I have a few maples that are 1 gallon sized, they have few leaves that perhaps full sun exposure would be a risky thing to do. In nurseries they all have shade clothes overhead. I am running out of dappled shade to place the younger maples, I am thinking of adding some artificial overhead shade so I can place some plants on my hot patio. The only shade cloth I have found so far is from home depot which claims up to 75% shade.. Seems like a bit too much. What is the optimal amount of shade for my climate to grow maples? Do maples respond to intensity x duration of sunlight? Would having filter light most of the day be better than having direct morning sun and solid afternoon shade? That's what I want to know. We don't get much clouds here and even the direct sun at 9am feels pretty warm.
You ought to do a google search on "shade cloth". Before I did this search I was thinking about 48% sounds about right. I am not sure what is optimal. If I find out I'll let you know. I think 75% is too much. Here is a link from my brief google search. Let us know what you find out. https://www.sundancesupply.com/FAQShade.html
Hi Poor, Shade cloth is a good option for your more shade maples if you're running out of places. I too was looking around and saw the HD shade cloth....they also have the same thing at Anawalt and OSH too. 75% does seem a bit much, but if you do get this one your maples will be fine. At my last place my north-facing balcony never really got much direct sun...only sunlight bounced off the apartment building next door. I'm guessing they got less light than what they would've gotten if placed under a 75% shade cloth with full sun exposure. They all did well, just that their coloring wasn't typical or optimal. My Shindeshojo stayed medium green rather than getting that slightly reddish tone in sun. The Mystery Maple's leaf edges and petioles faded from red to green. The Tamahime didn't have the typical red petioles either. But, all the maples were healthy. I bought my shade cloth online at: www.igcusa.com I ordered their 50% white standard bulk shade cloth. They charge per lineal foot, not square foot. These don't have stitched edges or grommets. But that's okay for me. They do sell standard and custom fabricated shade cloth with stitching and grommets too. My idea was to build a frame out of 3/4" pvc. The base would be made from 1 1/2" or 2" pvc and filled with shot to weigh it down. I was going to attach the cloth to the frame with plastic tie wraps, but ended up buying these plastic snap clamps from Peaceful Valley figuring they would be easier to take off and on: http://www.groworganic.com/item_SER262_RowcoverSnapClamps34.html?pMode=HiRes In the end I didn't use the shade cloth as my maples have adjusted better than I expected at my new place (they now get direct sun from about 12:30p till about 6:00p). A couple smaller shade maples are kept under a taller Bloogood. Only one, the Umegae, is showing signs of leaf tip burn and is greening up. I think if you're placing your maples in an area with full sun exposure around 50% shade cloth is about right for most maples. You may need a thicker cloth if you have the more delicate Acer Shirasawanums. Hope this helps, Layne ps, usual disclaimers apply.
Most nurseries are using a 50% shade. Ideally, for most locations in California, other than the warmest regions, a 25-35% shade will work best for Japanese, Full Moon, Trident, Shirasawanum and Sieboldianum Maples. Retail nurseries want the shade so that the Maples will not sunburn which will affect how fast the plants are moved out the door. Warm winds can still scorch the Maples under shade cloth but in most areas the hot winds are not a big problem. What many people here attribute to leaf scorch generally is salt burn instead originating from our water, fertilizers and from our soil mixes combined with not enough applied water. As long as we have ample water, usually sprinkler applied water in most saran houses then we do not have to worry so much about leaf scorch. We can still get salt burn however. It is having the plant out in the open, fully exposed to the elements that we then have some concern about scorching. Morning sun with afternoon shade will in most Maples produce better Summer and Fall color than dappled shade will throughout a growing season. Where shade cloth really comes in handy is to preserve Fall colors here. Once the Maple starts to turn color the leaves will retain their color longer under 50% shade than they will out in direct sun (not always true in all locations as the San Francisco Bay area and other coastal and inland coastal regions do not have to have shade and is probably better if they don't as opposed to us here in the San Joaquin Valley (essentially Redding to Bakersfield). The cooler than us areas such as Mendocino along the coast will not want to have their Maples in a saran house but outside instead as they will get more intensity of the Fall colors than we will get here. Their day temperatures are equal to our low temperatures during the day in the Fall and yes, Fall color is directly related to temperature. The lower the day temperatures along with nighttime cooling with adequate sunlight the better the Fall color will be here in California. With some areas of Southern California having median day temperatures almost the same as their low temperatures at night it does not matter how much sunlight they get there as it is the temperature fluctuations between the highs and the low daily temperatures that will aid in triggering the Fall colors to come about. As far as shade cloth for a patio in Livermore it is fine to protect the Maples from the intense sun but at the same time we risk not seeing the true colors of the Maple throughout the year. Many people do not realize that when Maples come into a retail nursery and are then placed in shaded area or in a 50% shade cloth area that the Maples came from somewhere else that probably grew these plants in full sun. Then when moved into shade we can protect the coloring already on the plants and the condition of the plants as they come in but during the growing season left in the shaded area or the shade cloth covered areas we will not see the truer colors of the Maples during the Summer and then in the Fall. We also, grown in most areas of California, will not see nearly as much of the late flush of new growth grown in shaded conditions as opposed to growing the plants out in the open. So much depends on what we want the Maple to look like during the growing year. For most homeowners it is not advisable to place our Maples in deep shade once we have them. If we leave the Maples in deep shade too long we will lose the plants over time due to us not giving the plant enough sunlight to sustain its normal chemical processes it needs to carry on life. We actually stunt the plants big time when we leave them in shade too long. Too long will be determined by the plant showing signs of twig and branch die back from lack of growth and almost certain death within 2 years here if left untreated. The affects can look just like Verticillium and the pathogen has been subsequently blamed many times for our mistakes that we made. I've seen too many Maples die out just because the homeowner wanted to give their Maples complete sun and wind protection. When this condition is sustained for too long a period the plant shuts down and will perish on us which is why we tried to limit the time the Maple was grown continually under shade cloth for no more than 5 years. From then on it gets some direct sun, no matter what the Maple is and how much it may balk at our intensity of sunlight and heat here. The easy part is to go out and buy Maples to have and enjoy. The hard part is what to do and what not to do with them once we have them. Jim
hi jim, I've been growing japanese maples here in Los Angeles, and been doing extensive research as to how to grow them here in LA. It is a little bit more difficult and challenging but can be done. I must say that your advice and practical knowledge on this topic is highly appreciated and very helpful to me. Thanks so much! Mike
Most growers love to talk, particularly on a weekday morning when business may be a bit slow. I find it helpful to speak to a local to get to the specifics. The problem is to make sure you have the same eventual goal, as a plant bound for the market is not necessarily going to be treated as you would treat a "keeper". An example in my own qrowing: in our grape vine nursery mother block, we are actually growing wood (for cuttings) not grapes and someone copying my cultural and pruning practices might find their grape production for wine or eating quite disappionting. Ralph
As far as purchasing a shade cloth. I just bought a 26x50 50% shade cloth off eBay that was a fraction of the price that I could find anywhere else.might want to check there
