It's only my opinion, but I think you are asking for trouble. It makes more sense to ask a good friend to watch your trees for you.

randy

Shade cloth won't prevent plants from drying out if they're left untended. I would find someone to water your trees while you are away.

I'd also question the wisdom of leaving tropical trees outside in Zone 5 in early April untended. It may be 55 degrees at night now, but April weather is very changeable. All it would take would be a 10 degree decline in nighttime temps and some of your tropicals would get shocked, another 10 and they'd be dead...

Thanks for the replies.

I have someone who's going to water them for me but they don't know much about bonsai. So I'll water them before I leave and they'll water them 3-4 days after that. The shade cloth is so that they hopefully won't need to be watered as often

I don't have them outside, they are in a heated greenhouse with a thermosat.

I would attach this covering to the south roof only. For one week only I don't think it would matter much which you use. I would also consider leaving pots of water near the trees to add additional moisture to the atmosphere. I have a few tropicals and they like to be sprayed a few times a week.

Wags