AusBonsai

Afternoon all.

After building a new house and moving into it about 18months have past and i have now had a full aray of weather conditions in my new suburb.
I live on top of a hill that faces the west, and we all love the hot westly winds that dry everything out, which can mean death to bonsai so i have decided to build or buy a shade house.
http://www.aussieshadehouses.com.au/ind ... eries.html
^^ thats one i am awaiting a quote on now.
My question is i guess, is who has or had their bonsai in shade houses? And What % shadecloth is used? Im assuming most would use 50% if used at all?
And does it affect growth in a bad way?

Pat

Hi there,
not sure of what thickness the shade cloth is, however one of my local bonsai nursery guys has all his plants under a huge shade cloth enclosure, and they're all booming!

Hi Pat , heat up here is a big issue . I have a shade house with 70% shade cloth , shade sails 95% block-out with sections open for 1.5 hours full strength heat and grow bed covers 30% shade cloth . I don't find it inhibits the growth at all . Without these setups i would loose 1500 plants a year , cant afford not to have them . I would use anything from 50% - 70% colour well i have green beige and sea mist , some gabble on about the color needs to be this or that , no issues here that's for sure . Plenty of healthy tree's and they are rotated as i work each one without having to acclimatize the plants . I do have Pines and Junipers and Maples some in grow beds and in big plastic pots in dappled shade in mid summer but that's it .

Cheers Alpineart

that answers them all thanks
One more little question. I plan to rig up a watering system for the shade house, but wats best used, sprayers or drippers?

Pat

Hi Pat, up here at greta it does get hot. we moved in about 12 months ago. In the back yard there was a structure with some shade cloth(green) on th roof it would have to be only 50%. I have placed around the out side of this structure just the other day with 75% light brown. I can notice the difference almost straight away, the plants are protected from the strong sun but able catch the rain if it ever does, 95% shade cloth offers great protection from the sun but also restricts the rain
feel free to pop in and have a look some time, also I think my shade house is facing south east.

cheers Pat
Mal

Pat093 wrote:that answers them all thanks
One more little question. I plan to rig up a watering system for the shade house, but wats best used, sprayers or drippers?

Pat

Hi Pat,

The word around the School of Bonsai is 40% cloth. I have a shadehouse from the company you are considering. Roughly 2.5 x 3m the cloth is about 70% I learnt that 40% was advisable too late. Results are mixed; I tend to put far too much inside and it is much too crowded; at times I find I have left plants in there too long and they have become leggy. Neither problem can't be solved, I just need to put around 3 dozen trees up for sale. That would fix it. On the upside the manufacturer told me within the last year that 40% cloth is available, I just took the standard, knowing no better. Also keeping the door closed keeps many of the bugs going past. Mine is sited N.to S. and gets the west heat.

In relative small space I haven't found sufficiently small throw in sprays suitable for bonsai. (It would be my ideal choice) I use a combination of two types of drippers, the original type 4mm tubing, that can be screwed down as in off, and versions of some fancy ones using 3mm tubing which come with a pressure control at the joining point to the 12mm main line. Together they work quite well especially there is a need for more or less water the screw ones can be tightened or loosened. Allowance has to be made for the shade house shelving situation as the drainage from the top shelf is giving the bottom shelf extra. And I should add the plants on the top shelf shields the bottom shelves from the light. (good and bad).

I envy the general nursery set up with their 10 foot high cloth across a variety of tables, I just need the space, money.

Hope this is of some help.

Regs, AnneK.

I would go for drippers rather than sprayers if you have the options. Far less h20 wastage and you know for certain the water is getting down into the soil.

Just be wary of drippers into a course inorganic mix, there is a chance the water will pass through without effectively wetting the root mass


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I put up shade every year to try and save my trees. As far as shade cloth goes I use whatever I can find on hard rubbish or at our local tip shop. Last year I used every sheet I could find during the heat wave. I didn't notice any ill effect on my trees, in fact some loved it. Only tree I lost was a big juniper I collected the week before we had a heat above 40 for overva week. Nothing was going to save that tree.

I'd use sprays rather than drippers. Having moisture in the air on hot days helps to cool the air around the trees. Also rain falls from the sky for a reason, it's natures way of washing the dirt/dust of the leaves allowing the plant to breath/absorb water. Friends of ours live on a dirt road. All the trees on the down wind side die off over summer if it doesn't rain much as they are covered in dust. The ones on the up wind side are fine as they don't get covered.
Also sprays are easy to see if they block. You would want to check the drippers regularly to make sure they are working.

Josh.

Haydenmc wrote:Just be wary of drippers into a course inorganic mix, there is a chance the water will pass through without effectively wetting the root mass


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I agree with this too. I only use sprayers on my pots with Diatomite / zeolite mix


Ken

I'll be moving mine into the shade house when summer hits properly, it's reserved for starting seedlings from the end of winter so have to empty them out first

Hi Pat093,
I also use sprays and have done so for about the last 19 years. My shade cloth is 40%.

Regards Ray