep them cooler during the summertime, and also to keep the humidity in around the plants
by keeping them covered. So this is one type of row cover and the other row cover that we use
quite a bit is called shade cloth. We use shade cloth because we live in a very hot, dry area.
During certain times of the year, I need to keep the soil a little bit cooler and I need to block
out a little bit of the UV light to keep my plants happy. So how do I do that shade cloth? This is 40
shade cloth which means it blocks out 40% of the UV light .If you are growing vegetables you really
don't want to use a shade cloth that's more than about 50% because you'll block out too much UV
light and your plants will actually be stunted. So that's a pro tip for you! This is 40%, we use this
in the fall, in August, September, and October when it's really hot here in Southern California
and it helps our plants get through that really hard dry, hot season. It also helps us with
Santa Ana conditions which is when we get really hot dry wind from the east. So, if you're in a
different region than Zone 9 and 10 why would you need to use shade cloth? Well, if you get
very hot temperatures and you have delicate crops shade cloth can make all the difference. Another
good example of why you would want to use shade cloth and why professional growers use it is
crops like bell peppers and tomatoes that get sunscald from getting too much sun from hitting
their delicate skin. You can actually use shade cloth to protect them and the fruits of tomatoes
and bell peppers will actually look a lot better. They'll be beautiful because they're protected
and they're not getting essentially sunburned. Again, this is shade cloth, this is a product
that we use a lot on our farm and this is a lightweight woven fabric that we use to cover
our crops as well. Both of these row covers can be game-changers for you if you're a serious grower.
Now, how do you store these? Well, the lighter the fabric the easier it is to tear. So at the end of
every season when we're not using this it gets rolled up neatly and stored away out of the sun.
The same with our shade cloth. This shade cloth is UV resistant so it won't break down that long but
anything that sits in the sun too long will get destroyed. So we recommend that
at the end of the season when you're not using it, roll it up nicely and neatly and store it away.
Okay guys, so that's the basis of row covers, why do you use it, how it can be beneficial,
and now remember hit that subscribe button, hit the notification button so anytime Kellogg Garden
Soil does a video you can be notified and they can help you be the best gardener ever!