I hope that this is the right forum to ask this question. I've been reading about mulches to warm the soil earlier in the spring or later in the fall. They have never mentioned this combination, but I'm wondering.

Clear Plastic mulch will let weeds sprout but warm the soil much greater than black plastic: "Clear plastic increases soil temperatures by 8 to 14ºF at a depth of 2 inches, and by 6 to 9°F at a depth of 4 inches." Attra website: http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/PDF/seasonext.pdf

Plastics suppresses weed growth, reduces soil water

loss, increases soil temperature, and can improve

vegetable yield...but to a lesser degree, paper mulches (and others) can also.

So, my question: If I laid down a sheet of newspaper over my raised garden beds and then placed clear plastic over the newspapers, would that still increase the soil temperature as much as if without the newspapers? I'm tryint to get around weed sproutings but still want to get the benefit of clear plastic over colored plastic of a higher raised soil temperature.

Would this be slug habitat? Would this increase fungi or other problems? Would this increase my soil temperature more than just using black plastic? Any thoughts?

~tom