{"id":3580,"date":"2026-09-25T16:01:01","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T16:01:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/?p=3580"},"modified":"2026-09-25T16:04:29","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T16:04:29","slug":"super-early-zucchini","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/super-early-zucchini\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Grow Super Early Greenhouse Zucchini in a &#8220;Hot Manure Bag&#8221; USDA 3-5"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n<div class=\"kk-star-ratings kksr-auto kksr-align-left kksr-valign-top\"\n    data-payload='{&quot;align&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;3580&quot;,&quot;slug&quot;:&quot;default&quot;,&quot;valign&quot;:&quot;top&quot;,&quot;ignore&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;reference&quot;:&quot;auto&quot;,&quot;class&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;count&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;legendonly&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;readonly&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;score&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;starsonly&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;best&quot;:&quot;5&quot;,&quot;gap&quot;:&quot;5&quot;,&quot;greet&quot;:&quot;Share your rating&quot;,&quot;legend&quot;:&quot;0\\\/5 - (0 votes)&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;24&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;How to Grow Super Early Greenhouse Zucchini in a \\u0026quot;Hot Manure Bag\\u0026quot; USDA 3-5&quot;,&quot;width&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;_legend&quot;:&quot;{score}\\\/{best} - ({count} {votes})&quot;,&quot;font_factor&quot;:&quot;1.25&quot;}'>\n            \n<div class=\"kksr-stars\">\n    \n<div class=\"kksr-stars-inactive\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"1\" style=\"padding-right: 5px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 24px; height: 24px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"2\" style=\"padding-right: 5px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 24px; height: 24px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"3\" style=\"padding-right: 5px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 24px; height: 24px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"4\" style=\"padding-right: 5px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 24px; height: 24px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"5\" style=\"padding-right: 5px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 24px; height: 24px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n<div class=\"kksr-stars-active\" style=\"width: 0px;\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" style=\"padding-right: 5px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 24px; height: 24px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" style=\"padding-right: 5px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 24px; height: 24px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" style=\"padding-right: 5px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 24px; height: 24px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" style=\"padding-right: 5px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 24px; height: 24px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" style=\"padding-right: 5px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 24px; height: 24px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n                \n\n<div class=\"kksr-legend\" style=\"font-size: 19.2px;\">\n            <span class=\"kksr-muted\">Share your rating<\/span>\n    <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<p><script type=\"application\/ld+json\">\n{\n  \"@context\": \"https:\/\/schema.org\",\n  \"@type\": \"QAPage\",\n  \"mainEntity\": {\n    \"@type\": \"Question\",\n    \"name\": \"How do you prep a bag for growing super early greenhouse zucchini?\",\n    \"text\": \"What do you fill the bag with and where do you put it? Is this method used specifically to get an early zucchini harvest in the greenhouse?\",\n    \"answerCount\": 1,\n    \"datePublished\": \"2021-04-15T10:31:00Z\",\n    \"author\": {\n      \"@type\": \"Person\",\n      \"name\": \"Clever\",\n      \"url\": \"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/profile\/57390-%D1%81lever\/\"\n    },\n    \"acceptedAnswer\": {\n      \"@type\": \"Answer\",\n      \"text\": \"Take a large woven poly sack (like a feed or sugar sack) and fill the bottom with raw chicken coop bedding. Pour about 2.6 gallons (10 liters) of boiling water over the bedding to jumpstart the hot composting process. Top it with 4 inches (10 cm) of regular potting soil and plant your zucchini seedling. Keep the bag in the corner of the greenhouse. It acts as a mini-hotbed!\",\n      \"datePublished\": \"2021-04-15T12:00:00Z\",\n      \"url\": \"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/super-early-zucchini\/#answer\",\n      \"author\": {\n        \"@type\": \"Person\",\n        \"name\": \"Maria Suvorova\",\n        \"url\": \"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/profile\/60829-%D0%BC%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%8F-%D1%81%D1%83%D0%B2%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0\/\"\n      },\n      \"upvoteCount\": 24\n    }\n  }\n}\n<\/script><\/p>\n<div class=\"tldr-box\" style=\"background: #f4f9f4; padding: 20px; border-left: 5px solid #4CAF50; margin-bottom: 30px; border-radius: 4px;\">\n<h3>\ud83d\udccc Quick Summary (TL;DR): Mid-April Greenhouse Planting Risks &amp; Rewards<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>\ud83c\udf45 <strong>Early Tomatoes:<\/strong> Planting tomatoes directly into the cold greenhouse dirt in mid-April (Zone 4) is risky. Growers use heavy frost blankets, plastic film, and 1.3-gallon (5L) jugs of hot water placed near the plants at night as thermal mass to keep them alive.