A Gardeners Forum Forums Members History Forum Life 2006 Micro-climates, Pushing the Zonal Boundaries

We all have them and take advantage of them. Micro-climates are anywhere the climate is changed by natural or man-made structures.
Our friend, Khaadu from India wanted an explaination so we have some explaining to do.
Khaadu, I believe you already practice altering your climate for extending your vegetable growing. You are creating a micro-climate when you add row-covers, wind-breaks, overhead sructures and watering.

I've been trying to create a micro-climate indoors for my woodrose. The landlord has control of the heat and even if he didn't 80*F is to warm here in Virginia. So I've made a micro-climate inside of a large clear vase one grow light and one regular light for heat and gravel with my little pot inside. I really like woodroses or you know I wouldn't be trying this lol. Next I'll be trying to see how I can get a heated seed tray added to the mix lol. I know I'm crazy. All this for one plant?

Raised beds also help too, for his veggies...
When raising a bed, you raise the temps up...
They warm faster, earlier, and dry faster in the spring and don't stay as wet in the fall...

Adding those row covers that Tina mentioned will then add weeks to both the spring and fall time plantings...
Here's a small picture of a couple of ideas for making a home made style...
PVC Pipe plans for projects.. There's one there for row covers,
bottom left...
You don't have to use PVC Pipe, you could also get kits that have pre~folded structures and you just set them up...

When putting those on your regular beds, or raised beds, you then can get the temps of the soil higher earlier.

They also do something called Solarization,
where you put a thin piece of clear plastic over the soil/dirt and that will heat up the soil,
kill bugs, and supress soil borne plant pathogens like fungi (mushrooms), bacteria, and pests (grubs, bad bugs) and weed seeds and seedlings.
Heating the soil to temps that are soooooo hot,
those things can't survive...

But I thought Khaadu's problem was with cooling. He is trying to grow cool temp vegges, like lettuce, in a too hot of a climate. He has used shade structures for this.

Ummmm, he said in one of the posts about growing winter crops....

We'll have to see when he come thru!!!

U hit the nail on the head .. !!! I thought micro climate was something else .. well yup I do need to alter the growing situations for my plants as technically they require cool temps to grow but I'm requesting them to grow in unfavorable temps , and by using shade nets and sprinklers I'm trying to get the plants to think they r at the right place at the right time . .

Its all about hit and trial and hit again !!! Keep trying ...

okay, explain some more....

#1. When are you growing these plants?
*tomatoes in summer time??*

#2. Does it snow where you are???
*I thought you wrote it got down to freezing
temps??

Ok Weezie, Ill give u a better idea slightly in detail .. seems I have u ppl confused !!!

My vege farm is located in a valley along a river and it doesn't snow there . But in the photos you will see a few pics with snow around my house .. now thats on the same hillside but a few thousand feet higher than the vege fields. It's about 26 kms by road though by crows flight its only a kilometre !! I plant the vegetables in end March and carry on till about Oct ... It gets real hot at the vege farm during the months of May-August with 15 days of July cool due to the monsoons ...

I plant most of my veges at this farm where temps touch about 35 deg Celsius during the summer months !! Tomatoes luv that condition, so does the zucchini but the other vege have to struggle .. so inorder to give them a better chance of doing well I am setting up shade nets over those fields and maybe that will help me in growing the salads ...

U get the picture or have I confused u even more ..

No, just kidding you..

Can you start your plants that struggle from the heat, earlier???
Or in the winter with the micro~climate row covers like???

(I have to go back and find that celcius/feirht chart)

Or if you grow things like lettuce or something,
can you not companion plant and plant the lettuce
at the base of the tomato plants, thus shading it, and saving space?????????

I understand what he's meaning.I can't grow lettuce past May cause is too hot,but can in the winter cause is cooler.I just grow mine different time of year.fans may help.

And he's trying to produce for restaurant/hotels so wants a longer season for production. The prices a are so much better for out-of-season vegges. (Or worse depending on if you're the producer or consumer)
I have the same problems trying to 'cool' things down in the summer. It's just creating micro-climates in reverse of what you are thinking of, Weezie. Our green houses here are more concerned with cooling than with heating.

35*C is 99*F

*I keep thinking that's cold when I read
35*C...*

yes, growing that stuff in his winter time
would be better..
or like I said, the companion planting at the
base of big/bigger plants that shade those cooler loving plants...

I know things like raspberries that would normally need the cold/chilly can be grown in the shade down south, where up here it would have to be in full sun.. and that's how to trick them plants sometimes..

easy celsius conversion approximation multiple the celsius number X 3. It's not exact but it will get it in the ball park until you get closer to zero on the C scale and then you are 30 degrees off. I can't figure out how to estimate the colder temps lol.

So, if he says 35, I would est. 105???
Ballpark???

That I can do.. or remember at least..

Hey, I am gonna be trying this method this season though never tried it earlier .. lets see how it goes !!

And I grow them in this season as thats the time when I get the highest rates for them .. eg -- At present when I can easily grow lettuce, broccoli, Chinese Cabbage the prices are

Lettuce/Broccoli -- 20 cents/kg
Chinese Cabbage -- 20 cents per piece ( about 3kgs each )

and in summers for the same items I get

Lettuce -- 1$-1.25$/kg
Broccoli -- 2$-3.5$/kg
Chinese Cabbage -- 1$/kg

So u see why the effort ... I'm sure these prices r nothing compared to what you pay for them ( i wonder how much they cost n ur parts ) !! But at the same time I have much cheaper farm labor and electricity so it evens out !!

I have already put my seeds into the bed and have turned into lil saplings and will get transplanted into the fields in another 15 days !! Shud be ready by May .. broccoli, Iceberg lettuce and Chinese Cabbage !!

Tomato plants get into the field in the first week of April ... so does the zucchini !!

And you have to remember I plant thousands of plants of each item ... though in a garden a lot more is possible but not when on a commercial level !!

That's true in the commercial sense..
You have alottttttt more space to cover than we
would here...in a home garden...

The following is a book, by
Eliot Coleman/Four-Season Harvest:
He's got alot of goooooooood info, he's into
commercial growing and pushing the limits and all sorts of stuff, storing, winter gardening, etc..

If you can get this book, I think he'd help you a wee~bit....
*If I could afford 100 books, this one would be at the very top of the list*
His wife is Barbara Damrosch, and she has some cooking items, and maybe recipes.. *I think*

That's a GREAT book Weezie!. I'm dying to make some of those cold frames of his!

I've often joked about that guy and his wife,
if anything ever happened to the planet, or the way things work, and food delivery etc were to break down, you know MOVIE MATERIAL, I would want to live next door to those two, honestly...
he can grow stuff, and do it organically, he knows how to keep it in a root cellar, and how cook it too..

Do you have it Terry???????

Anybody got this book ??? Or maybe I shud try ebay for a used one or amazon ... Never know might get some goood tips from it .. !!

Never say NO to new things ...

Yes Weezie and Khaadu, I have it. I also have Eliot's "The New Organic Grower"

Someday, I'll have get it..
I have to admit, with only one income...
$$'s tight, but I have watched their show
on the PBS stations around here, and they
both know their stuff...and push the envelope
with extended season gardening..

Yes, Khaadu, find it if you can...
I think you'd find it interesting...