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central Nc

Is there a downside to this?

I know there are some lighting experts here. I'm getting over 100k lux in the sun, which is double for any plant I know of. I was thinking of stringing up a big shade cloth (maybe 30 or 40%) over most of my growing area using some 10 ft metal posts I have. It would cover my tomatoes and pumpkins.

5/21/2018 12:00:41 PM

On a cliff in the desert

It's funny to me to hear about people wanting to put shade in their patch. 75% of my patch has tree branches over it and get only 3-5 hours of direct sunlight a day and plants grow ok. People might think I'm a little crazy on how I am going to try to add sunlight for my plants (I'll put it in my growers diary and you can decide if I am crazy for this idea). There are too many Wile Coyote things that could happen if I try to cut down the branch over my patch with my pole chainsaw. I ask the power company to do it when they pay me a visit each year and they say no.

5/21/2018 2:38:40 PM

central Nc

I hope you are going to use some big mirrors, that would be awesome.

Well, I never have worried about too much sun but this year I grew my brassica bed sealed in insect netting. It was to keep the cabbage moths out, but I noticed it kept it cool enough to extend my harvest a couple of weeks for some heat-hating crops. Just got me thinking about optimum plant happiness and light/heat. Bonus, it would shade ME.

5/21/2018 3:14:05 PM

On a cliff in the desert

If I used mirrors, I could set my plants on fire because the light would be a concentrated beam toward the plant. Maybe this would a good thing on some days.

5/21/2018 4:00:02 PM

Colorado

The plant do real well under 20-30%shade cloth.It doubles as hail and wind protection

5/21/2018 5:21:36 PM

On a cliff in the desert

A lot of shade also protects the shell of the pumpkin from sunlight that causes splitting even when covered with a cloth.

5/21/2018 6:16:10 PM

central Nc

Thanks cojoe. Wile I don't think I'll have to worry about fruit since I came home to stumps foaming. We've had rain for a week straight so I'm guessing that's why. Oh well

5/21/2018 7:42:44 PM