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Break Room (formerly Off Topic)
Claud The Backyard Farmer (self proclaimed)
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[QUOTE="Claudiusx, post: 1935204, member: 31715"] Well, I didn't really do any research like I said I was, but I like to blindly experiment sometimes anyways haha. I bought some shade fabric rated to block 50-70% UV. I noticed they had one rated for 40-50% which I probably would have preferred, but it was an ugly color... and the one I picked up is a nice neutral tan.. LOL. So, made a real simple rig to put up the shade cloth since i'm not sure I'll keep it forever. I really only need to make it last one season as next season I will only plant items in there I know can tolerate the sun (it only gets like 8 hours of sunlight anyways, but it's INTENSE sun! Everything I planted in it said it wanted full sun, but clearly, full sun isn't a very specific term..) So I took some measurements firstly. These first measurements were done at about 11:30 AM. Sun almost directly overhead, but not quite. [GALLERY=media, 29302][/GALLERY] Huge amount of UV, and based on my previous testing, that UV hovers around 8-9 all the way until 2 PM usually. That's a lot of UV. [GALLERY=media, 29602][/GALLERY] Surface temp and soil temp about 2 inches down. As you've seen before, surface temps can easily get over 130 on this bed. I only let the thermometer sit for about 5 minutes. Anyways, here's what I did. 4 posts sticking up and screwed into the beds supports. And then the shade cloth stapled to the top of it. Like I said, if I wanted this to be a permanent thing, I'd of done it differently, but this will be more than acceptable for the year. [GALLERY=media, 29717][/GALLERY] [GALLERY=media, 29656][/GALLERY] [GALLERY=media, 29556][/GALLERY] UVI reading with the shade cloth in place, now about noon: [GALLERY=media, 29626][/GALLERY] Much better! I don't know much (anything) about UV requirements for plants, but 3 is generally a pretty good number for most living things. [GALLERY=media, 29325][/GALLERY] Surface temp almost instantly dropped, within minutes. It's still dropping when I came inside, we will see what it settles at. I'd got to imagine this is much better for the plants too. I expect soil temp will drop a little bit once it gets a chance to cool off tonight. So, I've also come to the realization that the cucumber can handle the full sun of that bed just fine, but the zucchini really can't. I've been having issues with it, I planted new seeds right next to it, and those are sprouted and growing, but now they are turning yellow too. Where as others I have growing in pots that I moved to the other bed with less sun, are fully green and doing great. So yes to cucumbers in that bed, no to zucchini. Also, the watermelon and cantaloupe plants I have in pots are sitting in that bed and doing just fine too. So next year, these beds will be for cucumbers, watermelon, cantaloupe, and I will try tomato in this bed too. Tomato will be an experiment as I don't have one this year to place in the bed to see how it will do. Here are the Zucchinis, not doing good. [GALLERY=media, 29683][/GALLERY] Followed but the ones in pots in less sun: [GALLERY=media, 29202][/GALLERY] Huge difference in color. The growth is simply because they were started sooner, but those small ones in the beds won't grow most likely. And to prove that the watermelon, cucumber, and cantaloupe are doing fine in that intense sun, here are more pics. Watermelon plant with a cucumber plant just off to the side (you can barely see it in the pic) [GALLERY=media, 29160][/GALLERY] Cantaloupe [GALLERY=media, 29747][/GALLERY] Cucumbers! :D [GALLERY=media, 29428][/GALLERY] -Brandon [/QUOTE]
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Break Room (formerly Off Topic)
Claud The Backyard Farmer (self proclaimed)
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