Has anyone used Wall of Water??

[DW]

We splurged and bought some hoping to have ripe tomatoes before frost. We are not impressed...busted out seams & falling over crushing the tomatoes. Has anyone had better luck?

[njmama]

Hi,

I used them this spring. They didn't bust or anything. Awkward to fill but they worked out.

[RockyGlen]

we use them - have to here if you want ripe tomatoes. They are a pain, but better than no tomatoes.

[Windy in Kansas]

Another option is to use Saylor Caps. They use water to retain overnight heat and a cage to hold a bag of water which is essentially dropped over prongs on the cage to completely cover the unit, not just provide sidewalls as other types.
Think terrarium like environment, but also consider whether the plant might get too hot if the water doesn't absorb the heat.
http://www.saylorsfarm.com/WaterCaps.htm

I've not used them, only provide the information.

[MARYDVM]

I used them to get the tomatoes and eggplants in the ground early. The ones I bought online at half price must have all been seconds - about 1/2 had defective seams between the tubes that overbalanced the whole structure - I ended up putting a tomato cage inside those ones to prop them up. The ones I paid full price for at the garden shop all were fine. I found that planting seeds directly into the ground inside them worked just as well as transplanting seedlings. That's what I'll do next year.

[Nel frattempo]

We use plain ole plastic milk jugs. Fill with water, set around plants, we put a red clay quarry tile next to the plants also - seems to hold the heat. The milk jugs get warm during day and the clay tiles do too , release heat at night - and we think it helped our tomatoes stay warmer but we don't try to beat the frost or anything.

[hunter63]

Been using them for several years, and did a side by side planting.
The wall of water did produce fruit (tomatoes) first, but only by a couple of days.
I do use a small size wire cage to help them stand up, and made a filler by cutting off a "water wand" that had a broken sprayer on it, so just a curved pipe w/valve.

Seems to be just protection from a late frost, but I think that daylight and ground temp are the biggest factors in getting an early yield.

Did the milk jug thing and they didn't freeze, but seem to stunt the plant?

[WisJim]

We have used them off and on for 15 years or so, and gave most of them away. Too many split seams, falling over, etc. We used them in conjunction with a tomato cage to protect the plants. We now use 5 gallon plastic cubitainers with the bottoms cut off for our early tomatoes that might get frosted.

[ksfarmer]

Tried them a few years ago. Had a lot of trouble leaking. I didn't see enough gain to justify all the problems.

[EDDIE BUCK]

Originally Posted by hunter63

Been using them for several years, and did a side by side planting.
The wall of water did produce fruit (tomatoes) first, but only by a couple of days.
I do use a small size wire cage to help them stand up, and made a filler by cutting off a "water wand" that had a broken sprayer on it, so just a curved pipe w/valve.

Seems to be just protection from a late frost, but I think that daylight and ground temp are the biggest factors in getting an early yield.

Did the milk jug thing and they didn't freeze, but seem to stunt the plant?

Thats a picture that belongs on front cover of a gardening magazine. A neat and well planned garden.

[peter nap]

I have used them for years and like the results but they are expensive so I've been using 1 liter drink bottles around the plants for the last couple of years. They seem to work just as well.

[nodak3]

We love them for larger plants. We also use milk jugs for smaller ones. They usually don't leak on us for the first few years.

[hunter63]

Originally Posted by EDDIE BUCK

Thats a picture that belongs on front cover of a gardening magazine. A neat and well planned garden.

Thanks I try.
Now that you bring it up, it wasn't on the cover but published in Mother Earth News.

http://www.motherearthliving.com/iss...ges_427-1.html