greenhouse shading

[Bill Williams]

Dear John,

We use the automated shade-cloth system than Jim Perry found too expensive.
We're extremely pleased with it -- works without a hitch, programmed into
the Q-Comm control system (which, by the way, I also recommend very highly,
although the human factors are the pits, so that it shades whenever the
temperature in a particular room gets too high (we have two rooms so
equipped).  We also have double-layer plastic "glazing" that we're very
happy with.  It claims to have a higher transmittance than glass (though
I've not evaluated this claim personally) and we've had no problems with
etiolation, and of course it's much, much tougher.  We have a small but
persistent vandalism problem on our campus (who doesn't?), and I'm sure
we'd have had several beer beer bottles through the glass by now.

Bill Williams

________________________
William E. Williams
Biology Department, St. Mary's College of Maryland
St. Mary's City, MD 20686 USA
WEWilliams at osprey.smcm.edu
(301)862-0365