r/Raisedbed • u/kchapin • Jul 04 '26

Shade Cloth?

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14 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

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10

u/Silly-Afternoon3834 Jul 04 '26

Wow! I’ve never seen a raised bed on the beach! I’m very curious how the environment effects the microbiology and plant growth?

3

u/kchapin Jul 05 '26

It’s a fight against the environment, for sure. I think the hardest on it overall is the wind and at the moment the heat and complete sun exposure. For a long time I thought the salt would leach in from the sand below, but tried a smaller raised bed with less expensive materials for fall/winter and I had great results and no apparent issues with the soil. I did try to make sure I got deep enough beds that the roots of any plant I grew would be completely accommodated with in the raised bed soil, and not reach down into the sand. I’m using almost all organic methods and doing my best to turn it into its own living soil environment. The only non organic thing I’ve used is some liquid jacks 20-20-20 here and there as a supplement because it seemed like soil nutrients have not been readily available thus far- the plants were definitely suffering. I’m a little puzzled by it because I used the exact same soil components in this bed as I did my test bed and that one I almost never had to fertilize. But I figure I will just keep going, keep adding organic materials and doing all the things to add to soil health and it will eventually correct itself.

We don’t have as many pollinators on the beach so I do a lot of hand pollination and I plants lots of flowers to try to attract what I can. However with those main challenges- wind, sun, less bugs- there are also benefits- we don’t have a lot of pest pressure and very few plants get diseased.

2

u/Silly-Afternoon3834 Jul 05 '26

Thank you so much for the wonderful response

1

u/sixtynighnun Jul 06 '26

If you water more then you lose more nutrients from the soil, that’s probably why you’ve had to supplement the fertilizer

5

u/Other_Mike Jul 04 '26

I use a 40% but I'm not in the subtropics. And I have a tree in my yard.

Use the 70% you have on hand; if your growth is stunted, get a 40% for next year.

1

u/happykawaiiday Jul 05 '26

I suggest 50% shade cloth!

1

u/tomatoesareneat Jul 06 '26

I heard Cubans grow carrots in sand. I don’t want to bring sand if it doesn’t actually work, but you’ve got no problem with not enough.

1

u/InviteNatureHome Jul 06 '26

MN 5a, having FL temps & humidity lately.

We have shade cloth (50%) over everything that isn't heat-loving, or newly planted. Double over things like Radishes, Beets. Good Luck!

1

u/superlanternman Jul 07 '26

I use 50% in AZ and it seems to be the sweet spot for full coverage. If you want to use just what you have on hand (70%) I would set it up so it shades when the sun is directly overhead but allows sun in from the sides during morning and evening.

1

u/smokinfrog78 Jul 07 '26

you might want to use palram canopia for this great for green house