<\/li>\n<li>\ud83e\udd86 <strong>Greenhouse Pests:<\/strong> Watch out for sneaky livestock! Free-ranging ducks love to sneak into open greenhouses to devour early spring lettuce greens.<\/li>\n<li>\ud83e\udd52 <strong>The &#8220;Hot Bag&#8221; Zucchini Hack:<\/strong> You can grow early heat-loving crops like zucchini in a freezing greenhouse by making a mini-hotbed in a feed sack. Fill the bottom with chicken manure, activate it with boiling water, add soil, and plant! The composting manure keeps the roots toasty warm.<br \/>\nPhoto author: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/gallery\/image\/174227-%D0%9A%D0%B0%D0%B1%D0%B0%D1%87%D0%BA%D0%B8%20%D0%B2%20%D0%BC%D0%B5%D1%88%D0%BA%D0%B5\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">EMILIA<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"add-review-cta\" style=\"margin: 20px 0; padding: 15px; background: #f9f9f9; border-left: 4px solid #4CAF50; border-radius: 4px;\"><strong>\ud83d\udcac Have you ever tried the &#8220;hot manure&#8221; bag trick for early squash?<\/strong> <a href=\"#wpdcom\">Let us know how it worked for you below!<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"forum-post\">\n<div class=\"author-header\">\n<div class=\"forum-avatar\">M<\/div>\n<div class=\"author-meta\">\n<div class=\"author-name\">Maria Suvorova <span class=\"author-stats\">\u2b50 Pro Grower (10,538 posts)<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"author-geo\">\ud83d\udccd Tver Region (USDA Zone 4b) | \ud83d\udcc5 April 14, 2021<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"post-content\">\n<blockquote><p><strong>Nessie wrote (Apr 14, 2021):<\/strong><br \/>\nI am feeling like a superhero today. I planted my seedlings out into the big tomato greenhouse!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I just planted half of my greenhouse with tomatoes too! The other half is filled with my tissue-culture (in-vitro) seedlings, and later I&#8217;ll grow watermelons and cantaloupes on that side. My husband and I also put together a small bed for our &#8216;Kupchikha&#8217; and &#8216;Toscana&#8217; strawberries.<\/p>\n<p>Also, it turns out a sneaky Muscovy duck got into the habit of raiding the greenhouse to nibble on my lettuce. I caught her red-handed today! The funniest part is that the drake was literally standing guard at the door while she quietly slipped in. She started squeaking indignantly when I chased her out. And here I was wondering why my lettuce was going bald! \ud83d\ude02<\/p>\n<p>Oh, and I also planted a &#8216;<a href=\"#editor-note\">Cavili<\/a>&#8216; zucchini into a sack today, it already has two true leaves!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"forum-post\">\n<div class=\"author-header\">\n<div class=\"forum-avatar\">T<\/div>\n<div class=\"author-meta\">\n<div class=\"author-name\">Tatunya (Tanya) <span class=\"author-stats\">\u2b50 Pro Grower (13,826 posts)<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"author-geo\">\ud83d\udccd Istra District, Moscow Region (USDA Zone 4b) | \ud83d\udcc5 April 14, 2021<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"post-content\">\n<blockquote><p><strong>Maria Suvorova wrote:<\/strong><br \/>\nI just planted half of my greenhouse with tomatoes too!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\ud83d\ude32 Wait, directly into the ground beds? Or in bags? Do you have a space heater in there? How are you warming up the soil?! Either way, that&#8217;s awesome.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"forum-post\">\n<div class=\"author-header\">\n<div class=\"forum-avatar\">M<\/div>\n<div class=\"author-meta\">\n<div class=\"author-name\">Maria Suvorova <span class=\"author-stats\">\u2b50 Pro Grower (10,538 posts)<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"author-geo\">\ud83d\udccd Tver Region (USDA Zone 4b) | \ud83d\udcc5 April 14, 2021<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"post-content\">\n<blockquote><p><strong>Tatunya (Tanya) wrote:<\/strong><br \/>\nHow are you warming up the soil?!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I&#8217;m not heating it at all! Let them live like that. I&#8217;ll cover them with frost blankets and plastic film if a cold snap hits. Plus, I put out 1.3-gallon (5-liter) jugs filled with hot water at night. If it gets dangerously cold, I might just have to go sleep out there in the greenhouse with them to keep them warm! \ud83d\ude02<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"forum-post\">\n<div class=\"author-header\">\n<div class=\"forum-avatar\">B<\/div>\n<div class=\"author-meta\">\n<div class=\"author-name\">brilliant (Galina) <span class=\"author-stats\">\u2b50 Pro Grower (17,293 posts)<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"author-geo\">\ud83d\udccd Zelenograd, Moscow (USDA Zone 4b) | \ud83d\udcc5 April 15, 2021<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"post-content\">\n<blockquote><p><strong>Maria Suvorova wrote:<\/strong><br \/>\nI just planted half of my greenhouse with tomatoes too!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Well, peer pressure is contagious, I think I&#8217;ll go pop mine in the ground too! My seedlings are already big and sturdy, I can plant them normally without trenching them deep. As for the cold&#8230; if they want to live, they&#8217;ll survive! \ud83d\ude05\ud83d\ude01<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"forum-post\">\n<div class=\"author-header\">\n<div class=\"forum-avatar\">A<\/div>\n<div class=\"author-meta\">\n<div class=\"author-name\">Aleksan9ra (Ludmila) <span class=\"author-stats\">\u2b50 Pro Grower (15,056 posts)<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"author-geo\">\ud83d\udccd Moscow Region (USDA Zone 4b) | \ud83d\udcc5 April 15, 2021<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"post-content\">\n<blockquote><p><strong>brilliant (Galina) wrote:<\/strong><br \/>\nWell, peer pressure is contagious, I think I&#8217;ll go pop mine in the ground too!