I normally use hoops at this time of year because we tend to have some strong winds out of the south. There isn't much I put row cover over in August---sometimes some young plants that have just sprouted for the fall garden, especially beans, since the grasshoppers love green beans.

In the spring or fall, when the winds are a lot stronger, I'll peg the floating row cover fabric down to the ground every 3 or 4 feet when I am using the row cover only to keep frost off the plants. I do that whether I am using hoops or not.

If I am using it to keep pests off a specific plant, I'll vary what I do depending on the protected plant type, the pest I'm trying to protect it from and the weather conditions. If we're talking about something like a row of broccoli, I use hoops that are tall enough that the plants can mature beneath them, and I don't use the pegs....I use green metal t-posts, pieces of rebar or 2" x 4" lumber to hold the fabric down to the ground firmly so neither the moths nor their caterpillars can find their way underneath the row cover. I use them to hold the entire perimeter of the row cover down tight to exclude the insects.

If we are having silly late cold fronts that keep bringing us frost about once a week until May and I find I have to cover up all the plants in the entire garden to protect them, I revert to the U-shaped landscape fabric pegs/staples so I can cover up a lot of rows, and then I space them with one about every 2'.

The later in spring we go and the larger/more numerous the crops needing frost protection, the more I start running out of stuff to hold down the row cover, and it gets to where I am using every fence post, piece of rebar, large rock, brick, piece of lumber, garden tool, clay flower pot, pegs or staples, even very large nails stuck into the ground sort of like thumbtacks to hold down the fabric.

It sounds like I cover up stuff a lot, but I really don't most years. In an average year I might cover up spring crops 2 or 3 times to prevent frost damage. This year, I think I had to cover them up from 1 to 3 consecutive nights every week from mid-March through early May. It was kind of ridiculous, but it did work.

Dawn

right now I want to cover my green beans may have to replant them first because of the stupid grasshoppers. But I have broccoli that will go in the ground soon. Do you have to cover it in the fall or just in the spring. Didnt think the worms were as bad in fall but dont know if grasshoppers love them too. I am looking at agribond 19 at environmental green products it is 83x500 for 96.02 shipping and all. early bird special. anywhere you know of that has better prices. That is the best I have found. Sheila

ME and this site are fighting today. It does not show it is posting and I end up double( or more) posting everything. Sorry Sorry Sorry!!!

This post was edited by borderokie on Wed, Aug 7, 13 at 13:23

I am pretty sure it is Garden Web and not you. It's been acting up for a week or two now. I'm sure they're working on getting it fixed.

I haven't bought any Agri-bon 19 in either 4 or 5 years, but that does sound like a good price to me, especially since it includes shipping. My Agri-bon has lasted forever (considering it is so lightweight) and I've been really pleased with it. Piece by piece, though, it is becoming worn out and torn and I'll need to replace it sometime soon.

The most recent roll of row cover I purchased (this spring) was an ultra heavy-duty frost blanket and gives at least 10 degrees of protection. I only used it in April and May and I am looking forward to seeing how well it works this fall or winter. It was great in spring, and I just barely ordered it in the nick of time because, you know, we just kept having all those late cold spells and I just kept planting anyway. I was able to almost get everything planted on time despite the cold spells since I had the frost blanket to keep the young plants from freezing.

As far as when row cover is needed on the broccoli plants, it just depends. Some years the broccoli pests are pretty much non-existent in late summer and fall and I don't need to use it. Other years, their population is heavy and I do use it. What I have noticed here is that when the summer is very hot and dry, the native brassicas used by those same pests all die in the heat and there aren't any of the moths, butterflies or their caterpillars around in the fall. In cooler, rainier summers, the weed-type brassicas survive and so do the pests. I just plant without row cover and then use it if I start seeing pest damage. Usually, when I do that, I will spray the plants with Bt right before I put the row cover over the plants, so that the Bt will kill any brassica pests on the plants. Otherwise, there is the risk of trapping pests underneath the row cover,which clearly is not desirable.

It has not been dry enough here this summer for the weedy brassicas to die, although as I mow, I've been cutting them down in the pastures. Still, if they are alive in our pastures, they are alive in other pastures, so I'll be watching the fall brassicas for pests very carefully after I plant them.

I usually don't cover anything until I've first tried it without row covers. Then, if damage appears, I try to get all the pests off the plants first, and then put the row cover over the row of plants. I will carefully check underneath the row covers for several days to be sure I didn't accidentally leave pests under the row covers.

Remember too, that many pests spend part of their life cycle in the soil or in garden debris, so it is important when using row cover to rotate a crop to a new area each time you plant it so you aren't putting row cover over plants in soil that may have pests in the soil just waiting to hatch out and infest the plants.This is especially critical with Colorado potato beetles.

Grasshoppers are odd ducks. I never really know what they will hit, although in the spring I always see the damage first on catnip and lemon balm. Some years they seem to select beans as their favorite plant, but the next year it might be tomato plants. In my garden they almost never bother cucumber or squash leaves, though, so I often try to hide other plants within a planting of cukes or squash. I don't cover anything when it is first planted unless I have an ongoing pest problem, but am prepared to cover up anything and everything based on wherever the damage appears. Sometimes it appears early and sometimes I can have new plants go weeks or months before something starts devouring them.

Summer beans probably are an exception. Grasshoppers find beans irrresistible in July and early August, but often don't bother the plants after about mid-August. I am not sure if that is because they have moved on to something else they like better, or what.

In my new back garden, which is surrounded by pasture land on all 4 sides, the only plants they were eating in July was okra leaves at first. Then they went on a big binge eating ornamental sweet potato foliage. Now they've started eating bean foliage, but only the foliage of scarlet runner beans so far, and since I planted those for the enjoyment of the hummingbirds, I am not terribly distressed about that. They haven't bothered the foliage of the other 9 pole bean varieties I'm growing yet...just the scarlet runner beans which seems odd, but that is how they are. Meanwhile in the front garden, they are only eating the foliage of rose mallow, morning glories, moonflower vines and 5 varieties of southern peas,along with the catnip and lemon balm that they seem to find irresistible year-round.

I've always got a stack of hoops, a bucket of the U-shaped landscape fabric staples, and row cover in my garden shed ready to go because you never know when a specific pest will hit or what it will hit.

Dawn

My Arbribon 19 came from Environmental Green on an "early bird" deal, but I ordered in winter for Spring direct shipment. I bought 10 feet x 500 feet because I first use it over hoops made of 10 feet lengths of electric conduit. With the hoops pushed into the ground, enough row cover remains to secure the bottom.

I also have plastic film in the same size which I ordered from Johnny's. Once the Apribon has a few holes, I lay it directly on the plants (under the plastic) as extra protection against frost. In new condition, I use it over the hoops, but in less than perfect condition I can still use it as an extra layer placed loosely over the plants.

Here is a link that might be useful: