I went to Home Depot yesterday, hoping to buy some shade cloth.

Well, they *had* shade cloth, but it seemed somewhat strange. It came
in different colors, not grades. It all seemed quite "dark". There
was no rating on any of it, although on one package it had
adver-speak: "Up to 75% more shade!"

Has anyone seen this stuff? Is this the same shade cloth used for
orchids & such? If not, where can I order the Real Thing?

TIA

Gannet
St. Petersburg, Florida

Gannet,

Sounds to me like they were giving 100% shade with the Home Depot
Stuff...probably not meant for horticultural uses.

I ordered mine from Charlies Greenhouse. www.charliesgreenhouse.com

You can buy it with raw edges or hemmed with grommets.

Good Growing,
Gene



wrote in message
...
I went to Home Depot yesterday, hoping to buy some shade cloth.

Well, they *had* shade cloth, but it seemed somewhat strange. It came
in different colors, not grades. It all seemed quite "dark". There
was no rating on any of it, although on one package it had
adver-speak: "Up to 75% more shade!"

Has anyone seen this stuff? Is this the same shade cloth used for
orchids & such? If not, where can I order the Real Thing?

TIA

Gannet
St. Petersburg, Florida

"Gene Schurg" wrote:
Sounds to me like they were giving 100% shade with the Home Depot
Stuff...probably not meant for horticultural uses.

That's what I was suspecting. For porches and such.

I ordered mine from Charlies Greenhouse. www.charliesgreenhouse.com

You can buy it with raw edges or hemmed with grommets.

Ah! Thank you! That's exactly what I was looking for, especially
that they will make it for custom sizes.

This will be for the South-facing balcony of our apartment. I'd like
to get two panels for the railing, and two panels for the space
between the railing and roof, all with grommets for adjustability.
Hopefully that will let me balance things so I can make better use of
my space.

One more question, though. Charlie's lists the cloth as 30, 52, and
66%. I infer from the listing for lath cloth that this is the
percentage of light blocked, but it's not stated explicitly. Anyone
know for sure?

I'm looking for just enough block to let high-light plants take midday
Florida sun. I'm thinking 30% block should be good. Anyone agree or
disagree?

TIA

Gannet
St. Petersburg, Florida

30% shade cloth allows 70% of the sun to get through. :-) It blocks 30% of
the sunlight.

I made the mistake of ordering 30% the first time I ordered shade cloth
thinking that it let 30% of the light through and blocked 70% and then tried
to use it to shade Phals. It was obvious (up to 75% more) as I put it up
that I had made a mistake.

Al

wrote in message
...
"Gene Schurg" wrote:
Sounds to me like they were giving 100% shade with the Home Depot
Stuff...probably not meant for horticultural uses.

That's what I was suspecting. For porches and such.

I ordered mine from Charlies Greenhouse. www.charliesgreenhouse.com

You can buy it with raw edges or hemmed with grommets.

Ah! Thank you! That's exactly what I was looking for, especially
that they will make it for custom sizes.

This will be for the South-facing balcony of our apartment. I'd like
to get two panels for the railing, and two panels for the space
between the railing and roof, all with grommets for adjustability.
Hopefully that will let me balance things so I can make better use of
my space.

One more question, though. Charlie's lists the cloth as 30, 52, and
66%. I infer from the listing for lath cloth that this is the
percentage of light blocked, but it's not stated explicitly. Anyone
know for sure?

I'm looking for just enough block to let high-light plants take midday
Florida sun. I'm thinking 30% block should be good. Anyone agree or
disagree?

TIA

Gannet
St. Petersburg, Florida

As you're in Florida, I'd advise against Charlie's Greenhouse Supply, as
their prices are a bit steep and the cross-country shipping might be a
killer. Also, Aluminet - an aluminized polymer shadecloth - will reflect
the sunlight rather than absorb it, making the area cooler.

A quick Google search turned up a few good possibilities, and it looks like
Gothic Arch greenhouses in Mobile might be a good option, as they carry
several different types of cloth:
http://www.gothicarchgreenhouses.com...h_supplies.htm

--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Books, Artwork, and Lots of Free Info!

.. . . . . . . . . . .
wrote in message
...
"Gene Schurg" wrote:
Sounds to me like they were giving 100% shade with the Home Depot
Stuff...probably not meant for horticultural uses.

That's what I was suspecting. For porches and such.

I ordered mine from Charlies Greenhouse. www.charliesgreenhouse.com

You can buy it with raw edges or hemmed with grommets.

Ah! Thank you! That's exactly what I was looking for, especially
that they will make it for custom sizes.

