Marianne's Response

Red or black plastic under tomatoes?

i sent you a question about using landscape material under my tomatoes and you suggest using red plastic instead because it would hold the heat in better doesn’t black absorb more heat than red?
Would using the black hurt anything ?

Posted by boyd nelson on May 9, 2016

Marianne's Response

Good question. Black plastic under tomatoes or other heat loving plants is fine. The reason I said red plastic is because university studies prove that tomatoes ripen sooner when sunlight reflects off of red plastic. Some garden centers even sell red plastic garden mulch sheets to use under tomatoes. If you can't red plastic just use the black plastic and you will still enjoy a great harvest. Keep growing, Marianne Binetti