Shade cloth

[HoustonHeat]

I have limited space so line my privacy fence with 1x8 boxes. The good news is that it makes it easy to apply a shade cloth setup.

[HoustonHeat]

Adding pic of my trial shade system

[dmforcier]

Is that a shade cloth or a tarp? Looks awfully opaque to me.

[HoustonHeat]

It's shade cloth. Purchased a roll from Amazon. I liked the hunter green verses beige.
I did have to cut and add grommets but that was simple.
I think it's 80% UV.

[dmforcier]

Must be the camera, then, that makes it look so dark beneath. I was gonna suggest punching a bunch of holes!

[HoustonHeat]

Yea I am not sure if its camera or it really makes a lot of shade. I just made it and may cut the cloth back to only be over the top, not in the front.

[Rockporter]

Originally Posted by HoustonHeat

Yea I am not sure if its camera or it really makes a lot of shade. I just made it and may cut the cloth back to only be over the top, not in the front.

I wouldn't cut it, just raise it at the front to allow more light in. You might need it to be just as big as it is for something else.

[b54red]

The sun is really intense right now that we are getting near 100 daily now. It is so hot that most of my cantaloupes are getting fried on top so I guess I will see if the shade cloth makes a real difference now.

I am glad now that I cut off the tops of many of my bells just before I transplanted them because they are much denser and shadier for the peppers on them. I think it will help especially with the ones getting full sun. I am already seeing some sun scald on some of the peppers in that bed.

Bill

[Redbaron]

I will see if I can find pics of the two ways I handle shade.

As you can see, I use both shade cloth and sunflowers. Just depends on the coverage you need etc.... in this case the shade cloth for squash so it does double duty of both shade and preventing infestation of stink/squash bugs.

There are also squash planted without a cover and those I will use to get zucinni and yellow crooknecks as long as I can, then once the bugs kill them I take them out and open this shaded side. I'll get at least an extension of 2-3 weeks this way. The same idea should work for peppers too, just leave the sides open.

[b54red]

The cloth is making a huge difference in the amount of sun scald. I picked about a dozen badly scalded peppers out of my unprotected bed and only two out of my shaded bed and they were right on the edge so they only got some shade. If this keeps up it may be worth the extra effort. The peppers I pruned below the first fork are now catching up and loading up with peppers that are better protected because of the shorter denser plants.

Bill

[b54red]

I may be jumping the gun a bit here but it looks like the shaded peppers are outperforming the ones in the open sun now. The hotter weather and more intense sunlight this time of the summer is starting to affect the bed that is in the open. The plants are not growing as well or putting on as many new peppers as the bed that is shaded. In another month I will know for sure; but the way it looks I will be shading all my bells next year.

Bill

[dmforcier]

Only bells in the beds?

[b54red]

Originally Posted by dmforcier

Only bells in the beds?

In my shaded bed I have three cayenne types right at the end so they get a fair amount of sun. In my open bed I gave a single Jalapeno and a Pappadew.

Bill

[b54red]

The last two days it topped out over 100 degrees with intense sunlight and everything has suffered but the shaded pepper bed plants didn't suffer like the ones in the open. Sun scald is popping up like crazy in that bed now and the plants though well watered looked so wilted by mid afternoon.

Bill

[Starlight]

Originally Posted by b54red

The cloth is making a huge difference in the amount of sun scald. I picked about a dozen badly scalded peppers out of my unprotected bed and only two out of my shaded bed and they were right on the edge so they only got some shade. If this keeps up it may be worth the extra effort. The peppers I pruned below the first fork are now catching up and loading up with peppers that are better protected because of the shorter denser plants.

Bill

A learned lesson for next year from you. Next year I will prune my bells. I got some sweet peppers, but not as many as I hoped. I pulled off the ripe ones, finally got some ripe, and now shaded plants are growing again.

What really made me sad as I didn't notice til too late, that the hornworms made major destruction of the pepper plants. They ate leaves and peppers like crazy. My fault as with the plants being in shade, I didn't have to water them very often and was too busy killing hornworms on the tomatoes and saving them.

I think next year, I might also do a set-up like RedBaron's. Instead of just shade on top, will cover the sides too. Darn pests will be back next year like always and this time maybe I'll be ready for them.

Maybe since the hornworms did some major pruning, I'll have some bigger plants. I can see new leaf growth and more blooms coming on, so hopefully I'll have plenty by the time frost comes.