This will be for the South-facing balcony of our apartment. I'd like
to get two panels for the railing, and two panels for the space
between the railing and roof, all with grommets for adjustability.
Hopefully that will let me balance things so I can make better use of
my space.

One more question, though. Charlie's lists the cloth as 30, 52, and
66%. I infer from the listing for lath cloth that this is the
percentage of light blocked, but it's not stated explicitly. Anyone
know for sure?

I'm looking for just enough block to let high-light plants take midday
Florida sun. I'm thinking 30% block should be good. Anyone agree or
disagree?

TIA

Gannet
St. Petersburg, Florida

Hi, Gannet: Sounds like your balcony has a solid roof? If so, I'm
surprised you feel the need for additional shade for "high light" plants.
Personally, I'd worry that you wouldn't have enough light to get, say,
vandas to bloom well, before adding more shade ...

But in any event, yes, 30% shadecloth is supposed to block 30% of the sun
and let 70% through.

Good growing,

--
Kenni Judd
Juno Beach Orchids

http://www.jborchids.com

This will be for the South-facing balcony of our apartment. I'd like
to get two panels for the railing, and two panels for the space
between the railing and roof, all with grommets for adjustability.
Hopefully that will let me balance things so I can make better use of
my space.

One more question, though. Charlie's lists the cloth as 30, 52, and
66%. I infer from the listing for lath cloth that this is the
percentage of light blocked, but it's not stated explicitly. Anyone
know for sure?

I'm looking for just enough block to let high-light plants take midday
Florida sun. I'm thinking 30% block should be good. Anyone agree or
disagree?

TIA

Gannet
St. Petersburg, Florida

I purchased my Aluminet shade cloth from Gothic Arch and it has done a great
job. The pricing was one of the most reasonable too. I also purchased some
black shade cloth for other places and it was fine too.

John G. Talpa, CWS-VI
Certified Water Specialist
JT Company



"Ray" wrote in message
...
As you're in Florida, I'd advise against Charlie's Greenhouse Supply, as
their prices are a bit steep and the cross-country shipping might be a
killer. Also, Aluminet - an aluminized polymer shadecloth - will reflect
the sunlight rather than absorb it, making the area cooler.

A quick Google search turned up a few good possibilities, and it looks
like
Gothic Arch greenhouses in Mobile might be a good option, as they carry
several different types of cloth:
http://www.gothicarchgreenhouses.com...h_supplies.htm

--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Books, Artwork, and Lots of Free Info!

. . . . . . . . . . .
wrote in message
...
"Gene Schurg" wrote:
Sounds to me like they were giving 100% shade with the Home Depot
Stuff...probably not meant for horticultural uses.

That's what I was suspecting. For porches and such.

I ordered mine from Charlies Greenhouse. www.charliesgreenhouse.com

You can buy it with raw edges or hemmed with grommets.

Ah! Thank you! That's exactly what I was looking for, especially
that they will make it for custom sizes.

This will be for the South-facing balcony of our apartment. I'd like
to get two panels for the railing, and two panels for the space
between the railing and roof, all with grommets for adjustability.
Hopefully that will let me balance things so I can make better use of
my space.

One more question, though. Charlie's lists the cloth as 30, 52, and
66%. I infer from the listing for lath cloth that this is the
percentage of light blocked, but it's not stated explicitly. Anyone
know for sure?

I'm looking for just enough block to let high-light plants take midday
Florida sun. I'm thinking 30% block should be good. Anyone agree or
disagree?

TIA

Gannet
St. Petersburg, Florida

"Ray" wrote:

A quick Google search turned up a few good possibilities, and it looks like
Gothic Arch greenhouses in Mobile might be a good option, as they carry
several different types of cloth:
http://www.gothicarchgreenhouses.com...h_supplies.htm

Ray, thanks for the lead, and thanks to all for the replies.

Further news:

Today I went to another of the local growers for the first time,
floridanativeorchids.com. This guy had the most fabulous plants of
any of the places I've been, by far. Really excellent condition. The
difference in plant health was night and day. Super-nice guy, too.

Anyway, I got to talking to him about my growing situation. He echoed
the comments of one of the other guys that reflected light != direct
light and that I probably needed direct light - which I can only do
with shade cloth.

Interestingly, he was using some of the same cloth I saw at Home
Depot. He said, yup, it's the right stuff, and is about 50%. He also
said he has most of his stuff growing under about 50% and thought
almost any orchid could be adapted to it.

So the Home Depot cloth would work after all. But now you've all
shown me these vendors with Aluminet, and white cloth and
pre-finishing with edges and grommets - I think a set of custom-made
panels is what I want.

So some additional comments would be appreciated.

