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cablestarman

Shade cloth for lettuce

cablestarman
10 years ago

Does anybody have experience using shade cover for lettuce to prevent bolting? I plan on purchasing some shade cloth to use this summer, but I am not sure what shade percentage to get. The ones I'm looking at go from 50-80% Also, what is the proper height to have it above the lettuce and secure it?

Thanks,
Dave

Comments (11)

  • sunnibel7 Md 7
    10 years ago

    I haven't done shade cloth for lettuce, but over peppers, so similar. Mostly you don't want it touching the foliage. I made some hoops out of pvc (the thin, flexible kind used for drinking water lines) and drilled some holes in some larger scraps of 2x4 (nailed into makeshift square frames) and used those to hold up the cloth. Some people make stakes out of rebar and slide hoops over those instead. We had lumber on hand, not rebar, so...

  • cablestarman
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    I have never thought of shade cloth for peppers. We had probably our hottest spring and summer last year and my peppers were productive - bells, jalapenos. The lettuce bolted pretty quickly and I had them thickly mulched and kept them moist. So far, this year has been cool and wet- peppers and tomatoes not growing much, lettuce is doing great.

    Dave

  • sunnibel7 Md 7
    10 years ago

    I shaded the peppers through the highest heat- they can get extra spicy otherwise. It seemed to work, the previous year without shade yielded some peppers that were too much for us! Lettuce is a spring and fall thing here, pretty good this spring down here, too.

  • veggiefunncz7a
    7 years ago

    I am looking at shade cloth for lettuce too. I am curious if you tried it on your lettuce and how it worked. If so which % did you use?

  • Cher 7b
    7 years ago

    I've planted mine between the tomatoes, which grow fast enough to shade lettuce after the first part of spring. Also mulched heavy to keep soil cool/moist. Lasted till July before bolting in 7B

  • CC
    7 years ago

    I put shade cloth over my lettuce using hoops to prevent bolting and it cooked it. I think it just held in hot air and they stewed. So make sure to really vent it well.

  • Barrie, (Central PA, zone 6a)
    6 years ago

    Shade cloth for lettuce can be tricky. If you are restricting air movement plants may rot sooner and slugs may be more of a problem.

    Heat is the problem and shade cloth is only one of many ways to approach a solution. Consider heat tolerable varieties (many romaine varieties), use white plastic mulch, start seeds in a cooler environment and harvest 30 days after transplant and water often. I know of at least 3 larger acerage lettuce growers who harvest this crop all summer long and none of them use shade cloth.

  • isgen
    6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    Disclaimer: Most of the following is not based on experience of mine, but on how I understand such matters to work. I'll gladly defer to more seasoned opinions. :)

    Isn't daylight duration (regardless of sun exposure) the main factor in when certain plants bolt? If so, there's hardly anything to be done against that. Last year I had spinach, both in shaded and full-sun locations, bolt roughly at the same time, FWIW.

    OTOH, I understand that heat and soil dryness can contribute to bolting. Shade cloth may help with that, but probably only to the extent to which it lets light through, meaning soil temperature and evaporation will roughly be proportional to its transmission %. As mentioned, it's probably not a good idea to fully tent the plants and air circulation should not be hindered. I think mulching around the plants would go a greater way towards keeping the soil moist and cool. Maybe a simple screen of shade cloth on the south side of the plants could play a complementary role toward delaying bolting.

  • Cher 7b
    6 years ago

    Hi Isgen, Some plants will respond to length of day, hours of sun. Others respond to temperature. For example a poinsettia requires 12 hours of darkness for weeks to turn red. While celery seed will not sprout without several hours of light each day. Each plant has it's own rules. Root temperature as well as above ground temps are the biggest factor for lettuce. WHICH is why mulch is your friend, it helps keep ground cool, as well as keep it moist. So Shade cloth would provide shade for the ground as well as plant...but Like mentioned above...mostly it cooks what is above ground in my experience. Even tomatoes will stop producing if the ground temps get into the 80's...which is possible in southern states.

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