When I lived in new Mexico I learned something pretty cool
If you make a green house out of shade netting it holds humidity in like a boss creating a tropical climate in the high desert.
Mushrooms will grow and buds will look like the fattest illest indoor you ever saw.
Desert sun hurts cannabis almost causing spikier calyxs.
I’m under the impression that cannabis wasn’t naturally a full sun plant always.
Most strains I’ve done have killed it way harder under shade. Netting all the way up to 45%
Also had a cop bust the neighbor for beating the crap out of his girlfriend and these things were floppy donky dicks all over the place and he couldn’t tell hat they were.
Other people need to try shade netting.
Outdoor comes in like super indoor because the rez isn’t disturbed and the lower temp higher humidity is epic if you live in a dry ass climate.
I live in NM. I need to redo the ceiling on my GH, maybe I’ll try this. 
Cop must of had a really dull sense of smell also I’m guessing! Lol
My outdoor planter faces east gets about 6 hours of morning to early afternoon sun. I’ve actually found the afternoon shade is great for my plants come summer in the high 80 and 90 degree weather. They still seem to get really big and less heat stress.
I live just over the border in Colorado at 6500ft. The sun is too intense. Plants will do much better with a couple hours of good shade.
I’ve been wanting to use that stuff forever and just recently got this place so now is the time. I want it for a veggie area, too.
Any chance you’ve found a good source for it with reasonable prices? It seems pretty expensive if you go big. But I never looked too hard online.
I hadn’t thought of the humidity factor with your GH. It’s a major factor here. Last year brought many days of humidity percentages in the teens.
I’d love to see any pics. Is it the dark green stuff? Stuff I saw was and was pretty beefy. I always wondered about the life of them in this type of sun, too. I’ll be looking into it. Any tips you have, please share. It’s a great idea.
peace
Edit: @Trump_Seeds, Do you know what % cloth you’re using? That would be key for me to know as far as geting it to hold humidity. Thanks
I use it over my veggie garden. Protects against hail and birds as well. Colorado hail storm will destroy your whole garden in about 15 minutes.
I never thought about keeping in humidity but it makes a lot of sense.
Yeah, I forgot to mention our famous Colorado hail storms. I got lucky last year but I sure wouldn’t bet on not getting hit hard this year. I need it for those two reasons alone, sun and hail, but the humidity is a real plus and I hadn’t thought of that.
I’ve been finding lots of cool you tubes about using shade cloth. Just have to find a way to get it into the budget.
peace
I grow (primarily) in SoFla at about latitude 25.6, and I strive to provide my plants with as much direct sunlight as possible.
Nowadays I only grow in containers which can be easily moved in order to avoid nasty, destructive weather, as well as to make sure they are always in direct sunlight. I never let my plants sit in shade. IME, the more direct sun, the better.
However…
I am at about elevation of 8 feet above sea level.
I have never grown any plants at high altitudes.
I was doing this at 7 to 8500 feet elevation.
It may also be the strains I was using and as for pics … My ex has them or had them she lost her computer to moving around.
I don’t do pictures too much.
I now live in a Bible thumpr Nazi police state.
We did just legalize medical finally but they haven’t drawn up the guide lines yet.
It may also be strains specific.
Some strains evolved in the jungle under partial shade some strains develloped out in the open air.
High desert is a pretty extreme climate.
So any way. To add humidity without generating any heat is really useful .
High desert is more challenging than any other climate I’ve ever worked.
Soil is awesome tho.
If you are in a River valley or something. Sandy loam is awesome . No need to buy soil
It’s definitely that way here in New Mexico. It’s the heavy uv that does the damage to the leaves. Most people run 40-45 shade cloths over cannabis and tomatoes for bigger higher quality yields.
That dry ass wind ya’ll have in NM most likely does not do plants many favors either
Interesting discussion. I took a different route, and selected a strain that thrives in blistering hot, arid climates. I’m lazy and don’t want to be out pampering these weeds every day. They are going to be given a good start and then left to fend for themselves (for the most part). If they need more water they are going to have to grow a longer tap root. Plenty of plants (and weeds) grow in my gardens without pampering. If a cannabis strain can’t survive the conditions, I’ll move on to the next strain. Time will tell how well this is going to work out for me, but I’m not relying on a huge harvest so I don’t really care what happens as long as I learn something.
I can see how the shade cloth/net would be a big help for plants that don’t do well outdoors, or that are more suited to tropical/humid locations. Seems like a great idea for those situations.
What strain are you running? We get three months of 100 degree temps and no humidity, this would be very useful.
Lebanese (Beqaa Valley). I have two different versions of these and I am trying some of each. They are grown in very hot, arid conditions with no irrigation in the Beqaa Valley, so I figure they can handle the hot, dry conditions of summer where I live. The nice thing is that they flower early so are typically done by the end of August (by most accounts). We will see…
I am also going to see how Guerilla’s Gusto and Erdpurt do in our heat… if the damned Erdpurt will pop.