I went out and took some measurements today. The balcony faces almost
South, and is 15' long. It's 7' from floor to roof, and it's 5' to
the back wall. It's open on both ends although the East end is shaded
for much of the morning by a large tree below, and the West end has a
divider panel, but it's open at top and bottom. So picture a 7x15'
picture window, with no window and a breezeway on either end.

As you can imagine, there are two growing zones, out by the railing
and therefore in full sun for all the hot part of the day, or back in
the shadow of the hard roof. Even that is pretty bright, perhaps from
light reflecting off the water, measuring at 1000-2500 foot-candles.

The goal is to place shade panels along the front so that the full-sun
portions of the balcony can be used. Light levels up front should be
for high-light plants, primarily Vandas. Light levels in back should
stay high enough for low-light plants like Phals. Mid-light plants
will be placed in the sun zone, but with shade plants.

If you've read this far, thank you very much.

Given the above, what would you do?

Should I figure on getting one set of panels and leaving them up
pretty much permanently? Or do you want to be able to roll back the
shade during the winter? If that's the case, would it be good to get,
say, two panels of 30% each, and then put both up in the hot part of
the summer, one for spring/fall, and no panel for winter?

I hope I'm not making this too complicated.

If this was *your* rented balcony, what would you do?

Gannet
St. Petersburg, Florida

"Kenni Judd" wrote:

Hi, Gannet: Sounds like your balcony has a solid roof? If so, I'm
surprised you feel the need for additional shade for "high light" plants.
Personally, I'd worry that you wouldn't have enough light to get, say,
vandas to bloom well, before adding more shade ...

But in any event, yes, 30% shadecloth is supposed to block 30% of the sun
and let 70% through.

Well, the balcony faces South, so there is the area near the
wrought-iron railing that's in full sun most of the day, and the area
in the shadow of the hard roof. The idea is to hang shade cloth
vertically, and place plants directly behind that, in the "full sun"
area. Right now that area is not very usable for orchids, and indeed,
under the hard roof may well not be bright enough for Vandas.
Paradoxically, I need the shade cloth so I can increase the light for
the Vandas.

Thanks for the confirmation of percents.

Gannet
St. Petersburg, Florida

On Sun, 24 Aug 2003 22:39:02 -0400, wrote:
Well, the balcony faces South, so there is the area near the
wrought-iron railing that's in full sun most of the day, and the area
in the shadow of the hard roof. The idea is to hang shade cloth
vertically, and place plants directly behind that, in the "full sun"
area. Right now that area is not very usable for orchids, and indeed,
under the hard roof may well not be bright enough for Vandas.
Paradoxically, I need the shade cloth so I can increase the light for
the Vandas.

Thanks for the confirmation of percents.

Gannet
St. Petersburg, Florida

When we were in Chicago, I had a south facing window (8'x6') that
I put Shade cloth on in March and took off in October.(50% shade)
Now in Colorado we have it over the gh all the time.... I just
never got a panel to fit the end. So we have an extra hot/bright
zone. Reluctant Ascda, Vandas, Mokaras, and any other high light
that does not bloom gets the hot-bright treatment.

The problem is you will have to experiment with your plant
selection as well as you shade. I would guess that the actual
use will be to cut the heat in the apt. and give the back row
some non-burning light. Don't forget the amount of water and
fertilizer as well as humidity and air movement will effect the
sunburn ratio on your plants.




SuE
http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/albums.php

Gannet,

I think I would be looking for someone to make rolling shades out of shade
cloth. That way you could lower the shades when necessary (mid-summer) and
roll them up a bit as the days get shorter. I would bet that you could find
some inexpensive roll up shades and replace the material with shade cloth.

Gene




wrote in message
...
"Ray" wrote:

A quick Google search turned up a few good possibilities, and it looks
like
Gothic Arch greenhouses in Mobile might be a good option, as they carry
several different types of cloth:
http://www.gothicarchgreenhouses.com...h_supplies.htm

Ray, thanks for the lead, and thanks to all for the replies.

Further news:

Today I went to another of the local growers for the first time,
floridanativeorchids.com. This guy had the most fabulous plants of
any of the places I've been, by far. Really excellent condition. The
difference in plant health was night and day. Super-nice guy, too.

Anyway, I got to talking to him about my growing situation. He echoed
the comments of one of the other guys that reflected light != direct
light and that I probably needed direct light - which I can only do
with shade cloth.

Interestingly, he was using some of the same cloth I saw at Home
Depot. He said, yup, it's the right stuff, and is about 50%. He also
said he has most of his stuff growing under about 50% and thought
almost any orchid could be adapted to it.

