I use a lot of shadecloth. It's on my shade house and over my back porch. Ask a couple growers in your area what they use. 80% seems a little dark for your area. I personally prefer green over black. Looks nicer.

randy

Wags, I live in No. Va. and use the 60 percent plastic black mesh stuff from Home Depot. I think 80 is a little too much. I get leggy growth on some things with the 60...black is less reflective than green or white...

Wags,

I use %30 shade cloth over all my maples..Japanese and trident. I find that in my area of the country..chicago land, things tend to get leggy past %30 to %40. Its black in color and I bought if off ebay for a steal! From a nursery provider, its expensive to cover large areas.

Matt Ouwinga

Thanks for the input. Currently Ebay has nothing much that I can find. Mark, will HD sell reasonable amounts? I don't need a huge quantity.

Wags,

you can buy plastic mesh shade cloth screen in many shade gradations in rolls. It costs about $10 for 20 or so feet--if I remember correctly. The roll is about three to three and and a half feet wide. I last bought a roll about four years ago and haven't replaced it since.

You might have to ask one of the sales people, as this is a seasonal item.

For what it's worth, I don't shade anything in my collection here in Va. until around early-to-mid June. I've never seen sun scortch before that date and the full sun helps with backbudding and keeping internodes short...The sun gets alot more intense from mid-June until late August, though.

That sounds reasonable. I don't expect to need the covering until June, but have found if I don't plan ahead (like last year) I'll be moving the trees around the yard constantly, depending on the current weather conditions.

Thanks again... BTW Mark don't miss the Potomac show at the National Arboretum on 4/22-24... you're pretty close. I have taken that Friday off so I don't miss the first day and plan to be there when the doors open.

I put everything under shadecloth early here because we tend to have hailstorms in spring.

If you are going to buy shadecloth and durability is an issue, if I remember right the black stitched is the best. I have that over my greenhouse going on 8 years and it is still in great shape.

I chose the green for the back of my house because it looks nicer. I think the green only comes on woven, something that will shred if it gets a hole in it.

If you go to a greenhouse supplier, you can buy it in many different widths. It will be reinforced and a grommet every two feet on the two sides. You can also have it custom made just the size you want it and have that on all sides. I did that for by back porch.

randy