Shade netting: when, and how much

Qatari sun between March and May delivers more energy than most vegetables can use. The excess becomes heat, pushing leaf temperature past 40 °C, at which point the plant closes its pores and stops growing altogether — even with plenty of water.

The right percentage

Use 30% netting for fruiting vegetables like tomato and pepper, and 50% for leafy crops and nurseries. Anything denser than 50% cuts yields, because the plant no longer gets enough light to photosynthesise.

Timing

Fit the netting in February, before you need it. Putting it up after stress symptoms appear means you already lost two weeks of growth. Take it down in November — plants need all the winter light they can get.

Hold the net at least 50 cm above the plants so air can move. Netting resting on the foliage traps heat and humidity and encourages fungal disease, doing more harm than good.