So the Home Depot cloth would work after all. But now you've all
shown me these vendors with Aluminet, and white cloth and
pre-finishing with edges and grommets - I think a set of custom-made
panels is what I want.

So some additional comments would be appreciated.

I went out and took some measurements today. The balcony faces almost
South, and is 15' long. It's 7' from floor to roof, and it's 5' to
the back wall. It's open on both ends although the East end is shaded
for much of the morning by a large tree below, and the West end has a
divider panel, but it's open at top and bottom. So picture a 7x15'
picture window, with no window and a breezeway on either end.

As you can imagine, there are two growing zones, out by the railing
and therefore in full sun for all the hot part of the day, or back in
the shadow of the hard roof. Even that is pretty bright, perhaps from
light reflecting off the water, measuring at 1000-2500 foot-candles.

The goal is to place shade panels along the front so that the full-sun
portions of the balcony can be used. Light levels up front should be
for high-light plants, primarily Vandas. Light levels in back should
stay high enough for low-light plants like Phals. Mid-light plants
will be placed in the sun zone, but with shade plants.

If you've read this far, thank you very much.

Given the above, what would you do?

Should I figure on getting one set of panels and leaving them up
pretty much permanently? Or do you want to be able to roll back the
shade during the winter? If that's the case, would it be good to get,
say, two panels of 30% each, and then put both up in the hot part of
the summer, one for spring/fall, and no panel for winter?

I hope I'm not making this too complicated.

If this was *your* rented balcony, what would you do?

Gannet
St. Petersburg, Florida

Another great idea Gene, I was thinking the same thing. One can find used
blinds at garage sales, where
the louvres are beat up. An inexpensive way to go.
Cheers Wendy(wondering if you have kept a list of all your ideas)?
"Gene Schurg" wrote in message
ink.net...
Gannet,

I think I would be looking for someone to make rolling shades out of shade
cloth. That way you could lower the shades when necessary (mid-summer)
and
roll them up a bit as the days get shorter. I would bet that you could
find
some inexpensive roll up shades and replace the material with shade cloth.

Gene




wrote in message
...
"Ray" wrote:

A quick Google search turned up a few good possibilities, and it looks
like
Gothic Arch greenhouses in Mobile might be a good option, as they carry
several different types of cloth:
http://www.gothicarchgreenhouses.com...h_supplies.htm

Ray, thanks for the lead, and thanks to all for the replies.

Further news:

Today I went to another of the local growers for the first time,
floridanativeorchids.com. This guy had the most fabulous plants of
any of the places I've been, by far. Really excellent condition. The
difference in plant health was night and day. Super-nice guy, too.

Anyway, I got to talking to him about my growing situation. He echoed
the comments of one of the other guys that reflected light != direct
light and that I probably needed direct light - which I can only do
with shade cloth.

Interestingly, he was using some of the same cloth I saw at Home
Depot. He said, yup, it's the right stuff, and is about 50%. He also
said he has most of his stuff growing under about 50% and thought
almost any orchid could be adapted to it.

So the Home Depot cloth would work after all. But now you've all
shown me these vendors with Aluminet, and white cloth and
pre-finishing with edges and grommets - I think a set of custom-made
panels is what I want.

So some additional comments would be appreciated.

I went out and took some measurements today. The balcony faces almost
South, and is 15' long. It's 7' from floor to roof, and it's 5' to
the back wall. It's open on both ends although the East end is shaded
for much of the morning by a large tree below, and the West end has a
divider panel, but it's open at top and bottom. So picture a 7x15'
picture window, with no window and a breezeway on either end.

As you can imagine, there are two growing zones, out by the railing
and therefore in full sun for all the hot part of the day, or back in
the shadow of the hard roof. Even that is pretty bright, perhaps from
light reflecting off the water, measuring at 1000-2500 foot-candles.

The goal is to place shade panels along the front so that the full-sun
portions of the balcony can be used. Light levels up front should be
for high-light plants, primarily Vandas. Light levels in back should
stay high enough for low-light plants like Phals. Mid-light plants
will be placed in the sun zone, but with shade plants.

If you've read this far, thank you very much.

Given the above, what would you do?

Should I figure on getting one set of panels and leaving them up
pretty much permanently? Or do you want to be able to roll back the
shade during the winter? If that's the case, would it be good to get,
say, two panels of 30% each, and then put both up in the hot part of
the summer, one for spring/fall, and no panel for winter?

I hope I'm not making this too complicated.

If this was *your* rented balcony, what would you do?

Gannet
St. Petersburg, Florida

"Gene Schurg" wrote:

I think I would be looking for someone to make rolling shades out of shade
cloth. That way you could lower the shades when necessary (mid-summer) and
roll them up a bit as the days get shorter. I would bet that you could find
some inexpensive roll up shades and replace the material with shade cloth.

