Novice needs advice abut shading

[richard norman]

Hello

My family have brow beaten me into putting up a polly tunnel to grow summer veg in.

But I have never grown in a polly tunnel before and I am concerned about shading.

Someone suggested white greenhouse paint, but you can't very well remove it once applied. Someone else suggested a close woven green mesh.

How hot does it have to be before you apply shading?

We live in south west france and the summers can be very hot.

Your advice on shading is appreciated.

Richard

[donnakebab]

My nextdoor neighbour uses a fine green mesh over his green house.

[Florence Fennel]

Hello Richard, welcome to the Vine. I use some old cream voile curtains, but I only have a little stayput. I'm sure polytunnel shaders will be along soon to advise you.

[redser]

Builder's debris netting is cheap and works well. You can just hold it in place on strings with pegs, easy to put up/down. But most tunnel cover types are diffused which reduces or eliminates the need for shading. Some are 'clear' but most are foggy looking. So in general you may not need it. Would imagine painting the cover would be a no no and degrade the polythene.
Best you can do for high temps is throw open the gable ends, but watch out for windy days. Mine got up to 50 degrees last week on the max/min, nothing I could do about it. Nothing died though, must have been a slight bleeze blowing through.