For anyone using a sunshade for tomatoes, etc, how did it go?

[wildeyed]

I am in NC. Usually tomatoes do great until August, they die down a bit due to the heat and pick up again in September for a bit before the cold weather comes. This year, it was so hot and dry so early, it was nearly impossible to get any output at all. I know a few people have added sunshades to their gardens this year. I am curious about how it went and if I should give it a go next year.

[bvar22]

1. We did finally rig some sun shades in late June.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=246x13323

It didn't seem to help, and we harvested few additional tomatoes from these plants.
It may have been too late.

We had one oddball tomato plant next to the house that received partial shade throughout the Summer, and it continued to produce until last week when cabin repairs necessitated its removal.
I'm believe that the partial shading contributed to its longevity and long production.

Next year, we will experiment with shading, and will design out tomato layout to make this easier.

[WhiteTara]

4. what a beautiful garden.

I love the fixtures. I put up a bamboo arbor, but your grape is so organic looking. Mine looks more structured because of the materials. I lvoe the arch you've got going down there too. What is the material for the shade? I have shade cloth, but it is green...is that remay?

[bearfan454]

2. I have to use shades here in Central Tx

I try to get Early Girls or heatwave or Southern star to either get the tomatoes in early or have the kind that can take the heat. The shade helps, but the garden still burns up by mid July.

[NRaleighLiberal]

3. As one who utterly failed in NC last year (TOO HOT), it crossed my mind to try one -

but really, it is more about temps than sun as far as fruit set (reduced direct sun can help you avoid sunscald...but last year was temps way too high for any sort of fruit set).

My remedy this year - start early - as in aiming for a set out date of early April, rather than mid May. I had 200 plants last year and didn't get any fruit from well over 100!

[bearfan454]

5. Last year the garden burned up even with shade

So this year I tried to shade it a little more. I used PVC and a roll of sunshade material held on to the PVC with plastic ties.



One row of tomatoes is shaded in the morning and one row is shaded in the afternoons.





Of course any time I do anything in the yard the dogs are nosy and have to see what I'm doing.



This is the second set of peppers I planted this year. The first set all died. I think I used too much chicken compost.