Hey Bon. Happy Thanksgiving. I'm also trying to figure out coverings! Both frost and insect. One of these days I'll figure it out.

Yeah and as soon as we think we've figured it out, the weather throws us a curve ball. Some things, I guess, just gotta give it a crack and see how it goes.

You just have to accept that the lightweight, summer-weight insect type row coverings are light by necessity (so they don't allow a heat buildup that roasts your plants in spring and summer) and are not expected to last long. They really are only intended to last a year (or less). That is just the way it is. For what it is worth, I have been able to use some Agribon-15 for up to 6 or 8 years, but keeping it in good shape is challenging. I patch holes in it promptly with white duct tape, specifically the Gorilla brand because it is such better quality than regular duct tape, and after a while, the covers are more duct tape than row cover. Always using low tunnel hoops to suspend the lightweight covers well above the plants helps a great deal---when you let floating row covers float, in our climate with our wind they tear up almost instantly from the friction of moving back and forth lightly over the plants and the ground. I have found that woven netting like MicroMesh (available from many online retailers) and BioThrips Proteknet Netting (very pricey, and hard to find in smaller sizes) are a lot stronger than the more sheer coverings from Agribon or whoever. Remember that row covers degrade in UV light, so no matter what you do, they are going to deteriorate, weaken and tear up. This past year I finally threw away the last of my first bolt of Agribon that I had bought around 2008----it was totally shredded, but I was able to use some of it for a long time. I just threw it away one piece at a time until there wasn't any more of it left. Some of it only lasted a couple of years and it wasn't my fault. For example, (if your husband, in an attempt to be helpful, ever spreads some out on the ground and leaves it there to dry so you can roll it up and put it away, but doesn't weigh it down so the wind carries it into a barbed wire fence...….then that piece is dead and gone right then, even if it is the first time you used it. Some of it lasted substantially longer. I no longer buy the lightweight Agribon for insect protection---only MicroMesh and Biothrips Proteknet Netting. Of the two of those, I like MicroMesh better. My current MicroMesh and Biothrips Proteknet are probably at least 5 years old and only have a couple of minor tears. I believe their expected lifespan is 3 years, but if you are careful with them, you can get at least a couple more years worth of use out of them. To prevent larger tears, avoid using those U-shaped landscape fabric earth staples to hold down the fabrics because they'll put holes in it. Use sandbags, bricks, pieces of lumber, etc. that sit on top of the fabric without leaving holes punched through it in order to make your row covers last longer. The only place I could find Proteknet netting online in smaller sizes than the full rolls of it that Johnny's Selected Seeds sells was at purpletools.net back when I bought mine several years ago. I don't know if anyone else also carries it in smaller sizes now because I haven't had to buy more. Here's the one that have nowadays--the name has changed slightly but it is the same product.

Proteknet Insect Netting

Hey Bon, good to see you!

Hi Amy! Miss you guys. I still live with pain and push myself to do SO MUCH that I'm a grumpy hair trigger on social media and just avoid it for the most part.

Dawn

You just saved me years of headache and heartache and a boatload of cold hard cash.

Now that I know, I may just end up ordering a roll from Harris Seed Supply to have some in stock, especially the bug protection.

You answered all the questions including those I didn't ask.

Thank you so much for continuously sharing your experience.

I'm having fun trying to build up the Charles Dowding method. No way I could be at this stage without everyone's support over the years and the massive knowledge base on this thread. Absolutely no way without you all.

Love and prayers for all. Have a blessed Christmas!

bon

That's actually a really good idea! I need to make some bud bags for seed saving, too.