Will solarization kill bamboo?

[General Schvantzkopf]

My old garden (14'x60') has two problems, on the left side where I've been growing green vegetables I have a terrible bamboo problem. On the right side where I've been growing tomatoes I have a wilt problem. I have a new garden (15'x20') this year so I'm planning on letting at least part of my old garden lay fallow. I'm going to solarize the tomato side to kill the wilt pathogens. I've been using roundup on the bamboo but it's never been able to eliminate it. I was wondering if solarization would kill bamboo? It's supposed to be pretty effective against weeds as well as pathogens so it might work. On the other hand the bamboo might just punch it's way through the plastic.

One more question about solarization in general, does it work in New England? The papers I see on the web are from UC Davis. Ma is a lot cooler than Ca. For solarization to work it needs to get the soil temperature pretty high, will it get high enough here?

[Omelet]

Adopt a Border Collie. Pen it where the bamboo is. ;-)

She killed mine and she's controlling my Star Jasmine for me at the moment!

[Charlie]

They any good at controlling bindweed and morning glory? ;-)

CHarlie

[Persephone]

NOW you tell me! I just put my tomato seeds in last week. Very late for this area. Praying to whichever gods will listen to me that the whole crop doesn't get wilted out like last year.

You mean I shudda baked the earth for 'n' day/weeks, and that woudda done it!

Dang!

Persephone

[Billy]

Charlie obviously meant that he had wilt in his garden and he hopes that heating it would get rid of it. It probably won't. If your soil was good last year, it probably will be good this year too. Here in northern California the soil is almost 70F, on the north side of a hill, so it is probably a propitious time for you to plant your tomato seeds. Good luck, good health, and bon appetit.

[Omelet]

Probably.

I just try to weed it out when it comes up if it's growing where I don't want it. I like my bindweed as long as it's not anywhere near garden beds.

I'm going to have trouble controlling it this year. I let it take over last year as my gardening was minimal. The BC is confined to the front yard. The bindweed is out back.

[Charlie]

??? Charlie didn't write that. ???

Charlie

[Charlie]

WTF...is Charlie drunked er summat? Charlie seems to be missin' sumpthin' Charlie writed?!??!! Charlie gots no wilt inna garden...wilt be elsewherses....Charlie thinks.

Charlie, er, I am Charlie, ain't I?

[Mary Fisher]

What's solarization?

Mary

[General Schvantzkopf]

Solarization is done by covering the garden with clear plastic for the entire summer. The plastic acts as a greenhouse so it raises the temperature of the soil to > 110F.

[phorbin]

[Mary Fisher]

Thank you. It would also keep the soil dry though, which isn't good for most plants.

Mary

[General Schvantzkopf]

It's not supposed to be good for the plants that are there, it's supposed to kill them. Solarization is a means of sterilizing the soil, the idea is to cook the fungi, weeds and other undesirable pests out of the soil. It takes the whole summer so you can't use that piece of garden again until the next year. I have enough garden space so that I can afford to let some land lay fallow and I'm keen to give solarization a try assuming it can work in my area. It's apparently a very effective technique in the hot parts of the country, but it's not clear that it will work here in Massachusetts which is why I'm asking if anyone has used it in a New England like climate.

[Billy]

What, you been left out of the loop?

[Charlie]

Either that or I swallowed the hook

Carpie Diem

Charlie

[Billy]

Mary, the point is to sterilize the ground, to get rid of vegetative pests. So, yeah, it wouldn't be good for any plant under the plastic. A little moisture though, would probably help in the transfer of heat.

[Mary Fisher]

Carpe diem.

Don't use another language unless you're familiar with it ... :-)

Mary

[Gary Woods]

Does this mean I can't even use English v. American?

(Maybe Charlie meant "seize the carp.")

Gary Woods AKA K2AHC- PGP key on request, or at home.earthlink.net/~garygarlic Zone 5/6 in upstate New York, 1420' elevation. NY WO G

[Mary Fisher]

Most people seem to use American - even Brits! That doesn't mean that they use it effectively, much less correctly.

In that case (!) he might have said goldfish ...

Mary

[Billy]

Latin is a dead language, as dead as it can be, It killed the ancient Romans, and now it's killing me.