I live in Florida and building a wood frame green house ( my wife hates my hoop house, says it belongs in a 3rd world county) and going to place corrugated polycarbonate panels over 8 feet from the ends on both sides (to catch and channel rain) and leave the center area open for heat dissipation.
My question is this:
***white panels have a 45% light transmission rate and offer UV reduction to maintain the color and protect anything below
***** Clear panels have a 90% light transmission but no UV protection.
is 45% light reduction to much?
I like the idea of UV block!
The shade cloth I am using is 40% so I guess not much difference.
Permalink Reply by wes on April 19, 2013 at 1:54pm
Okay this is just one version of what works in fla. Over at Green Acers Aquaponics they use a covering on the main greenhouse that is about 10%. They then use a covering over the green house with Aluminet to bring it down to 30 % and then they have some inner shade cloth to bring it down to 50%. I was told this but my memory may be off just a little but these numbers are real close. 10% in winter 30% during spring up until summer. Then in the main part of summer a total of 50% shade is used. Don't quote me on these numbers I haven't went over my notes in awhile but these are real close. They may have overall green house cover that is only a 1% shade and then they add the others when needed to protect the plants during the year. Hope this help a little.