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temporary shade cloth options

19 years ago

I need shade cloth for one week for my HFGH to keep everthing cooler so they won't die from lack of water, while I'm gone. There isn't enough time to order the real thing and it's under a maple so once that leafs out it won't be neccessary. But for now I have to run a heater at night to keep it at 55 degrees and it gets to 85 by 2-3:00 during the day with all vents and the door closed. I have a auto roof vent that I will put in soon. I came up with three alternative ideas for shade cloth (any thoughts?)

1- weed barrier

2- tarp (green, blue, or silver) what color would be best?

3- fabric drop cloth

All three are inexpensive and could be attached with spring clips. I have tropical bonsai that require high lighting but a week of lower lighting won't be a problem.

One more question should I attach to only the south facing roof or the the north also.

Comments (4)

rjj1
19 years ago
It's only my opinion, but I think you are asking for trouble. It makes more sense to ask a good friend to watch your trees for you.

randy
mark_rockwell
19 years ago
Shade cloth won't prevent plants from drying out if they're left untended. I would find someone to water your trees while you are away.

I'd also question the wisdom of leaving tropical trees outside in Zone 5 in early April untended. It may be 55 degrees at night now, but April weather is very changeable. All it would take would be a 10 degree decline in nighttime temps and some of your tropicals would get shocked, another 10 and they'd be dead...
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Thanks Bevan, I'll check them out more closely, I've been looking for true differences between shade and wind protection as I will be protecting about half an acre I want to make sure I have the right stuff. The wind protection is really needed here in the winter, as removing the wind, my trees will easily be able to remain outside during the most blistery of times. I expect to use both shade and wind protection cloth when we build the structure. Gerald
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No -- I wasn't very clear on that -- I'm not thinking of a live pine tree. I was thinking of cutting some branches off a pine tree and using them for shade. I've used tree branches several times before for temporary shade for new plantings, but for pawpaws the problem would be that most tree species only hold their leaves for a week or so after being cut off. I'm wondering what I might use for shade like a tree branch that won't wither up and stop providing shade so quickly. Does anyone use anything organic (as in live or formerly alive) for shade structures (like for pawpaws)?
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I thought I responded a couple days ago -I guess it's gone to cyber space. Hurricane CHarley knocked down 5 huge trees on my property, there was no damage to our house or the houses next door so I considered that a warning and now have no tall trees at all. We are 11 ft above sea level and a block from a tidal canal so I am somewhat concerned about flooding although we've never had any flooding the 29 years we've been in this house. If we have a hurricane warning I can drop the shade and put the orchids on the pea gravel that's there and maybe just cover them with the shade fabric. If we have flooding,I'll have bigger concerns than my orchids. I'm going to contact the sprinkler guy and find out how realistic it would be to run a pipe to the area and put in a sprinkler head. We are allowed to use sprinkler water twice a week for four hours so it would be a nice back up water plan.
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Rain will go through any shade cloth at any angle except maybe vertical. Aluminet is very effective but no where near as durable as black woven polypropylene. The former lasted about 3 years, the later 10+ in same application, ie, outside on top of a greenhouse. I'm still using some woven polypropylene after 30 yrs of intermitent use. To original poster: design your greenhouse and accessories like shade cloth around the crops you grow. There are cooling systems that are more effective than shade cloth and allow more light inside. Evaporative cooling is the most effective unless you have a very humid climate. And I'm not talking misters although they are effective for crops liking humidity. A wet wall opposite exhaust fans will cool my greenhouse as much as 15F below outside temperature. Shade cloth can never cool below outside. For greens and tomatoes 40% shade cloth would be about right. That might lower temperature 5-10F. But you still need good ventillation or it will still be much hotter inside than out. This post was edited by fruitnut on Wed, Mar 26, 14 at 12:27
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sta4
Original Author
19 years ago
Thanks for the replies.

I have someone who's going to water them for me but they don't know much about bonsai. So I'll water them before I leave and they'll water them 3-4 days after that. The shade cloth is so that they hopefully won't need to be watered as often

I don't have them outside, they are in a heated greenhouse with a thermosat.
Wags1715
19 years ago
I would attach this covering to the south roof only. For one week only I don't think it would matter much which you use. I would also consider leaving pots of water near the trees to add additional moisture to the atmosphere. I have a few tropicals and they like to be sprayed a few times a week.

Wags

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