RESULTS Are In! ~~ Black Plastic vs Clear Plastic? 

Danny when you do a test like this never consider the negative result (in this case clear plastic) a failure or a waste. You have verified to yourself and your viewers that the way to go is Black Plastic. Thank you for running this test and have a Blessed day on your homestead.

Jean martin uses clear plastic to germinate weed seeds in fall, then covers with black plastic from winter to spring to kill germinated seeds and pulls in the spring for planting

Morning Danny and Thank You for taking the time to do this experiment and prove Black plastic is the way to go. I was worried a little when you started this experiment, I have always used the black plastic and have told others to use it over the years as well as here on You Tube. I never thought to do a comparison like you have done. It was nearly 40 years ago when ole Garner told me to use Black plastic when I was first starting my veggie operations in Southern Tennessee. I had weeds knee high, diseases and pests that were just destroying everything over the course of the growing season. Ole Garner watched me struggle for a few months and then one day he came over and looked things over and said boy you are working to hard and not to smart. At first I was getting a little offended, but I held back my anger and let him finish what he was going to tell me anyways like he always did. Garner continued and told me if I did not want to fight the weeds, bugs and diseases to till up all my land in the fall and cover it with the Black plastic.Then come spring lay out where you want your rows and cut the plastic back and plant, but leave the plastic in between the rows. Well at that point I was ready to do anything, so that fall I did as he said. Well he was right, my weed pressure was way less, I had less disease and pests too. So from that year forward I continued it. I took that old man's advice without question, but if I had paid any attention when I moved to the area. I would of noticed he used the black plastic all over his place and I will say his place looked like something that could of been on the cover of Southern Homes and Gardens. But I was 22 years old then and thought I knew everything about modern gardening and farming. Well over the years I would learn time and again I did not know everything and that old man knew a lot that was not in books and taught at the AG Universities. So again I thank you for spending the money and time to prove this out. You and Wanda take care, I will be recommending people stop by your Channel to watch this just like I do for the others things y'all do here. So stay safe and God Bless You and Wanda. Mr. Tom

I've also used a tarp. One that has brown or black on one side, and silver on the other side. Place it with the silver side down. Works great!

actually it works best to use both... black on the ground below, then pop cans or other spacer then clear plastic- really heats up!

Danny, I live in Alabama (UCLA, the Ugly Corner Of Lower Alabama) in the southeast corner of the state near Dothan. Several years ago I had a terrible problem with nematodes and nut grass in my garden. I took clear plastic (because that is what I had) and put it over the garden, but I raised the plastic with reeds so that it was about 6 inches off of the dirt. I left it for 6 weeks between middle March and the beginning of May. It killed all of the nut grass and it seemed to take care of the nematode problem also. I think that by raising the plastic, it got much hotter than by just laying it on the ground. I don't know how hot the ground got during that time, but I could watch the nut grass being burned under the clear plastic. As soon as I pulled the plastic off, I planted okra and every hill came up. Also, to control nematodes, I never plant the same crops in the same place, especially tomatoes , corn and other plants that are susceptible to nematodes.

Thank you for this because websites on this process said to use clear. I’m glad I watched your video!!

Great experiment Danny. Thanks for sharing your results!

Thanks for the series adn bringing us along. :) IF someone needs a greenhouse effect, clear plastic can help, but for everything else, seeing the black plastic top it all is an energy and time saver.

Awesome! Just the video I was looking for! Thank you for creating and uploading!

Thank you so much for doing this! And explaining the process you use to prep your soil...it is appreciated more than you know or realize. HAVE A FABULOUS DAY!

Thank you both so, so much for doing this experiment. These results make a huge impact on what I will use.

Thanks Bro Danny for taking us along on the test journey! Your a great teachers you both are. if I ‘m ever blessed with a area to garden your tips will be included in the growing process.

Thank you for doing this. It really helps me to understand more what I should do with my garden plot.👍👍

This has been very surprising and helpful DSH. You dedicated a lot of time to this experiment for all your followers. Thank you. 🦋💜

I use Dish washing detergent with water on my plants as they grow and give them a weekly dose to the end of their growing cycle to deal with the nematodes !

THANK YOU FOR YOUR EXPERIMENT, AND THE TIME TO LEARN AS WELL TO SHARE WITH US!! :)

Black plastic is all we use here in East Tennessee.....it's every farmer/homesteaders must have!

Thank you for all your information, I live in Longview Texas for 6 years and I have hard time growing anything now I live in Utah and I went to a gardening class for a couple of years and now I have a great garden, I wish that I had all this helpful information when I was in Texas, love your videos 👍🏼

Great video , thx for showing, never heard of those crickets, good to know

Wonderful info Danny. Thanks so much for sharing !!!

Exactly what I needed to know, thank you for posting!

I am so glad i found this channel, i am learning so much.

I appreciate the test! Looking for some black silage tarps now to start prepping my garden area.

Great info from your trial. Glad I found it.

What a useful video. Thank you, Danny!

Thanks, Danny, just going to try my first tarp on my new Tennessee property, starting from a lawn.

I have been searching for an answer to this question and no one, NO ONE, has done it the way you did. Thank you so so so much.

Thank you for your efforts, keep up the great work

Just found you’re channel. It’s amazing the info. Thank you

Thanks! I was wondering this and almost put down some clear plastic I already had. I'll go with the black after seeing this. You saved me time and effort.

Thank you for doing this experiment!!

Yes, thank you for this experiment. Very useful.

Thanks for your experiment.

thanks Danny your efforts are appreciated

It is a very useful and very important information about Black Plastic Mulch.

Hope you get it done and get rid of those root eaters.

Very educational experiment. Thank you for doing it.

That was very interesting. Thank you. God bless

Thanks from Ireland

I appreciate the test. It never fails, I catch this after the planting is done. I did put straw over it. I guess I should go back and cover the clear plastic with cardboard. Thanks.

good experiment. thanks for doing it.

I put double (folded) layer of least expensive clear tarp over my raised beds for about 5 weeks in spring to sterilize my soil. It did work well.

Homestead Science!!! I love it.

Nothing is as satisfying as seeing dirt turned over.

thanks for the experiment Danny and Wanda. I will till after I clean out the garden at the end of the season and put black plastic or a dark tarp over it for the winter. I usually rake all the fallen leaves on top of it also and let them break down under the cover for the winter to add something to the soil. Hopefully next spring's garden ( which if same as this year in PA will not be warm enough til May) will have less weed problems.

Great info!!!!

Thanks for sharing guys, as always. ❤️ Jenn, Seven Sprouts Farmstead

This is why I love your channel Danny & Wanda.. Very educational... Thanks so much for doing this experiment. Ya taught this ole dog a new trick..Big Hugs Miss you both.. :")

Another good lesson.

Ive been waiting to see the outcome ! so glad you put this up Danny !!! I needs me a tractor like that and the blades ! that is amazing !!! Whoa Nelly ! Love it ! I have not seen them cricket things here. Uhh we have tons of the regular black crickets though. A lot this year. More than usual.

Awesome thank you I found this very informative.

Yes! It is pure science! Glad you discovered it the way I did. Love when you make these videos .

Thanks DSH. I'll be using black from now on.

Great experiment, Danny! Thanks for doing this so we don't have to.

Thank you for posting

Thank you for that excellent test! I was going to use the clear plastic this year, till I watched your video! Thank you and God Bless!

That was extremely useful for me because I am doing this right now. What I am taking from this is that covering open ground like this with covers of any sort, the heat is not building up enough to kill anything. It's really only the fact that when you block light, things that need light die. This is because the ground can absorb the extra heat almost infinitely. It would be interesting to redo this experiment with raised beds to see if you could get the heat a lot higher. The soil temperature for solarization needs to stay between 122 and 140 degrees for very long periods of time for it to work for both pests and weeds. If you really want everything cooked its needs to get above 140 and stay there and it needs to be at least 6 inches deep. One of the things that I noticed about this experiment was that the edges of the plastic were not covered in soil or sealed to the ground. This would have allowed most of the heat to escape around all the edges. If I were doing this field in either black or clear plastic, I would want to seal those edges next time which would keep the temperature much higher. The other thing is that even if you get that top 6 inches of soil to stay above 140 degrees for 6 weeks, if you then disc that ground below 6 inches, you are going to bring everything that didn't die off below that 6 inches back up to the surface where it can get air and light. My thought is this, disc first, raise the beds, seal plastic on top of those raised beds, cook it off, plant into those raised beds with the plastic in place. There is an attachment that will do all of this for you and put it in rows. I don't know if most coops will have them though.

Great experiment watching this down the road for a second time Glad I stuck with black plastic for permanent setup to plant through. We use our old clear plastic from ripped greenhouses to warm up the soil but will stick away from planting through

Thanks for the upload. I also used black plastic as it cuts off the sunlight.

Thank you for creating this important content. God bless you.

Thanks so much for this

I wonder about that. Glade to see this experiment. Thanks Dannie and Wanda. Wanda sorry if my auto correct misspell your name.

The dirt look so soft. I bet it smell good too.

Thank you for this video

I got the same results. Black tarps is the way to go. Great video.

The clear plastic has to be raised at least six inches above the soil , seal off the edges with soil , wood etc. It will take several weeks . You most likely will see lots of weeds germinate in the first few weeks. The sun and lack of oxygen will take care of the rest.

Very helpful thank you

HELLO DANNY AND WANDA, I THINK ITS INTERESTING THAT YOU PROVED THAT THE BLACK PLASTIC WAS BETTER TO USE. I LOVE YOU BOTH, GOD BLESS YOU BOTH.

this is good information to know. hmm! thank you

Great info thanks

Thanks for doing this experiment. Up here in the Pacific Northwest I haven't seen mole crickets before.

Looks very good

Very interesting.

You made a very helpful video

the black plastic also makes the earthworms more active neat the surface of the soil. I did this and had a ton of worm castings all over the surface of the soil.

excellent experiment! thank you

You drive that tractor well enjoyed video... to me it is just common sense....hopefully people learned test it yourself on you own property to see what works best for you. Thank you and God bless

Thanks Danny

thank you so much for your efforts for the experiment. I know i can successfully knock out the blight fungus, cheers

Excellent video thank you so much I want to plant corn but I need to kill the grass first didn't want to rototill at all now I have my answer black plastic thank you!!! Then in a few months ago tilling will be much easier

Thanks. Thought that because no sunlight.

Good video. I'm using black plastic from here on out

I have waited and waited for this reveal. I wasn’t too surprised! Actually it was like a WIN lol. I bet myself the black would be better just because it made more sense to me. No light, black, hot, boom! LOL You guys are just AWESOME!!! TFS! God Bless ~Lisa

Thank u Danny for doing this I’m buying black

I have my fair share of RKNs here in SC. They love my Clemson Spineless Okra, it's their favorite.

great experiment we use black plastic here . God bless

Man yalls soil is pretty!

WOW that was a surprise

good info

AWESOME

Could just have asked me, we known this for 50 years here north

Thanks

Maybe if you put up an electric fence and put some chickens in the area they would eat the crickets and clean up the area a bit

Clear plastic works on greenhouses when glass panels get broke. So makes sense.

Would chicken eat those nimitoad(?).Thanks for sharing, I put clear plastic under my pallets to hold firewood, next year I'll buy the black plastic.

you can use the clear plastic to fores the seed of weeds to grow then remve them beforthey set seed

Good share. That was a good test, I've been watching every single one to find out the results. I wish you could fix the focus on your close-ups like when you were sharing the roots from the okra, I couldn't see anything because it was just a big blur. It happens to alot of your videos.

Excellent...black all the way

Black is the only way to go!