Long story short - last year we planted roma tomatoes and the bush got HUGE! Tons of tomatoes, however, none of them ripened, they all stayed green.
We live at 8200 feet, on what is technically called a alpine meadow - we know our property used to be a potato farm so we know we can grow plenty of veggies. Plus our squashes and carrots were fine.
A neighbor recently told me about a waterwall for our tomatoes - we were talking over our shared fence and I was cordially nodding as if I knew exactly how to build a waterwall and what it was 
Well, I’ve done a little Googling and I know what it is now, but as for how t build one properly…anyone have any ideas?
Is this what they meant?
Were they thinking of a heat sink wall for all year to radiate heat at night? You’ll probably just have to admit to the neighbors you have no idea what they meant.
It’s like thisone. I just don’t want to buy it, I want to make it.
My sister in Colorado swears by the red plastic for tomatoes. She said it’s the only way she gets any to ripen in the time they’ve got.
It’s a red plastic ground cover that you put around the plants and they ripen faster. I don’t remember where she got it, though.
I think she also plants some stuff in containers so she can take it in at night to extend the season.
We were just talking last night about doing a waterwall for our tomatoes next year, but we were just going to use gallon jugs or something. We only need it for a couple-three weeks so that we can get plants in earlier.
I’ve been trying to figure out how to build one, too, so if you find something, post it back!
Do you just not want to spend the money? They’re dirt cheap.
The Garden Web suggested taping together 2 liter bottles. Perhaps adding red cellophane might help too?
No, it’s not the money…I just like building stuff.
I’ve hear the two liter bottle thing before, but I am not sure what the red coloring is for…
You need clear tape and a box of Flavor Ice pops or other brand. Tape those together and you have your water tubes for the crafty or not so crafty person.
The commercial product, one brand at least is Wall-O-Water will provide a substrate for algae which is hard to remove. The plastic drink bottles are just as affective, if not more so, and don’t get the algae so badly because they can be loosely capped. I personally think the red color for tomatoes is just a marketing gimmick.
You do realize that if you hadn’t tried to bluff your neighbor into thinking that you knew what the hell they were talking about, you may have learned something right then and there. Without Google or SDMB or hell, the internet at all.
Why would you pretend to know what they were talking about instead of just asking?