How to give my tomatoes sun protection, but still enough light & a reasonable temp? Our summer looks like being very hot.
I grow about 20 plants up strings in this (very dilapidated) bed.
The polythene roof is dirty and shades them a bit but the sides are open. The sun traverses from far R to lower L (behind you) in the picture. In my imagination I use some full-length side cover that could be rolled up or down but don't know what could be effective, practical, sturdy and inexpensive. Reemay-type fabric seems too flimsy and 'snaggable'.
Tomatoes have done well enough in this bed until last year, with its cold spring & relentlessly hot summer. This year could be as bad or even worse ... Suggestions?
Tomatoes don't need much full sun. My plants get full early morning sun about 4 hours of direct sun the coolest part of the day. At 12 noon my plants get full shade from a tree until dark. Our 100° hot sun will sun burn our tomatoes June to Sept. My plants are 18" apart I have learned to crowd plants so they shade each other from our hot sun. I have north south rows sun only gets on the east side of the tomato plants. It is 61°f this morning and 55° forecast for the next 3 days. We have been getting rain every day and every night its not a problem for tomatoes but all this rain washes away calcium tomatoes will have BER if I don't give them calcium about every 2 weeks. I used blue tarps for shade before I started using the tree for shade.
Last edited by Gary350 on Fri May 19, 2023 12:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Agricultural shade cloths come in specific densities to block sunlight. They are listed in % — can’t recall atm whether it’s % light or % shade.
They are sold as pre-cut, pre-hemmed (most expensive), cut to size, or If you are willing to look around you can get them as “remnants” (least expensive per sq.ft. or sq.in. but irregular shape or dimension, etc.)
Other features can include sewn on loops or punched metal glommets, etc. Also color — black, grey, green, silver, tan, white.
If you want fancy, you can also look for patio/terrace shade tarps (bright colors, % shade, or often SPF value…how that might translate to plants is ?) and also fabric privacy “fence” (%visibility = light permeation).
…I can’t tell you from personal experience how they perform, but I’ve been researching them as possible purchase. But overall, I need more light than shade.
For side cover — they do sell roll shade for outdoor porch and pagoda/gazebo. If you are handy. you could get Roman window shade kit (basically fabric tape pockets with pull strings threaded through that you sew on to side seams)
For sturdy — Another possibility, both for side and roof depending on what you are looking for (rain shelter or not) is windbreak fabric. No commonly available everywhere here — apparently sold at ¥100 ($1) stores in Japan …prompted me to search …. It appears to be a familiar product around outdoor golf, sometimes tennis, and baseball / football fields, and as of my last search, was mostly only offered to commercial specialty construction and vendors. But maybe it’s actually more widely offered here it’s really really windy? I feel like ocean front areas would qualify?
Shade cloth percentage is percent of shade from 35%- 90%. For tomatoes you could use the 35% to 47% shade. The shade cloth for my orchid benches are 47% shade cloth. Shade is measured 5 ft below the top. The closer to the shade cloth the least shade you are actually getting. Since the shadecloth is over a 36 inch frame on the bench it is a lot less than that. I double the shade cloth to get approx 70% shade for the orchids that like it really dark like the paphs and phals. I use a light meter to determine the shade. It has been a while but I think it is like 8000 lumens in full sun (you have to measure different times of the year since it does change), 5000 lumens with 47% shade and 3000 lumens under the doubled shade cloth. 90% shade cloth sold at the big box stores are for patio covers and aren't really good for plants. You measure light with the light meter by holding the meter at the top of the plant facing the sun. I have a few, but I haven't seen one of them for awhile. It is hiding somewhere in the house. My newest meter does light, moisture and pH. It is not a precision meter, but at least it gives me some empirical data to work with. The meter is used mostly at the garden to measure soil moisture so we can adjust the irrigation system.
I see one of my neighbors who has orchids in a lath house that actually covers the top with a tarp in summer to protect the orchids from burning.
Some of the shade house use phylon for the tops. It gets dirty too, but it lasts a few years and can be hosed off. the sides are shade cloth that can be rolled up and down on a long pole. shade cloth blocks the light but will let air and water through it. The phylon on top is because we really don't want the orchid flowers to get wet and the phylon will let some filtered light through. We can get it here from the hardware stores. Getting shade cloth is expensive, but it does last for years. Shade cloth has to be ordered, but I have found some reasonable ones on amazon. It is not the shade cloth, but the shipping that kills me.
P.S. I just got billed for amazon prime. As expected the annual prime membership has gone up as well.
