We are located at the edge of the California desert. We used two shade
cloths during the warm summer months (this rendered the swamp cooling
more efficient) and have subsequently removed one of them as of the
first of October -- a 60% shade cloth is still on the greenhouse.

Depending upon where one lives, unless one is growing terete vanda types
that can withstand the full sun, a shade cloth might be necessary.
Isn't the weather in Pennsylvannia more akin to Canada and Alaska, Ray?
Well, then, with limited sunlight perhaps you don't need a shade cloth
at all. But here in the desert, the sun can still burn a plant. In
fact, summer may have just ended this past week.

.. . . Pam
Everything Orchid Management System
http://www.pe.net/~profpam/page3.html

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ray wrote:

I think that the answer has nothing to do with the plants, per se.

In the summer, you grew them with the shade cloth in place, which was
apparently appropriate for the plants. As winter approaches, the amount of
the sunlight impinging on the earth changes due to the angle and amount of
atmosphere the radiation must pass through.

Up here at my latitude, that difference is reasonable significant, so
removal of the shade cloth may be called for (I don't use the stuff, letting
trees work for me). In Florida, that reduction is far less, so the complete
removal might not be appropriate.

--

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

. . . . . . . . . . .
"Jonathan Phua" wrote in message
...
Well, u need to remember where ur orchids come from. If they r florida
natives then it's allright to remove the cloth. But if they grow in
tropical
rainforests, do those tropicals shed their leaves?


Jon
"Kenni Judd" wrote in message
.. .
Here in south Florida, some trees are fully deciduous [e.g., plumeria]
and
others tend to "thin out" a little but don't drop all their leaves.

--
Kenni Judd
Juno Beach Orchids

http://www.jborchids.com
"Jonathan Phua" wrote in message
...
Well, orchids are found to be growing in tropical regions. And do
tropical
trees even experience winter? At least the trees in my garden don't
shed
their leaves, and I do not experience winter. I live in tropical
Singapore.



Jon

"Kenni Judd" wrote in message
...
Actually, many trees do shed some or all of their leaves in winter.
An
increase in light for the winter benefits many orchids, most notably
several
of the Dens [or whatever they're being called these days] which take
a
dry
winter rest -- aggregatum, parishii, superbum, pierardii ...

However, removing your 50% shadecloth would be a very drastic change
and
I
would be afraid of some severe sunburn. Removing the 20% would be a
better
change, light-wise, but doesn't sound practical if I'm visualizing
your
setup correctly.

--
Kenni Judd
Juno Beach Orchids

http://www.jborchids.com
"Jonathan Phua" wrote in message
...
Well, I don't think you shld remove it. Orchids in the wild get
the
same
'shade cloth' throughout the year. The trees don't shed their
leaves
when
there is less sun.


Jon
"Bolero" wrote in message
u...
Depends on what you are growing but to be honest I really really
doubt
I
would take the shade off it if you have any light sensitive
plants.

Anything like Paphs and Masd's for example would be damaged but
Laelia's
and
Vanda's would probably be ok.

"bb" wrote in message
...
Ok, do you folks in Florida remove your shade cloth this time
of
year?

I have 50% cloth on top of 20% polycarb panels. It did a
wonderful
job of shading and bringing the temps down, but now I wonder
if
it
should come off 'til spring. Opinions appreciated.

bb

A long version of what I said to begin with ...

For the persistent gentleman: most of our orchids, these days, come from
laboratories -- since they are mostly hybrids, or clones of select hybrids.
Their ancestors include not only true tropicals but orchids from all over
the world. And there are even extremely tropical trees, such as royal
poinciana, known as "flamboyant" in Central America, which lose most if not
all of their leaves in winter.

--
Kenni Judd
Juno Beach Orchids

http://www.jborchids.com
"Pat Brennan" wrote in message
...
Not being from Fla I was not going to respond, but after surveying the
sunburn damage I did last week while changing the plastic on one of my
greenhouses I thought I would chime in. Here in Va the peak summer sun is
about 10,500 foot candles while the peak in the winter is around 8,500.
Assuming it is similar down there (I have no idea) and given that you were
running 60% shade, your summer light levels peaked at about 4200 foot
candles. If you remove the 50% shade cloth your winter levels would peak
at
6800 foot candles. That's a pretty big increase (62%), some plants might
love it but it will burn others right up. Do you have enough plants that
will love it to shade the rest? With sunburn you can do permanent leave
damage pretty quickly and too much light will stress a plant over the
winter
even if you do not burn the leaves. I increase light levels no more than
20% to 30% in the winter. Too bad it wasn't 50% polycarb and 20% shade
cloth cause then it would work great.

Pat


"bb" wrote in message
...
Ok, do you folks in Florida remove your shade cloth this time of year?

I have 50% cloth on top of 20% polycarb panels. It did a wonderful
job of shading and bringing the temps down, but now I wonder if it
should come off 'til spring. Opinions appreciated.

bb