Well it depends on if you are talking row cover material or shade cloth. A lot of people use row cover for shade cloth. Real shade cloth is a lot more durable than row cover but real shade cloth is also a lot more expensive.

Here is a good source for row cover material in lots of different weights and sizes.

Here is a link that might be useful: Row Covers and Hardware

Call Arizona Bag in Phoenix.. they always have remnants for sale also

Gempler's is WAY less expensive ...

Az Bag was too expensive for us ... :(

Here is a link that might be useful: Gempler's Shade Cloth

Thanks mangledmind, they have great prices on the real thing. I'm building a shade structure for my tomatoes and I think I just changed my mind on what to cover it with.

Which blocking percentage are you looking at in Gempler's?

I wonder which would be appropriate here in Tucson.

Thx,

P.

thisisme,
you're welcome .... we went thru a similar thread here at GardenWeb last year when I asked the very same question ...

pgde,
we purchased the 50% and hinged grommets for here in Phoenix ...

I purchased a 10'X12' 50% shade cloth. The order conformation said "Estimated to ship within 38 day(s)"

I sure hope it ships a lot sooner than that.

I have my own grommets and I ordered some 12" Ball Bungees from Amazon. I plan on attaching it to a structure made out of 2"x4" material that will shade the plants from the afternoon sun. It will also shade me from the afternoon sun while I'm picking tomatoes.

we got the hinged grommets so we could use it over our 12'x12' gazebo that lost it's cheap import fabric a couple wind storms ago ... works great ...

they ship VERY fast ... ours only took about a week to arrive ...

Thisisme, I am looking for shade cloth for this time but I am interested in the floating row cover at a later time to protect the trees from birds etc. I have used this stuff lots of time for starting and protecting my vegetables. It is great stuff. So, thank you for the site because I can use that in the near future.

mangledmind, what a awesome site. So many things that I can use beside the shade cloth! I am working on an order already :)

turtleman, what a great lead. I had never heard of this place before and will have to check this place out. The more resources the better.

What percentage of shading do we need here in the Phoenix area?

luvkuku keep in mind you only need shade cloth to protect from the afternoon sun. 40-50% is recommended. I went with the 60% because they were back ordered for over 30 days on both the 40% and 50% shade cloth. I figured if 100% shade from the afternoon sun is acceptable and 40-50% is recommended then 60% would also work.

At the end of May, I put 50% shade cloth up over my entire enclosed structure so that it's shaded all day. 100 degrees at 10 or 11am is pretty intense sun.

Thanks for the input. I will have to get some and try it for all the time, as I cant be taking it up and down every day.

If I need to cut the shade cloth to fit, how do you secure the shade cloth to the poles, because the place I cut it won't have the pre-installed grommets there.

i didn't want to deal with cutting or anything so i bought the knitted shade cloth at Catalogclearance.com. They seemed to have the best price. It's taped and grommeted with 10 year warranty. It was about $89 for 12' x 20'.

We, hebei sinta wire mesh factory supply cheap shade cloth / shade net / HDPE net / sun shade net in China. welcome to contact me +86 15930159213 or talk on line by MSN: chinasinta@hotmail.com

Here is a link that might be useful: chinasinta cheap shade cloth

I have redneck shade cloth this year. Old, white bed sheets have been working really well. I didn't want to invest since I'm hoping that next year will be my last summer in AZ!

The 10'x12' 50% shade cloth I just got from Gempler's was a good price. Using a 15% off code found at retailmenot.com made it even better.

Anyone try Aluminet Shade cloth? http://www.growerssolution.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=aluminet&Store_Code=GS

Would it reduce the heat inside with its reflective surface.

Aluminet does, I have it on two of shade houses I use to harden off material coming out of the greenhouses, along with one of the houses I use for all my grafted seedlings, We recorded temps on average 7 to 9 degree cooler inside the houses... It reflects the frost/cold also.

I just got 6ft of shade cloth at Lowes for $12. It's the same stuff they use above the garden center. I did have to ask an associate to cut off what I needed, but it was no biggie. They sell bigger pre-packaged ones for $30 too

I used the shade cloth to shade a peach tree. I used 4 fence posts I already had lying around to surround the tree, and secured the cloth with zip ties. It's working great, and cheap. I actually have enough shade cloth leftover to use on another tree, if needed.

Would sunscreen material work out? I need to shade a Jacaranda that is growing back from being accidentally cut down, but the sun is burning the leaves off.

Figure I can build a large box from 2x2s and staple some sunscreen material to it.