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I just went and checked my seedlings that I brought out to the greenhouse a few days ago. They got so strong and stocky, they&#8217;re even pushing out flower buds. They are absolutely begging to be planted. The ground actually feels warm. I don&#8217;t know the exact temperature, but it feels no colder than it did in early May last year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"answer\" class=\"forum-post\">\n<div class=\"author-header\">\n<div class=\"forum-avatar\">C<\/div>\n<div class=\"author-meta\">\n<div class=\"author-name\">Clever (Irina) <span class=\"author-stats\">\u2b50 User (591 posts)<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"author-geo\">\ud83d\udccd Kazan (USDA Zone 4a) | \ud83d\udcc5 April 15, 2021<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"post-content\">\n<blockquote><p><strong>Maria Suvorova wrote:<\/strong><br \/>\nOh, and I also planted a &#8216;Cavili&#8217; zucchini into a sack today&#8230;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Good afternoon everyone. Maria, what exactly did you fill that sack with, and where did you put it? Inside the greenhouse? I really want to try this. I assume this is purely to get a super early harvest, right?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"forum-post\">\n<div class=\"author-header\">\n<div class=\"forum-avatar\">M<\/div>\n<div class=\"author-meta\">\n<div class=\"author-name\">Maria Suvorova <span class=\"author-stats\">\u2b50 Pro Grower (10,538 posts)<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"author-geo\">\ud83d\udccd Tver Region (USDA Zone 4b) | \ud83d\udcc5 April 15, 2021<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"post-content\">\n<blockquote><p><strong>Clever (Irina) wrote:<\/strong><br \/>\nMaria, what exactly did you fill that sack with&#8230;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Irina, I take a woven poly sugar sack (like a heavy feed sack) and stuff the bottom with soiled bedding straight from my chicken coop. Then I pour about 2.6 gallons (10 liters) of <a href=\"#editor-note\">boiling hot water*<\/a> right over the manure.<\/p>\n<p>After that, I throw about 4 inches (10 cm) of regular potting dirt on top and plant the zucchini seedling in it. I leave the edges of the bag rolled up so it forms a little protective &#8220;house&#8221; around the plant. You can also throw a piece of frost blanket over the top. I keep the whole setup sitting in the corner of the greenhouse. Boom, early zucchini!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"editor-note\" class=\"editor-note\" style=\"background: #eef7ff; padding: 15px; border-left: 4px solid #2196F3; margin-top: 15px; font-size: 1.2em;\"><strong>\ud83d\udc68\u200d\ud83d\udd2c Editor&#8217;s Botanical Note:<\/strong><br \/>\nThere is some serious old-school homesteading magic happening in this thread! Let&#8217;s break it down:First, Maria&#8217;s <strong>&#8220;Hot Bag&#8221; technique<\/strong> relies on the scientific principles of hot composting. By packing a bag with raw, nitrogen-rich chicken manure\/bedding and soaking it with <strong>boiling water*<\/strong>, she jumpstarts an intense bacterial breakdown. The manure acts like a biological space heater, warming the soil above it so the heat-loving zucchini roots stay toasty, even if the greenhouse air drops near freezing in April!Second, she specifically chose the variety <strong>&#8216;Cavili&#8217; (Cavili F1)<\/strong>. This is a highly popular Dutch commercial variety that is <strong>parthenocarpic<\/strong>, meaning it sets fruit without needing to be pollinated by bees. This is a crucial detail! If you try this early spring greenhouse trick with a standard zucchini variety (like Black Beauty), the flowers will just fall off because there are no bees flying inside a closed greenhouse in April. <em>(US growers: &#8216;Partenon&#8217; or &#8216;Sure Thing&#8217; are excellent parthenocarpic alternatives to &#8216;Cavili&#8217;).<\/em><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\ud83d\udccc Quick Summary (TL;DR): Mid-April Greenhouse Planting Risks &amp; Rewards \ud83c\udf45 Early Tomatoes: Planting tomatoes directly into the cold greenhouse dirt in mid-April (Zone 4) is risky. Growers use heavy frost blankets, plastic film, and 1.3-gallon (5L) jugs of hot water placed near the plants at night as thermal mass to keep them alive. \ud83e\udd86 &#8230; <a title=\"How to Grow Super Early Greenhouse Zucchini in a &#8220;Hot Manure Bag&#8221; USDA 3-5\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/super-early-zucchini\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about How to Grow Super Early Greenhouse Zucchini in a &#8220;Hot Manure Bag&#8221; USDA 3-5\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3580,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[507],"tags":[881,892,735,893],"class_list":["post-3580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pumpkins","tag-early-planting","tag-greenhouse-zucchini","tag-hot-bed","tag-spring-frost-protection"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3580"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3580\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3586,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3580\/revisions\/3586"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}