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Caceres, Spain

Anyone from the warm areas has tried covering with any percent of shade the whole plant. Wich percent? and did it succeed?

11/1/2002 1:45:30 AM

Cornwall UK.(50N 5W)300ft.

I covered a whole plant with polythene which reduced light levels by maybe 10%(a rough guess).If you look at the picture in my diary entry for July 16th you can see the shadow it creates on the ground.I got heat scortch on leaves in direct sunlight but not on the ones under poly.
I think the increased temp.from growing under cover easily outweighed the loss of light.Presumably the same would apply at the other end of the temp. scale if you live somewhere very very hot and covered a plant with mesh or net to cool it.It makes for a lot of extra work though.
Mark.

11/1/2002 7:29:56 PM

Caceres, Spain

Thank you Mark. Yes, my place is hot and dry in summer. I am thinking in using the greenhouses blck shade fabric about 40% shade, wich many people use here for delicate ornamentals. This reduced the temperature in 10 ºC on a sunny day. Is a big estructure, of course, and a lot of work to build it up. But the main question is about the importance of fotosintesis reduction.

11/2/2002 3:18:13 AM