I am considering building a structure from PVC tubing and putting shade cloth on the top for my vegetable garden but not sure what percent cloth to buy. I have read several articles and get conflicting numbers.
Do you use shade cloth, if so what percent?. Do you cover just vegetables or flowers too?
Dee
Do you use shade cloth
I cover whatever looks like it needs it - usually newly planted plants for the first summer - I keep many different sized squares of shade cloth on hand. I try to only plant stuff in the ground in full sun that I think/know will be able to take it, but many require an adjustment period.
However, I do not grow vegetables or very many non cactus or succulents, so cannot give you direct advice when it comes to that.
I have two areas with a permanent shade cloth cover, one has a permanent black 50% cloth - this is where I keep many of my young plants in small pots, the other is where I keep many of my echinopsis hybrids for this one I switch between 50% in the summer months and 30% in the rest of the year - too much shade on those and they do not flower very well, but they definitely do not like the full sun here too much.
My experience with the shade cloth available in most box stores, which is mostly ~70% as far as I know, is that it works just fine, but if you keep that level of shade cloth on too long, it becomes really hard to get the plant back to being OK without shade protection.
Thanks so much. 50% is what I was thinking and have been looking online for the best price.
I have not done a huge amount of research on where the best deals are, but I usually use greenhousemegastore.com for my shade cloth, since they make custom sizes and for a little extra they tape the edges and put grommets in.
I am sure there must other company's that would do stuff like that, I just have not looked further for the best deal.
My experience with PVC tubing is pretty good, but I have had stuff get hot enough to plastically deform... So my two permanent structures are made of wood. The PVC I use for temporary structures.
Oh no! My husband wanted to use wood but I insisted on PVC because I thought it would look better. I hate it when he is right, which is often ☺️
I got my shade cloth at HD - I don't think a percent of shade was given. I found a heavy mulch - at least four inches and push toward six inches - was as helpful in getting my garden to make it through the summer. The mulch is a pain to keep up with because it moves around with the wind and irrigation, but it really works well to keep the soil cooler and to conserve water.
When you put up shade cloth, how do you keep it from ripping and blowing away in monsoon winds?