Help on Shade Cloth

[Joel143]

Hello,

I have majority of my cactus in a unheated greenhouse that gets majority of the direct sun throughout the day. Because the sun in my area can be really intense during mid summer months I want to place a shade cloth over it but unsure what percentage blockage I should get. I have mostly Tricho's, echinopsis and other cereus along with some fero's and mamms. I was looking at about a 30% sun block. I know when it comes to Tricho's, echinopsis and cereus direct sun can be damaging. Any thoughts please.

[CoronaCactus]

At home we use 30% over our polycarb greenhouse, 40% for our shadehouse. So i think you'd be good with the 30%. You can always add extra peices over the areas where a single layer of 30 is a bit too bright.

[Joel143]

Great thanks. Then come winter I can just remove it since with the angle of the sun it won't get as much direct sun due to the trees.

[Shmuel]

Great!
Are there cacti that 30% would be too little light? Mammilarias or what?
I am thinking of using that over plastic, but am am afraid of etiolation. Do you think it will extend the life of plastic under it?

Thanks,

Shmuel

[iann]

I'm looking for some *minus* 30% shade cloth

[JeffWhiteDevil]

I used knitted 40% shade cloth last year over my polycarbonate , but this year I am going with 30% only when it's necessary because I noticed some very slight (almost unnoticeable) ‘etiolating’ on a few cacti. I have a few trees that may have helped cause the ‘stretching' later in the season.