Shade Cloth – Everything You Need to Know!

What is shade cloth?

Shade cloth is a special fabric made initially for plants grown in the region with harsh climates like Australia, Africa, and the Middle East. It is a coarse fiber used to protect crops from the sun and increase their rate of growth. Plants grown in the shade cloth tend to be heavier and bigger, and their production is usually more uniform. This material will shield the plants from direct sunlight and reduce the chances of sunburn and damage to the leaves.

While during the summertime shade cloth usually protect plants from sunlight and hail, in the winter times this protecting material is used against wind and dust damages. The usability goes beyond agriculture, other things like livestock, shield pets, and humans are protected using this technology.

What’s the material of the shade cloth?

The material of the shade net is polyethylene, which usually can be found in form of knitted monofilaments or tape form. In the market, it can also be found the shade cloth with the aluminum film.

Polyethylene is a thermoplastic polymer polyethylene forms a fabric that is flexible, water-resistant, and durable and is suitable for applications where water is not an issue.
Polyethylene clothes are designed to be inexpensive, to provide minimum maintenance, and to be manufactured in very large quantities. These materials do not only serve as efficient heat conductors but also good moisture barriers.
Therefore, they form an ideal combination of price, properties, processing, and manufacturing technologies. On the other hand, they represent a material that will be durable and have longevity despite weather conditions in that particular region.

In this way, we can see the benefits of shade cloth, which have become an important part of the growing awareness of the ecological degradation caused by heat-reflecting materials (glasshouses) in modern agriculture.

What’s the color of the shade cloth is better for you?

Color is a very important factor when we choose between the different shade cloth. We will get more sun protection if the color is greener.
Plants like cabbage, lettuce, pot plants, nursery stock, geraniums, peppers require partial shade up to 50% in green color.
In another hand, plants that enjoy dense shade (75-80% in green color) are orchids, some ferns, large olive trees.
In the 75-80% group, the shade cloth is used also as awnings, as livestock shading, as domestic shading, and so on.

How to choose the type of shade cloth?

When we are deciding on choosing what type of shade cloth to buy. We should first know that they are three main types: monofilaments shade cloth, tape shade cloth, and Aluminet shade cloth. So, we choose differently based on what shade cloth is going to be used.

1. Monofilament shade cloth has a better life expectancy (5 to 8 years), the installation is easier and function better
2. Tape shade cloth is decorative and multicolor, with a life expectancy of 3 to 5 years.
3. Aluminet shade cloth has an accurate control shading ratio, with a life expectancy of 3 to 5 years.

Related application scenarios

For the monofilament shade cloth, the application is typically in: horticultural greenhouses, shading for husbandry, agriculture cultivation, and shading tunnels. The tape shade cloth is mostly used in patio, parking lots, swimming pool coverage, and backyard. The third type of Aluminet shade cloth has found application in an advanced greenhouse, shade house, hothouse, and agriculture cultivation.

The shading rate required for different species of plants

Shade rate is an important factor for plants. When the plant reaches the optimum level of the shade they need, they tend to be heavier and bigger, and their production is usually more uniform. For the majority of plants 40-60% shade is the most desirable condition.

 Other applications expect to plant

Shade cloth has a wide range of applications outside planting. Depends on the shading percentage and the shading materials, it can be found usability in several aspects.

1. Shade cloth with 70% UV block. This technology allows air and light to pass through while providing privacy and screening. The use of these materials is generally for Vehicle Protection, Wind Break, and Privacy Screening.
2. Human protection shade cloth with 90% UV block.  And the optimal UV covers the protection of people and pets. The use of these materials is generally for Play Area Cover, pet covering, and summer houses.

Installation guideline

The shade cloths used in agriculture are created to suit the plant’s needs. At the same time, these materials are created user-friendly for farmers.
First of all, they come in convenient folds that make them easy to transport and install.

