It is an enjoyable experience to see how quickly your cut flowers/plants grow in Spring. The temperature is comfortable and the environment is friendly to your plants. As summer approaches and the temperature outside begins to rise, you start to water your plants more. But have you thought of putting “sunscreen” on your plants!!

What you need to do is know more about this “sunscreen” and choose the right shade netting to protect your plants from sunburn and other fatal factors under the fierce sun in summer. Providing shade cloth to cover your plants as a shelter will save you water and energy as well as making your plants grow faster and be healthier.

What is Shade Netting?

Shade netting was developed over 30 years ago to provide protection for plants from the harsh Australian climate. Shade netting is used in many different applications in the domestic, horticulture, commercial, industrial, sport, leisure, and agriculture industries.

In summer, shade netting could be used to cover your shade house skeleton or greenhouse glazing, to cool it down for your plants. Hobbyists, growers, nurseries, gardeners, and farmers should protect their young plants from direct sunlight. Ideal for plants when they are establishing and then gradually hardening off, shade netting is also used to shield pets, livestock and people from sun and wind.

What is Shade Netting Made Of?

Shade netting is usually made of loosely woven polyester or even aluminum and can be found in varying densities or degrees of shade from approximately 5% to 95%. All shade netting is water permeable so that rainwater, sprinklers and irrigation systems can keep your plants hydrated.

Types of Shade Netting

There are two types of the most common shade netting: knitted shade netting and woven shade netting. The passage: “What types of shade netting are there in the market?” will show you the difference between these two kinds of Shade netting.

Shade Netting Percentages

Shade cloth is woven or knitted in different densities. We call the densities of Shade Cloth “Percentages”. As we all know, sunlight is so crucial to a plants’ growth, so choose the right density and as low a density as you can get away with.  

Usually, a shade percentage of 30-50% is ideal for vegetables, while 80-90% is ideal for sheltering people. There is a passage makes a full introduction on Shade Netting Percentages: “What is Shade Netting Percentages?”

One of the most important aspects in choosing the right density of knitted shade cloth is that it should be applicable to the area where we live.

In Summary

If you cover your shade house with 50% or 75% shade cloth, all the way to the ground, a huge amount of heat load is dissipated by the cloth so it never gets into your shade house (try to mist or fog at regular intervals during extremely hot weather). Finally, know you will have a high return on your shade cloth investment by reduced energy costs and water costs. Talk about going green, talk about lowering your carbon footprint, shade cloth does it!