February 6, 2017

post to Facebook 

 I was saddened recently when I went to order more garden fabric in November that I discovered the fellow I have ordered from for several years had retired.

This really put me in a tail spin because I rely on fabric to level the gardening playing field in west Texas.

My supplier in Arizona was the least expensive for the Agribon line of fabric.

I did find some other suppliers of floating row cover that were comparable in price or a little less expensive than Agribon.

Each of these companies fabric was somewhat similar to Agribon but not quite the same. They varied in widths and as a rule were wider than the agribon line.

I wish that there was an 8 to 9 foot width but Agribon has 83 inch width then a 10 foot width. The 10 foot works for me. The other varieties are 7 feet then the next size is 12 feet. With the 10 foot I already have 1.5 feet of extra fabric. To add 2 more feet just seems wasteful. Maybe if there was a way to recycle this stuff this would be more palatable. I use a lot of this stuff. (my beds are 4.5 feet wide, any wider and I cannot reach half way across the bed)

The next problem that I encountered was that each of these manufacturers’ products was slightly lighter or slightly heavier. Having become comfortable with the Agribon weights (several years of trial and error) I do not feel like starting over from scratch with fabric trials.

There was another row cover that is a little more open weave and allows water to freeze within the fabric. The company says it provides both very good frost protection and hail protection, but is substantially more expensive. It is reported to be more durable and can last several seasons. I may need to try a single bed and see how it performs.  The only way this would pencil out is if it were to last several years.  If it was multiyear durable it could reduce my landfill “food”. This is a concern of mine. Although I feel the use of Agribon is a far superior use of hydro carbons than ever more semi- trucks   bringing food into Alpine that can easily be produced here year round.

Here are the suppliers for anyone that may be interested.

Greenhouse Megastore   Similar to agribon

Dubois Agrinovation   similar to agribon

Peaceful valley farm supply    agribon and bio Btalon (this is the one where frozen water adds to protection)

Enviromental Green Products    agribon (least expensive source of

agribon) 

 

I would like to hear from anyone that has tried these other products other than agribon and how they performed for them.