Planning for your vegetable nursery’s summer season can be exciting; as you get to see your crops grow and mature. While enjoying the process, there are things you need to be on the lookout for, so that nothing drastic happens to them.
Don’t let summer heat slow you down–keep your vegetable nursey productive and your farm thriving with these easy summer care tips.
Why Have Your Vegetables Nursery in a Shade House?
A shade house is an excellent choice when growing to start your vegetable nursery in the summer heat, as it helps keep the temperature inside the growing area cooler than outside temperatures. A shade house is for the maximum growing of indoor of raising seedlings.
There are many benefits in using a shade house among them
● Protecting your vegetable nursery from wind, hail, and pests
● Improve the growth of nursery seedlings through propagation and cooler space
● Save in operational costs such as energy, irrigation, spraying, and labor
● Increase safety through plant disease suppression
● Protect your workers from exposure to severe weather conditions
1. Use the Right Shade Cloth for Your Vegetable Nursery
Shade cloth is made of polyethylene and contains ultraviolet light blockers that protect your delicate nursery plants from sun damage. The best material for your nursery depends on the climate in which you live and the amount of heat, wind, and moisture your plants are exposed to.
Before choosing a shade cloth, measure the nursery where you plan to grow vegetables. Shade cloths come in different heights and widths. For example, you might use a 2-feet-wide black shade cloth on a raised bed that’s 4 feet wide and 4 feet tall or a 6-feet-wide white shade cloth on an 8-foot-wide garden bed that’s 2 feet tall
2. Choose the Right Frame for Your Shade House
The frame supports the shade house. So pick a frame material that can withstand harsh weather.
A shade house with a metal frame lasts. Vegetable nursery owners can extend their durability by using an anti-rust treatment. This comes with more costs but you save a lot of money in the long run.
If you want to have open-air houses, they are the simplest to build, as they require no frame and little or no wiring for lights. The frame house is slightly more complicated, but it allows more control over temperature and humidity.
Tunnel houses are usually built when the nursery is located in a cold climate, where temperatures drop below freezing at night. Tunnel houses can also be used to grow crops in warm climates, or as an alternative to open-air houses if there is not enough space for a full-blown structure.
3. Go for the Right Size of Shade House
Ensure your shade house is big enough to facilitate air circulation, adequate temperature, and sustain humidity.
To estimate the size of a shade house you need to consider the number of nursery seedlings you want to grow. This is to get the ideal shade house size that can give you vegetable seedlings enough space to grow and thrive.
You can also maximize space in a shade house. Use the multi-tiered bench to display your seedlings.
4. Select the Right Color of Shade Cloth for Maximum Protection
Shade cloth comes in a range of colors. Which one should you choose?
According to research on shade cloth color, White reflects heat very well and can help to keep your plants cooler whereas black absorbs heat very easily. If you’re growing vegetable seedlings like tomatoes and capsicum, use a white shade cloth. This is because it will help to reflect some of the heat away from your plants.
If you’re growing plants like cucumbers and beans, which grow better in warmer temperatures, then a black shade cloth is better. It will absorb more heat than a white shade cloth, which means that it will help keep your plants warmer during these hot summer months.
5. Plant the Right Vegetable Plant
If you live in an area with a short growing season, grow vegetable seedlings that mature fast. These include radishes, lettuce, and other fast-maturing greens, peas, spinach, onions, and beans.
Chili peppers seedlings are also easy to raise in a nursery under shade cloths as long as you maintain proper temperatures for them. They will need temperatures between 65 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit during their growing cycles and between 55 and 65 degrees for their flowering cycles.
You can also plant cucumbers under shade cloths if you make sure that they get at least 8 hours of sunlight each day.
Conclusion
When you spend a lot of money on your vegetable seedlings, the last thing you want is for them to die while they’re under your care. Shade house is one of the very best ways to have success growing vegetable seedlings.
If you need a high-quality shade cloth, feel free to contact a reliable and trusted shade cloth supplier. They will advise on which shade cloth can give good growing conditions for your vegetable seedlings.
Eyouagro develops advanced and environmentally friendly netting methods to protect your vegetable seedlings and plants through adjusting microclimate. The netting products also exclude birds and insects, resist wind and hail resulting in safer and healthier food for your family.
Get in touch with us at info@eyouagro.com for more information about the selection of crop covers and other horticulture solutions or recommendations netting products.
