shade netting

This late spring i made a shade netting for my trees. The construction is 4m (13feet) x 8m (26feet) and 3m (10 feet) high. The orientation is to the south so sunlight can reach the trees in the morning and in the evening with the netting closed. It is shade netting of 70%. In our climate 50% would be better, but i didn't find it in small proportions.
The wires are coated steel wire for hanging the laundry.

One side is fixed to the frame.

The other part just hangs over the wires.

I can open and close it with a pulley system in 1 minute. So when it will be warm i close it, when its clouded, i keep it open. This year it was closed for 20 days i estimate. In our climate it is not that critical to have one, but the plants do stop growing when it gets to hot. Having sheltered them kept them growing longer, i might have one half a growing season...

The netting was not strengthened at the edge so i took a sewing machine, and put a rope in the fold. After that i shot small sail rings every 30 cm (1feet) just after it. So when there is traction on the net, it would pull on the rope and not directly on the net to prevent damage.

There's a key ring in every sail ring to hold the net. So far it is still ok. The pulley system i had, didn't work that well. The ropes turned on each other and didn't work good anymore. Now i tried something else. For now i am glad i did it.

Well done!

Mighty fine work! Thanks for for visual detail photos.

Lovely installation; well thought out & well executed.

Well that gives me ideas, well done.

I'm surprised though you got a good 20 days of warm blue sky, the weather must of turned for the better since I lived in Belgium.

Very nice.

Great job. Can you show the pulley system too? Thanks

fh05 said:

Great job. Can you show the pulley system too? Thanks

Click to expand...

...my question too.

hey, thanks for the thumbs up. Somehow i do see people like a post but not they comment. So sorry for answering late. The pulley system is almost as simple as i am. I go out and make some pictures.

Starfox said:

Well that gives me ideas, well done.

I'm surprised though you got a good 20 days of warm blue sky, the weather must of turned for the better since I lived in Belgium.

Click to expand...

Yes two "heatwaves". The last few years we are more fortunate...

One end of the rope pulls the shade netting in one direction. The other rope comes back, so both ends are connected together where they pull on the netting. I separated both parts in different eye bolts because otherwise they start turning around each other and after a few days it is virtually impossible to open or close anymore. The rope that comes back is "free" so not trough the key rings. The other is in the key rings to avoid them to hang down.

I use a hook with rubber (don't find the name) to use on your bike. (please help me). So there is traction on the rope all the time. It avoids the rope from running off the pulley at the end.

To avoid the wind blowing the shade netting open, i fix it around a eye bolt, works fine.

At the other end of the structure there is a pulley to make the returning of the rope more smooth. Rope is the upper two. The lowest is the "washing line".

Very nice. You can come here to Pay and build one for me. Lol. It looks great!!

Very nice. You can come here to Pa and build one for me. Ill pay ya. Lol. It looks great!!

Think we can arrange something