Polyethylene Mulching for Early Vegetable Production in North Florida: Cir805/CV213, 11/2008

Abstract

Polyethylene mulch has been used commercially on vegetables since the early 1960s. Currently, polyethylene mulch is used on thousands of acres of vegetables in the United States. Florida leads in use with about 100,000 acres of mulched vegetables.

In Florida, the vast majority of mulch is used in southern Florida on tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, strawberries, and melons. In northern Florida, very little mulching was practiced until the late 1980s, except for tomatoes in the Quincy area and strawberries in Bradford County. Mulching practices have since steadily increased throughout the rest of North Florida on a wide range of vegetable crops, including watermelon, cantaloupe (muskmelon), tomato, cucumber, pepper, and eggplant. This document was first published in Oct. 1988.