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shade Shade Cloth...

Josh

Josh

Of those of you that use shade cloth while hardening your plants off, what shade percentage do you use? I assume you use a couple of types during the process.
 
Crap, I thought I would get a few responses. Potawie, don't you use shade cloth over your greenhouse?
 
Josh,

I use shade (except this year most of my plants are in the GH where I'm getting probably 50-70 percent light transmission). Between my house and shed, it's much cheaper to just move the plants a couple times a day for a couple of days than spend money on cloth.

Mike
 
wordwiz said:
Josh,

I use shade (except this year most of my plants are in the GH where I'm getting probably 50-70 percent light transmission). Between my house and shed, it's much cheaper to just move the plants a couple times a day for a couple of days than spend money on cloth.

Mike
Click to expand...

Moving them is not my concern. I don't really have a spot in my yard that has a good light to shade ratio. I either end up giving them too little light or too much sun. I am hoping shade cloth can keep things consistent. I have been looking here...

http://www.gothicarchgreenhouses.com/shade_woven.htm

Just trying to figure out what percentages to get. I don't need a ton just a 6'x9' piece.
 
I've been eyeing up the kids tramp as a good place to put them under to harden off. they love helping me with them, go nuts when they see them ripen up. great little helpers. no idea what percentage light passes through, but the grass grows 3 times as fast underneath, so can't be too bad.... any way... be great if you could share your findings Josh :)
 
Capsicum can handle heat and sun; why not go with 30% shade cloth for hardening? A few burnt leaves is nothing serious and they'll adjust.
 
Too much sun and heat can be a problem
My shade cloth is probably 30-40% shade and is multipurpose. I use it in the early spring for hardening off and then later on again just to help keep the temps down a bit in the greenhouse. I think many southern growers use more shade% but mine works fine for me. Just make sure to harden off for wind too
 
I wanted to thank everyone for the input. I just placed an order (not from the site I listed above). I feel like it is a bit expensive, but I hope it is going to alleviate a lot of stress.
 
Here's a bump on this topic with a couple more questions-

To alleviate summer heat, would white cloth be better than black? and once again what % blockage?
 
AjarnV said:
Capsicum can handle heat and sun; why not go with 30% shade cloth for hardening? A few burnt leaves is nothing serious and they'll adjust.
Click to expand...

Nix my comment above; it was before I knew better. The direct sun here is too bloody hot, except for a few months in the winter.

We've got black and green here; my guess is the green's about 30-40% and the black is 50-60%. The green works very well here for my chilies. I've noticed the orchid growers all use the black cloth.
 
Greenhouse shade cloth is probably overkill. I would use patio screen mesh, which you can buy at Home Depot or Lowes. I bought a whole roll even though only needed about 4 feet, so I have a ton of it. If I had seen this thread earlier, I would have told you not to order shade cloth and sent this up to you.
 
salsalady said:
Here's a bump on this topic with a couple more questions-

To alleviate summer heat, would white cloth be better than black? and once again what % blockage?
Click to expand...

Obviously shade cloth won't cool the ambient air temperature (temp in the shade), but it will reduce the temp of the plants and cut down/eliminate heat wilt. I can't see the color making any difference.
 
i would probably end up buying some shade netting as it gets pretty hot out here. clustering together plants / putting them close together i heard helps to cool the plants off. (a big problem though for cross pollination, though).
 
I suppose shade cloth for my situation is a "relative" topic. My plants are not in a greenhouse so the ambient temps may not be so critical for what I'm looking at.

I did see where there was discussion on the shade cloth websites where the black cloth holds in the heat and the white cloth reflects the heat and lowers the temps in greenhouses.

I'm looking at a freestanding structure, not an enclosed green house. That's all I was asking about. I'm just thinking that a PVC pipe skeleton with some shade cloth over the top will provide shade for the plants,
 
Maybe something like Beth from peppermania's setup in Texas

db_db_View_05040711.jpg

http://www.bayoutraders.com/photos_33.html
 
salsalady said:
I suppose shade cloth for my situation is a "relative" topic. My plants are not in a greenhouse so the ambient temps may not be so critical for what I'm looking at.

I did see where there was discussion on the shade cloth websites where the black cloth holds in the heat and the white cloth reflects the heat and lowers the temps in greenhouses.

I'm looking at a freestanding structure, not an enclosed green house. That's all I was asking about. I'm just thinking that a PVC pipe skeleton with some shade cloth over the top will provide shade for the plants,
Click to expand...

Agreed, shade cloth color for a free standing frame won't matter. 30% should be plenty.
 
I don't really know much on this yet. The wind and temps have been way above average this year. I have some cold frames coming if they ever get here !! I went around the back roads around here and talked to people with a wide range of stuff. Some had Green Houses as big as a super Wal-Mart. Others were more along my line. The feed back I got from several was that peppers are supposed to be pretty tough. They didn't grow them , but grew tomatoes. They thought 30% was a good trade off. At times they wished for more shade , but the denser the shade cloth the more it caught the wind. The harder to support and keep things together.

I'm trying to learn this stuff , what may and my not work in my area. I went with 30% shade cloth.

salsalady ... from I what I get something along the line of the picture POTAWIE posted is what you want . Looks good , simple .... just use heavy/large PVC . You can also find these simple clips that fasten the shade cloth to the PVC. No grommets for the most part. Pretty simple

Peace,
P. Dreadie
 
I use 50% black cloth given to me by friends that own a nurserie, built a frame from 1/2" electrical conduit, have 1/2 rebar in the corners of my raised gardens shade frame slips on and off. works great
 
Thanks for all the feedback.

That peppermania set up looks sweet. It's more than what i need, so I'll probably look at a simple 20x20 framework for support. Will have to check out the EMT fittings available to see if there are corner T's and such. It would be nice to have a metal frame. Otherwise, I'll probably fall back to PVC.
 
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