With summer just around the corner, it’s important to be ready and knowledgeable when it comes to cooling and shading your greenhouse. Plants require different ranges of temperature for optimum growth but as a whole, most plants show a rapid decline in growth as temperatures reach 85 degrees Fahrenheit and above. Keep a thermostat handy in your greenhouse and be prepared to take action if the thermostat meets 80 degrees.
If the climate your greenhouse resides in has outside air ten to fifteen degrees cooler than the interior of the greenhouse, you can simply open the doors and windows to let the outside air circulate. An exhaust fan will come in handy to help blow out the hot air and bring in the cool air.
Along with cooling, shading will help out tremendously with keeping your plants healthy. Fifty percent coverage is a general rule of thumb but with most aspects regarding your greenhouse, your specific needs vary on where you live and what you’re trying to grow.
Looking up light conditions for your plants, using a footcandle meter to adjust to the suggested recommendations of light level, and watching for signs of tip burns and scalding on your plants are ways to learn the correct shading requirements for your plants. As with most things, time and experience will prove to be the best way to learn what’s best for your plants.
Once you decide how much shade is necessary for your situation, choosing the shading mechanism is the next step. There are many options to choose from, including but not limited to, roller shades, Venetian-blinds, snap-in shades, drape-cloth shades and poly tinting.
Roller shades are a great system to install because you can adjust the amount of shade to suit the conditions as they change. Roller shades work well with smaller greenhouses (8 by 12 feet) but may prove to be inconvenient if you have many hanging baskets. A simple mechanism, cloth will be attached along the ceiling ridge and pulled to the eaves when necessary. The cloth should be in white color family so as to reflect as much sunlight as possible. Avoid plastic because in the case of intense heat plastic has a tendency to melt and lose shape. Ventilation is still needed along with shading however. Be sure to have a good fan system so you can circulate the air between the roller shades and the glass.
Shading in the Venetian-blind form is another way of keeping out unwanted sunlight. In the winter, individual slats can be taken out to let in as much sunlight as needed. Along with Venetian style shading, snap-in blinds can be removed easily in the winter. Snap-in blinds generally come in fiberglass panels that fit between the rafters and the studs on the side walls. They provide approximately fifty percent shading.
Drape-cloth shading is a simple and inexpensive way to keep your plants covered. Cheesecloth, burlap, old sheets or almost any kind of white fabric can be used to provide protection and is suitable for almost every condition. Poly-tinting on the other hand, is a permanent choice but doesn’t require any maintenance.
