Bart , I’ve never used this but I’m curious what kind / percentage you use , and how do you hold it up ? This could be very helpful to my poor potted roses who bake every year . I tried umbrellas but we have Santa Ana winds that knock them over and have crushed plants . Thank you for mentioning this !

Actually I may be able to answer you better once I've done it, lilyfinch! I'm afraid I can't answer the question as to "what kind/percentage",since here in Tuscany, it seems to be all alike. But as to supports: last year I used rebar poles and made sort of canopies over the plants with it .I, too, have to beware of eventual strong wind if a storm ever comes up; since my garden is far from home, I can't just boogie out there at the drop of a hat,so I must always try to be prepared for "just in case",lol. This year I hope to try long rods of rebar curved into hoops, and spread the cloth over these-sort of like a greenhouse. I want to stick the rebar ends into tubes previously hammered into the ground. Here's a Youtube video which gave me this idea. However, my own structures won't be NEARLY as nice and sophisticated as his are; I don't have all those materials, and in any case want to try it out in an uber-cheap way first, to see if it will work https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iifj4qDW9xM 

So I'll try to get back to you once I've actually done it and let you know.

I was in the middle of writing a comment when mmmm12CO's message came in, so I will only say that I do exactly what they do - only using old clothespins to hold the window screening in place. I also only use it to acclimate new roses (or tomato plants) to outdoor sunny conditions, for about 2 weeks.

Jackie

What are you trying to protect? As long as you introduce plants gradually to the sun and keep them well watered, they shouldn't need shade cloth. Unless they are plants meant for the shade.

Bart is in Italy with no water on site callirhoe.

Callirhoe, in the past, that may have been true-even though I never, ever could keep them "well watered" according to suburban US standards, lol! But global warming has done a number on the climate here. The last few summers have literally been killers,plants just burning ; I've lost even several partly established plants. Roses are certainly NOT full sun plants here-maybe some cactus could handle it...

My tomatoes, in thin ground and with early morning and late afternoon shade, still didn't start to grow and fruit last year until temperatures moderated in September. What I mean is, acclimation doesn't always work. (I too live in Italy, somewhat north of Bart.) I'm currently idly considering trying to train a climbing rose over the tomatoes (over their cages) as a living shade.

Wow. Sorry to hear of your watering difficulties. Maybe what you are trying to grow isn't viable under your conditions. Good luck.

I use shadecloth quite a bit, either on my greenhouses or if things get extreme, I tarp my greenhouses for deep shade and move the shadecloth to various parts of the garden. Generally I start thinking about it at 90F, don't actually install it until we sail over 95F, and keep it in place over young/vulnerable plants at all times over 100F.

However, I garden on acreage so many plants are on their own.

Well, I started my shade cloth project. It looks like my "system" is not going to be nearly as neat as that of the guy on Youtube,for sure! In one area, I have started a nice shade tunnel with skinny, long rebars bent to form arches; clothespins make very good clips to hold the cloth in place. In other areas, however,I think I may be just putting up a shade "curtain" to protect plants from the western sun. I also hope to shade the main paths on which I must walk to reach the garden; last year I almost had heat prostration just from walking down to the garden, and don't want that to happen ever again.

Good luck on your project. I've been considering using worn out bedsheets for this. They wouldn't be as tough as other materials, but it would put them to use, and I've never found much else to do with them.

Um, I don't use shade cloth apart from in the greenhouse but I do have a few nursery friends who make great use of that green mesh, held in place with straight rods as long, straight windbreaks. As far as I can see, overhead shade is generally provided by polytunnels but in the open garden, the issue is not exactly overhead sun, but drying winds. Long lines of cloth, around 1.2m high and 2m-3m apart, acting to block out prevailing winds and offering up shade in the morning and afternoon, just not when the sun is directly overhead. These 2 dimensional set-ups are much easier to use, can be repositioned fairly easily and, if you are handy with a sewing machine, you can run channels down the length (like little pleats) to slip over the upright poles. The idea is to position them north to south, so they will provide shade and respite from wind...when drying out is much, much worse than on stiller days.

The green plasticised shade mesh is far less obtrusive, visually, than might be expected...and is certainly easier to put up than structures which require overhead cover