YFFSIDMY Floating Row Cover / Frost Cloth, 0.9 oz per sq yd (10 × 20 ft) Review

Our Verdict

This is the right category for the problem our tomato guidance describes, and the wrong product to buy on its marketing. The problem: Utah State ties flower abortion to nights below 50°F and Penn State puts blossom drop below 55°F, so the weeks either side of the frost date are not binary — they are a run of nights a few degrees too cold, on a plant that is alive but not setting fruit. A floating cover addresses exactly that, by holding a few degrees of the day's heat over the bed overnight while still letting light and rain through. Now the number. Row-cover fabric is graded by weight, and weight is what determines how many degrees it holds: this is 0.9 oz per square yard, which sits at the light end of the range. The listing does not state a temperature figure anywhere, while claiming protection from frost, snow, hail and sleet — those are not compatible statements, and the weight is the one to believe. Treat it as a few degrees, useful for turning a marginal night into an acceptable one, and not as protection against a real freeze. If a hard frost is forecast, this is not the product; bringing containers in or writing off the crop is. Two practical notes. It must be anchored — soil, staples, stones — because an unweighted cover in wind is a sail that takes the plants with it. And it is breathable and light-transmitting, so it can stay on through the day at the shoulders of the season rather than being put on and taken off nightly, which is the difference between a cover people use and one that stays in the shed.