Arizona Heat - Anyone around here?

[Geek_Gardener]

Last year I put up a 48' x 20' hoop greenhouse , double skinned and inflated. It was on my vacation from work (I worked in Saudi Arabia). I left a temperature recorder in there for a year and picked it up a few weeks ago. During summer it got to like 135F regularly.

I have fans and louvers on thermostats but didn't help much. So I just fitted misters in line with the louvers, also on thermostats. This has helped a little but Im still hitting 120F and the hottest part of the year is still to come.

So shade cloth I gather is the next step...but what grade of cloth will I need I see everything fro 20% to 80% available on line?

One book I have says plants start dying after 115F is this true?

Kev

[rainbowgardener]

What is the point of a greenhouse in an AZ summer? Wouldn't it be easier just to grow in the ground with shade cloth? The function of a greenhouse is to turn solar energy into heat energy and you certainly don't need more of that.

I never heard the 115 thing. I doubt it makes sense to ever give one number like that, since I'm sure it depends on what plants, some are way more heat tolerant than others, as well as how well you keep them watered and shaded. But I think 115 is pretty stressful for all living beings, including you and me.

[Geek_Gardener]

The idea of the green house is to extend the short growing season of the White Mountains. We just had our last frost here May 28th and it was a hard one. Even in the green house it was 28F.

So one can plant in the ground in June, just in time for the windy season. The winds here rip shingles of the roofs and batter new plants and rip up blooms. The greenhouses around here are braced for extra winds.

If we get thru that the frost can return as early as Sept. We have like a max 120 days growing season.

With a little heat to combat the odd late spring freeze and early fall freeze I should be able to operate from March thru November - 270 days and 3 harvests. So the purpose of the greenhouse is to extend the season.

A single number does seem over definative and diferent species have different heat tolerances 95F here has been making a lot of people moan......but Ive been living in Sadui Arabia for the last 20yrs and 95F is a nice spring morning !

What I was hoping for here was to find someone with experience in these high SW climates, who could advise me on how they get thru the summer heat and also what vedgies they plant at what time in the extended season the greenhouse creates.

Kev

[cynthia_h]

Knowing more about your specific climate may help others give you guidance.

Thank you for the specifics, although the "shingle-removing winds" sound downright hostile!

Hope it all works out soon.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9