The list below find some tips and tricks of easier installation guideline of shade cloth:

1. The polyethylene roll should not be open before installation, because they occupy huge space and can cause trouble in the installation process.
2. The outside of the film is placed on top of the greenhouse when installing triple-layer films.
3. The shade cloth should be placed carefully because it is crucial to keep the film untouched and prevent decay for the longevity of the materials. The one thing suggested to do this time is to place the shade cloth on top of the roof of the structure you want to build while sliding the roll on the sides.
4. The weather condition should be taken into consideration when building the structure. For instance, days without wind and rain are the most favorable. The stretching of the material should not be done on days with the strong sun because this will cause problems later when cold days will come and the material will tend to shrink and weaken.
5. Special care should be given to the airflow. The regulation of microclimate should be done following plant needs. Therefore, when building the structure with shade cloth, a structure like windows and rolling doors are necessary.
6. Different rules like building the structure with at least a 3% slope for adequate water run-off and avoid direct spraying of any chemical on the film surface will come in handy for maintaining the longevity of the shade cloth.

List of shade cloth accessories

• Timber fasteners: are used to attach shade cloth to the timber structure
• Timber studs: have a similar function to timber fasteners but they are only built differently. They are built with the material galvanized steel.
• Retractor Clips: when the fabric needs to be retracted along a wire, there comes the use of this accessory.
• Butterfly clips: their function is to fasten the shade cloth with wire cable or rope cable.
• Weedmat Ground Pins: Suitable for securing (or joining) shade cloth to the ground. This goes through the fabric into the ground and makes the fabric firm on that point.
• Tie wraps: their function is to secure shade cloth to metal posts, metal pipe frame, or steel cables.
• Shade cloth cutter: it is used to cut shade cloth fabric
• Ezy fix accessory kit: its function is stretching the length of the shade cloth. In this case, there is no need for sewing or using extra accessories.
• Shade cloth Joining Pins: when there is no support below, we use to join two widths of shade cloth.
• Lacing cord kit with a needle: when tie wraps can not come to use, this accessory attaches shade cloth fabric to steel cables, metal pipe frames, etc.

Advanced application: Aluminet Reflective Shade Cloth

In today’s market, this type of shade cloth is the most important reflective shade cloth. This technology provides from 30 to 70 percentage shade.
This way, it has found applicability in building advanced greenhouses and usability in modern agriculture.
The system works in a way that reflects rather than absorbs harmful UV lights.
On the sides, this shade cloth administers maximum radiation and raises light diffusion. These features make the technology reduce heat inside the greenhouse and provide protection against UV degradation.

The application reaches human use. Mostly for building shade houses, which are suitable for people to secure proper shading.

How to identify good or bad shade cloth?

• Price: When buying a shade cloth, first of all, we should clarify the purpose of use. Aspects may vary according to materials, size, and complexity of the installation job Thereafter, aspects like warranty policies, services such as safety checks, maintenance, and cleaning will affect the pricing of the materials.

• Smell: Some products of shade cloth can have a not very pleasant smell, especially when the material starts to decay.

• Color: The shade cloth should block or absorbs as many UV lights as it can. Therefore, the Cancer Council NSW suggests using dark colors.

• Appearance: The usage of shade cloth can also change the appearance of plants. Plants that are grown under the shade are found to be taller, uniform, and healthy-looking.

Best-selling products: shading 30%, shading 50%, shading 70%

Shading is an important request not only plants have. As per plants, the common request for shading will be from 30 to 55%, this percentage could go higher or lower depending on the plant type. On another hand, humans prefer shades up to 95%.
If You want to characterize plans in three groups as in the table below.

Customization services:

When it comes to choosing the shade cloth, in the market can be found the different sizes of nets, with the standards sizes of 2,3,4, and 8 meters in width and 25, 50, and 100 meters in length.
The product can come in different packaging, with typical colors green or black. While the most common dimension of the nets is 4.2 in width and 100 meters in length.

Conclusion

After acquiring all this information, if you are in the market for extra premium polymer netting to make your plants reach another level of development. The EYOUAGRO is a company you are looking for. With and expertise dating back to 1996, our company was proving top quality textile for manufacturing for a wide range of customer needs. We make sure the longevity of the products we are selling matches without a long and glorious history of the company.

We aim to create a microclimate for your plants. The three important components are combined to create this microclimate. The natural sun, air, and moisture are in total control, to secure an ideal environment for your plants.

In the table below, you can see what EYOUAGRO can secure for your plants to be well controlled.