Shade House - to Purchase, or DIY Plans & Ideas

[HiOrcDen]

Originally Posted by Roberta

Have you defined what you want the structure to actually do? If just provide shade, then you only need to have the structure to support shadecloth (and what you need depends on what else is around - trees, house, wall or fence) and how it is oriented to the sun's path. If you want to provide temperature control, then you get into enclosure scenarios. But once you start enclosing the space, you need to be concerned with air flow, how to cool in summer (the "greenhouse effect" can make an enclosed space very hot) What plants are you preparing this for? So, you need to work backward from the set of conditions that you are trying to establish, various approaches to "HOW" will suggest themselves once you have determined WHAT you are seeking, and WHEN (summer? winter? Both?).

Living in coastal southern California, the starting point is to utilize, as much as possible, the perfect airflow that Mother Nature provides. If you must do something to obstruct that, how will you replace that function? I have a friend who lives a bit south of me, a superb backyard orchid grower, who sums it up, as "Add water, subtract sunlight, and the rest takes care of itself"

Well that makes sense. As you guys helped me determine earlier, all my current plants are okay outside, some all year and a few most of the year. Though, won't a whole shade house, as opposed to single sided structure, retain greater humidity during hot, dry months?

Hmm okay... so I'm not certain whether a single side will shade all day, because in Summer the sun will rise east, and cross south and then to the northwest sky. And we have no shade in the backyard. Direct light starts in late morning.

And I am thinking that when I start buying Phals and other sensitive species, I will get a small greenhouse, with temp and humidity control, hopefully a short term yearly home for others that won't stay outside all year..

So with the shade cloth structure, I would like to keep the rest of those plants outside year round. So in that case, do I even want temperature control? And what is the drawback? As you mentioned, when would I want temperature control? And how will I maintain humidity if allowing open sided air flow? I'm a little confused. So please, modeling after your own approach, and considering my answer here, let me know what approach would you take?!