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Canada

Well the days keep getting hotter and hotter today it was well into the 80's tomouro and next couple of days well .. high in the 80's today I noticed my plants well they were not wiliting but very close to wilting. My question is
if your misters are going over the plants dureing this kinda heat wont the sun shineing down on the droplets of the leafs cause a burn in the leafs?

like today when my plant wasnt looking 100% in the sun i placed a large table with wood overtop and it came right back up to 100% within a few minutes

so my question is.. Better to shade.. or better to leave in open sun with mister whats the advantages and dis's

or is eaither or ok to use whatever works right? wrong?

thanks

Dave

6/1/2005 11:47:03 PM

Puyallup, WA

How thick is your wallet? I've known some growers to do both!

6/2/2005 12:53:31 AM

Taber, Alberta

Hey Dave, it was explained to me like this. If plants burned like you mentioned, farmers would be losing crops all over the place when the sun comes out after a rainstorm (which around here is almost every rainstorm in the summer)
Maybe I'm wrong, but that's what I'm going with. I mist to keep things cool in my patch.
Alan

6/2/2005 1:15:07 AM

Appalachian Mtns.

That's an "old farmers tale" that water droplets can burn leaves when the sun is out....(it can be found on the Internet for clarification)

6/2/2005 6:43:44 AM

Chico, Ca

we have most of our patch under shadecloth 1200sqft but we mist the entire patch. The parts of the plant that are not covered do not burn when misted... and it can get up to 110F here...

6/2/2005 10:08:10 AM

Canada

Great thanks for the information

Dave

6/2/2005 11:12:49 AM

Montoursville, PA

The larger danger with misting is the possible creation of the conditions that bring on the milldews. The only way to avoid this is to get the misting off so the plants can be absolutely dry going into the cooler part of the day. We need not help mother create the same conditions by adding days of going to bed wet or in high humidity.

6/2/2005 11:14:15 AM

Canada

Ya thats why i try to water around 6pm its still warm out but the sun on the garden isnt as strong as in the mourning or middle of afternoon, Plants are usually dry within an hour. In May I sprayed my plants with a fungicide and will spray them again probably in 2 weeks time then again in Aug.

Dave

6/2/2005 11:38:00 AM

Joliet, IL

i mist on any bright sunny day over 75 when the plants are young. they seem to love it. if its 85 with high humidity my plants will usually still be fine without misting. it is the extrtemely dry northeast wind with low humidity and intense uv forecasts that will cause some leaves to go beyond flagging and have burnt edges, especially young plants. even if some do get burnt, no harm except a couple of leaves with brown edges. but any flagging will slow the plant down as the plant switches to protection mode instead of growth mode. i mist 4 times a day for 5 to 15 minute intervals depending on how hot and how dry. once the plants toughen up a bit i will wait and mist when i see signs of flagging, which for some plants will be over 85, some at 90,
and some nothing at 95 even. mist the ones that need, or mist them all, just try to let the leaves dry by evening like doc said to avoid PM onset.

6/2/2005 9:37:10 PM

Canada

Bought a new nozzel head for the garden hose today at Rona it has 6 different settings and one is a VERY FINE wicket mist, I placed a pole at Far end of Patch and secured the nozzel to it, Put it on "High" mist, it was almost at the point were it was so fine it wasnt even hitting the plants
but ya it seemed to cool them down to the point were they were no longer wilting and No it didnt seem to burn the plants so I kinda answered my question myself, But I thought I would ask before attempting it last thing i wanted to do was end my season early by really burning leaves on the plants.

thanks
dave

6/2/2005 9:47:10 PM

Chico, Ca

PM can be dealt with. If you start with a good systemic fungicide before you start your misting regime and maintain regular applications throughout the season you will not have all these problems. I have been amazed at all the incorrect info and fear put out on the whole misting/shadecloth issue. Mostly from people that have never even used this system. Some folks up north mist that do not need to. It is not required until you get 90+F for long periods of time. Yes you are creating conditions that favor mildews... so knowing this you can take preventitive measures. If you are looking for cooling without moisture as a component them shade cloth is a good choice they make it as low as 20% blockage. Here in the hot north valley (110F) i use 30% anything more then that WILL slow down growth.

6/3/2005 8:07:06 AM

Chico, Ca

Also when using a systemic fungicide we put our plants to bed wet most of the time and in three seasons have never had a pm problem....evaporation at night when it cooled down to only 85 was important for us before it hit 100+ f again the next day

6/3/2005 8:10:22 AM

San Diego, Ca.

I use shade cloth on one patch and misting on the other. It's hard to say which one is better but I lean a little more toward shade cloth.
I have noticed that with using misters the leaves don't seem to have as long of a lifespan as compared to leaves grown under shade cloth have. I've never experienced leaves that burned because of water droplets on them so that in my opinion is probably not an issue but I could be wrong.
What I see with misted leaves is that the outside edges of the leaves seem to start dying back over time the the leaf continues to die around the edges until the whole leaf is finally dead. Could this be a form of burn? I don't know.
Maybe it is something in the water.

Has anyone else who misted had similar observations?

The other thing I noticed which is probably more of a geographical issue is that the public water supply here is very hard and has alot of calcium in it. Over time the leaves on my plants get a whitish haze of calcium all over them. It doesn't seem to be a problem though.
Misting does do a better job of cooling leaves, especially on the hottest day when it gets in the 100's.
The leaves on my plants grown under shade cloth have a much longer lifespan and look much better compared to misted leaves.
The only drawback to shade cloth I can think of is the reduced airflow and light that might cause favorable conditions for powdery mildew. The best defense is to start your spray program before you have a problem with PM showing up.

6/5/2005 7:14:39 PM

Chico, Ca

Well.... I have gotten alot of Emails asking what I use for a systemic.... MYCLOBUTINIL: Immunox. works great for us.Cheap too.

6/7/2005 8:38:51 AM