Peppers and Tomatoes

Question

We have cut the bottom off of three 5-gallon plant containers. After planting our peppers and tomatoes in the ground, we covered them with these containers (black). We did that so they would be protected from the wind and weather while they were young. It has made it very easy to water, as the water stays in and around the plant longer. Our question is ~ Can we keep these over the tomatoes and peppers for the whole summer or will the black ‘cook them’? Additionally, we plan to put metal stakes in the ground (beside every 2nd-3rd plant) and string twine between the stakes, then train the tomatoes up between the twine. The peppers and tomatoes are in 5 rows of 17 plands in each row.

Answer 1

Tomatoes and peppers both like heat, so I think as long as these collars do not interfere with the physical growth, they should not cause a problem even with heat retention.

The twine idea is a good one and “stringing up tomatoes” is pretty common for commercial tomato farms and is starting to catch on in home gardens. You just have to keep on them to make sure that they don’t grow faster than you can train them up the lines.