Been reading about using red plastic mulch being good for tomatoes. I did this and the results are very noticeable! The tomato plants growing on red plastic are showing twice the growth versus the plants without the plastic. I had some plastic leftovers and tried it on peppers. I have twice the growth of those also. It has to do with reflecting the red light wavelength back to the plant increases the production of chlorophyll especially plants in the tomato family and strawberries. The plastic also holds soil moisture and controls weeds. Do not use the cheap pink plastic, like I did last year. After two weeks the pink faded to clear and acted like a greenhouse for the weeds under the plastic.
There are studies now stating to use silver mulch for vine crops. They show bugs like aphids, cucumber beetles, and squash bugs get confused and travel somewhere else. Next year’s test!