As soon as you chose the perfect shade cloth percentage, chose from the bewildering array of colors, and proudly erect your new shade cloth structure, you may notice a failure of the thing to work.
Along the southern and western edge of the structure your plants are, after the first hike into the wicked temperature range, fried.
What did you do wrong?
Well, likely nothing, at least what you did so far. But maybe an addition can help.
The tracking of the sun brings light in sideways and this can fry plants on the edges of our shade cloth areas.
The solution? Shade the sides as well.
An example of side shading
If the design of your bonsai garden allows it, a complete shade cloth drop on the south and / or western faces can prevent side damage. If the plants are on benches, even a halfway drop to the bench height can help. This does provide easier access as well.
A few last pointers on shade cloth before we close the series.
Jonathan Cain, a grower with decades of experience with trees under shade cloth, offered a few observations and agreed to have them shared. They are succinct and enlightening:
- “We have about 20,000 trees under netting”
- “We found 40% white is brighter, allowing through more light, but has a substantially higher evaporation and drying out rate than 40% black”
- “50% white equals 40% black regarding light”
- “We place trees that want a drier microclimate under the white, and those that like moisture retention under the black”
- “The 50% is physically stronger than the 40%, and is better for hail and longevity”
- “More light will allow the plant to have a smaller compact leaf”
- “Green looks better and has similar characteristics to black”
Jonathan agrees that shading the sides of shade cloth structures is essential, saying “we use 80-90% on the sides to create a microclimate”.
The earlier posts in this series are: