hostilis Posted April 23, 2014 So I have very brutal summer sun out here in the summers. I was just wondering what spec shade cloth you all use? 30, 40, 50, 60%? I know it probably varies a lot, but if any of you could share with me what kind of shade cloth you find the best I would appreciate it! Thanks, hostilis Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Getafix Posted April 23, 2014 Hey mate, Brutal summers here, 40 plus degrees celcius regularly. I use a white 50% shade cloth, has worked very well. Getafix Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
watertrade Posted April 23, 2014 I use 50% green. I also sometimes put an extra piece of 50% over seedlings or sensitive plants when transfering into a greenhouse. And a wise man once said on these forums (and bonus points for guessing/remembering who it was). "Almost everything grows better under shade cloth. " I remember it often. The worst sun damage (cacti) I have had is during winter. The dormant cacti are more prone to sun damage in my experience. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hostilis Posted April 23, 2014 Thanks for your replies. I'm gonna go with 50% then. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hostilis Posted April 23, 2014 One more question, does it matter what color the shade cloth is? Will black shade cloth work? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
solaritea Posted April 23, 2014 I'm curious about effect of the color also. I recently bought a roll of "landscape fabric" to use as shade cloth. It's a thin black fabric generally laid on the soil to suppress weeds. It was a fraction of the cost of shade cloth. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
EthnoGuy85 Posted April 23, 2014 (edited) Color is not really gonna have any effect. The landscape fabric is gonna be more like a 70-75% since the fabric is so tight knit compared to the shade cloth's more open weave Lighter color shade fabric tends to last longer as it reflects some of the uv while the black tends to degrade the fastest Edited April 23, 2014 by EthnoGuy85 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
djmattz0r Posted April 23, 2014 Pretty sure the main thing to consider with shade cloth is the UV blocking percentage. Color can have subtle differences depending on what you may be trying to achieve... The shade cloth is going to let through whatever percent of light is not blocked and then depending on the color, the blocked light may be reflected through onto the plant. So if you want to boost the blue spectrum a bit, could use blue. Green light is usually not used by plants, so I assume it would be similar to using a black cloth. Black should work perfectly fine as would white, but I feel like black would heat up more in the sun due to it completely absorbing the energy/light and might not last as long. I have some chairs with a mesh fabric I use as ghetto shade cloth ;) 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Illustro Posted April 24, 2014 Check out this: http://www.ehow.com/about_6528179_do-shade-cloths-differ-color_.html White is best for keeping temperatures down by reflecting more solar radiation, black reflects less and thus won't have as profound cooling effect. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites