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...

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

The ceiling fans in my 12 x 16 X 12 ft. high GH are 52 inch, with 5 blades each, and as already noted, are outdoor models, and I have yet to see aluminum, or vinyl- rust. However, I would also argue that in a smaller, lower height GH, 2 smaller fans would be superior to a single large one, and I'll explain why. It's a bit of a long tale, but bear with me, because what I learned came from actual experience. It has been said that necessity is the mother of invention but in our case, it was more like desperation. Our house is a fairly typical early 1950's ranch, with a shallow hip roof and 8 ft. ceilings. (It's only real attribute is the fact that we burnt the mortgage 25 years ago.) It also has a combination forced air heating & AC system, with baseboard vents, which is about as inneficient a means to cool a structure as you can get, and until we replaced the old H/AC with a high effeciency system 2 years ago, cooling this place in our often blistering summers was often a decision between keeping cool, or gassing up the tractors. The first ceiling fan was a small $19.99 cheapie installed over the stairwell to the basement, intended to pull some of the air in that lovely sink of cool- up. It helped enough to encourage us to install a fan in our bedroom, which is long and narrow, with no cross ventillation, as the windows are all on the one exterior wall. However, because of the length of the room, we ended up installing 2 of them, both 52", and due to the ceiling height, mounted close to the ceiling, which reduces their effectiveness. Our bed is directly under one of them, and the first time we ran them in winter with the blades set to blow down, the breeze was just too much, so we reversed just that one, and to our delight, discovered total air circulation. The fans move the air continually, end to end, floor to ceiling and other than for cleaning, have not been turned off since. Once the porch ceiling fan had convinced me that I wanted one in my GH, the experience in our bedroom and pure logic dictated that the same would apply in my GH; so 2 fans there also. All it took to prove it, was a handfull of down. The fans are currently set to pull up, to draw air up and out of the roof vents. This winter, they will be set to run each in a different direction, to the same affect as in the bedroom. In a closed space, multiple speed ceiling fans will move air gently, or with force, depending on the set speed, and that's another feature missing in HAF's. I do not believe that ourdoor air moves in an even, horizontal direction, as our planet really is round, but will leave any further explanations to our resident expert on things scientific- Nathan.

Well, I have used galvanized IMC electrical conduit pipe in the past to vertical garden. About 5x more expensive than PVC but it lasts a long time outdoors; no signs of rusting after 5 years outside except at very bottom where in direct contact with soil and rebar shoved up its tookus. Need a pipe cutter. Use 90 degree screw down elbows to connect. They do sell a pipe bender tool, but I have never used it...does create possibility of a seamless hoop though for increased corrosion resistance. I could see wind hitting shade cloth bending the attached pipe however. http://www.homedepot.com/p/Allied-Tube-Conduit-1-2-in-x-10-ft-Intermediate-Metal-Conduit-358192/100116284 At one point I fantasized about growing full sized watermelons on a vertical trellis using galvanized water pipe. Such water pipe would be very strong and are fairly inexpensive. The only problem with wood is it too rots so paint it. The Sun City people put a galvanized chain link "fence" cage around their gardens upon which things can be hung, trellised, attached, etc. Keeps critters out. That would outlast you and you can get experienced fencers to put that in for you. I'd probably shoot for 8 feet high with 3 foot clearance all around where you and your wheelbarrow go. With grape vines you can grow your own shade eventually. You really should not have to shade fruit trees beyond first leaf except cherries and in the Verde Valley I would expect even then. Here is a link that might be useful: Home Depot on IMC conduit This post was edited by Fascist_Nation on Tue, Jul 22, 14 at 12:51