What factors determine when you put up shade cloth?

[zeejet]

Reviving this thread for selfish purposes haha.

I live just 4 miles from the coast in San Diego, which gets very intense sunlight in summer (UV index up to 12) but air temp is buffered by the ocean and sits at around 75-80F with occasional heat waves up to the low 90's.

It's May and only 72F at most during the day and my Japanese maples are already burning. It's barely summer - I really want to take advantage of full sun as long as possible, but it sounds like I'll need to shade my deciduous as early as late April? I have 40% shade cloth.

I should mention though that I only recently switched to RO water (~10 ppm TDS) from a 350 ppm TDS tap water source (~150 ppm Calcium and ~150 ppm Bicarb according to water quality reports from the city). I'm told this also influences the tendency of foliage to burn.

Is anyone else here in a high sun zone with mild temperatures? What is your experience with shade cloth?

 

[River's Edge]

Is anyone else here in a high sun zone with mild temperatures? What is your experience with shade cloth?

I would reach out to nursery suppliers that provide shade cloth for nurseries in your area. They could easily advise you on the best choices for your situation. I found this approach very helpful when I was researching the best options for my situation. The local manufacturer or distributor has the most amount of experience and feedback for particular local situations. I do find reaching out to the distributor or manufacture better than the local retailer. The local retailer is often locked into a particular brand or style that may not be the best choice for your purposes. The product itself is lightweight and can usually be shipped from distance at low cost.

 

[Pigskin Pete]

I posted a similar inquiry into the New to Bonsai forum. Must be that time of year!

I'm still learning, but for now my benchmark for shade implementation is the arbitrarily chosen 95⁰ mark. We reached that several times this week already. Spring, my ass.

Currently experimenting with different shade strategies to find out what works best for my trees, but I am mostly playing with shade screen vs Eastside-garden-placement for full shade.