Gene, that's a pretty neat suggestion, thanks.

I'm not sure if I'm going to do that or not, but your suggestion got
the wheels turning and I think I see how to make this thing much
easier and more adjustable than what I had first envisioned. So
thanks a bunch.

Gannet

I live on the other coast of Florida from where Gannet lives. In my case, I
have 50% shade cloth attached to the ceiling of my lean-to GH which is about
10 w X 20 l X 10/8 (sloped) h.

I bought the cloth in one long piece. Then I measured each section on the
upright supports. In my case, there are four sections along the length. Then,
each section has four subordinate sections from the roof line to the outer
edge.

I took the measurements and the cloth to a boat upholstery place that does
awnings for boats. They cut the shade cloth into four sections and sewed
seams on all sides of the four sections. Then, I had them install snaps to
coincide with the cross pieces and the perimeter of each section.

In my case the supports are aluminum. So I used a riveting gun (manual) to
attach the mating rivet pieces to the aluminum frame (inside of the Lexan roof
that I have). Thus, each section has 12 rivets.

In this way, I can manipulate the amount of light that enters the area.
Usually, the entire cloth is in place except in the winter season. Then, I
roll back and tuck in or fold corners as I wish. Upon occasion, I even remove
one of the sections completely in the short days of the year.

In have mostly cats and phals inside except in the winter when the weather
drops into the 40's or lower. Then, the dendrobiums are brought into the GH
until the weather improves.

Good Growing to all,
Chris




n article , wrote:
"Ray" wrote:

A quick Google search turned up a few good possibilities, and it looks like
Gothic Arch greenhouses in Mobile might be a good option, as they carry
several different types of cloth:
http://www.gothicarchgreenhouses.com...h_supplies.htm

Ray, thanks for the lead, and thanks to all for the replies.

Further news:

Today I went to another of the local growers for the first time,
floridanativeorchids.com. This guy had the most fabulous plants of
any of the places I've been, by far. Really excellent condition. The
difference in plant health was night and day. Super-nice guy, too.

Anyway, I got to talking to him about my growing situation. He echoed
the comments of one of the other guys that reflected light != direct
light and that I probably needed direct light - which I can only do
with shade cloth.

Interestingly, he was using some of the same cloth I saw at Home
Depot. He said, yup, it's the right stuff, and is about 50%. He also
said he has most of his stuff growing under about 50% and thought
almost any orchid could be adapted to it.

So the Home Depot cloth would work after all. But now you've all
shown me these vendors with Aluminet, and white cloth and
pre-finishing with edges and grommets - I think a set of custom-made
panels is what I want.

So some additional comments would be appreciated.

I went out and took some measurements today. The balcony faces almost
South, and is 15' long. It's 7' from floor to roof, and it's 5' to
the back wall. It's open on both ends although the East end is shaded
for much of the morning by a large tree below, and the West end has a
divider panel, but it's open at top and bottom. So picture a 7x15'
picture window, with no window and a breezeway on either end.

As you can imagine, there are two growing zones, out by the railing
and therefore in full sun for all the hot part of the day, or back in
the shadow of the hard roof. Even that is pretty bright, perhaps from
light reflecting off the water, measuring at 1000-2500 foot-candles.

The goal is to place shade panels along the front so that the full-sun
portions of the balcony can be used. Light levels up front should be
for high-light plants, primarily Vandas. Light levels in back should
stay high enough for low-light plants like Phals. Mid-light plants
will be placed in the sun zone, but with shade plants.

If you've read this far, thank you very much.

Given the above, what would you do?

Should I figure on getting one set of panels and leaving them up
pretty much permanently? Or do you want to be able to roll back the
shade during the winter? If that's the case, would it be good to get,
say, two panels of 30% each, and then put both up in the hot part of
the summer, one for spring/fall, and no panel for winter?

I hope I'm not making this too complicated.

If this was *your* rented balcony, what would you do?

Gannet
St. Petersburg, Florida

gannetwrote
Well, they *had* shade cloth,

I got the tan shadecloth from HD a couple years ago. Plants are
happy, bloomed phals and vanda. Phals turn a pale green, but
equitants are perfectly happy. I recently put up a second layer over
the phals, since I now have more than 3. *G*
Oh, I'm in Miami area, so equivalent climate. I just have the tan
shadecloth stretched over a wood frame, let mother nature handle
watering for me when possible. *G* Only reason I chose tan over
green was aesthetics, thought it looked nicer plus less heat retention
(miami area, remember??).

jimwatts