Recently a fellow at market said that he felt using row cover would be problematic. The problem being taking off and putting back on as the weather dictates.
This seems to be an on going thought with folks that are unfamiliar with fabric / row cover. This could not be further from the truth. Save for the cucurbit family, all veggies can be covered full term. The only time the covers are removed is to harvest along with any other bed work. If it wasn't for the need to be pollinated a gardener could leave the covers on squash, melons, cucumbers and any of the other members of the cucurbit family. Okra just becomes a problem when it gets too tall to cover.
Fabric lowers the light intensity of our abundant West Texas sun. This year I have covered one of my tomato beds with Agribon 70. 70 is the heavy fabric that I use. It only allows 30 percent of the light through. I have not noticed any signs of light deprivation such as leggy plants that are yellowing. I have noticed that it appears to slow the ripening of the fruit. This has not been a problem. The reason for this is that 70 lasts longer and it is a better hail guard too.
The way fabric is designed actually prisms the light around underneath the fabric. This allows for light to reach all surfaces of the leaves. I like to say the light underneath the fabric is superior to natural light.
Folks are afraid of leaving the fabric on, thinking the covered plants will burn up. In fact the fabric usually cools the leaf surfaces. This year is the first year that I have noticed any sun scald under the fabric. I was very surprised. Giving this occurrence some thought, my suspected reason was like what happens to leaves that are in contact with the fabric when there is a freeze. The temperature is transferred through the fabric and directly into what ever is in contact. Leaves can dissipate this heat but with the size of a fruit the heat transferred into the fruit interior and thus the fruit was cooked. This is just a theory.
Fabric has so many uses besides frost protection. The two biggest downfalls I have with fabric is that it makes perfect aphid habitat and the other is that I have not found a way to recycle after it has finished it useful life.
I may solve the aphid thing once my guineas are gone. Greens are where I have the biggest problem and to leave them uncovered with the guineas on the loose would just not be prudent. As for after use uses the search continues.
A short list of why to use fabric, frost protection, heat protection, moisture retainer, insect and other pest exclusion, allows for extreme season extension(both spring, fall and year round growing) , hail and wind protection, and it can isolate cross pollinating plants for seed collection. These are but a few reasons.
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