Shade Cloth to Protect First-Year Plants from Summer Heat

by | Jul 30, 2016 | Mirliton | 0 comments

First-year plants can sometimes succumb to intensive heat in the summer, especially in July and August. Mirlitons are vigorous vegetative growers but sometimes get ahead of root-growth necessary to uptake moisture. Keep in mind that most garden vegetables do not have the exposure to heat and water-loss that mirlitons have: one vine, even at this early stage of growth, can have hundreds of square feet of leaf space. Roots have to supply the these leaves with a tremendous amount of water since water evaporation, called transpiration, is an integral part of photosynthesis and leaf helps regulate plant temperature reduce internal heat. Most mirliton water uptake occurs at night, so watering the leaves directly–giving them a “good bath”–does not provide much water to the plant.

A plant that exhibits leaf wilting and drooping in the last afternoon heat can be a sign of dehydration. First-year plants tend to wilt occasionally during the heat of the day and then regain leaf shape in the evening. As long as the plant has adequate moisture (test the soil around the base of the plant) and is not waterlogged (too much water), then a little wilting is not a problem, especially if it rapidly regains shape as temperatures cool. But if your plant is properly watered and is wilting extensively during the day, consider protecting it with a standard garden shade cloth. You can but these by the roll or by the yard at most big-box stores: for gardening purposes, these will be rated at blocking out from 60% to 70% of the sun, while allowing water to pass through and air to circulate.

Some of our growers have experimented with shade systems. Bernardez Marcus, a member of the Capital Area Technical College in Baton Rouge, directs our heirloom mirliton project at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. Marcus reports that they were losing plants to the heat this summer, but when they covered their horizontal trellis with shade cloth, the plants quickly began to flourish. How long you need to cover the plant depends on how well it responds to the shade covering–in the long run the plant will need more sun than the shade cloth permits during long-term use. But it is safe to say that the plant will no longer need the protection in September. Shade cloths absorb heat so keep the cloth a few inches above the plant if possible. In this post, I have included a photo of a vertical shade that I used one year on a young plant.
So if you are planting in full sun, consider shade cloth for first-year plants. ( A special thanks to Marcus and the inmates at Angola who developed and tested this technique).

Recent Posts

How to test compost and manure for herbicide residue

Many gardeners attribute plant failure to manure or compost that may have been contaminated with Grazon or other herbicides.  A professional laboratory test is too expensive for the average gardener, but there is a simple, inexpensive test you can do at home.  You can...

Managing Spider Mites and Mealybugs

          Spider mites and mealybugs tend to plague mirlitons that are planted in containers, especially if kept indoors as you overwinter the plant.  You can manage mealybugs by soaking a cotton swab with 70% isopropyl rubbing alcohol and...

Secure Your Vine From Winds and Hurricanes

Strong winds and hurricanes can shred a mirliton vine and stress it enough to delay or even stop flowering. Michelle Inmpastato Glore discovered an ingenious way to inexpensively and quickly protect the vine from winds: netting. With her young plants, she sandwiches...

Quick Guide for Growing Mirlitons

Mirliton is the Haitian-French word for the Louisiana chayote (Sechium edule) vine that originated in Mexico and Central America.  Haitians brought it to Louisiana in the 19th century, and it evolved over 200 years, adapting to the climate, altitude, and diseases....

The Ideal Raised Bed: Deep and Wide

Many people's yards have poor soil or soil with inadequate drainage which makes mirliton growing difficult. Either their soil gets overly saturated or has a high clay content and does not drain well. Raised beds are the solution.  But growing mirlitons in a raised bed...

The Papa Sylvest Mirliton Variety Background

I learned of a large mirliton farm in Cut Off, Louisiana, in 2009 and traveled there to meet its owner, Vivian Danos Arceneaux. I learned it had been grown for decades and after examining the variety, I told her I wanted to give it a name to help preserve and...

Grow Your Mirliton Anywhere Using a Grow Bag

Mitchell Thomas had poor soil that does not drain well--and that’s bad news for mirlitons whose roots need to breathe. So, he developed a method of growing them in fabric “grow bags.”  He and others have gotten small crops with this technique. It enables you to grow...

Cool-Season Mirliton Growing

  We have a problem.   Anyone growing mirlitons for the past few years knows that if the heat waves don’t get your vines, the hurricanes will. The weather has changed, and the forecast is that it will only get worse- more heat waves and hurricanes. But we...

How to Plant a Spring Sprout to Prepare for a Fall Planting

Here’s a proven method of planting a spring sprout that you got too late for ground planting. Homer Baham told us about this simple method of container planting the mirliton for the summer and transplanting it into the ground in the fall.  Then he mulches it for the...

Why Are My Mirliton Leaves Turning Yellow?

Yellowing of a few leaves on a mirliton vine is normal and not necessarily caused by anything the grower did wriong. It’s usually caused by the stress of widely fluctuating soil moisture--intensive rains and droughts. You can’t control rain.  Adding fertilizers won’t...