A Shade house is a structure enclosed by agro nets such as: shade net or any other woven material to allow required sunlight, moisture and air to pass through the gaps. It creates an appropriate micro climate conducive to the plant growth. It is also referred as shade net house or net house.

Uses of shade house

• Helps in cultivation of flower plants, foliage plants, medicinal plants, vegetables and spices.
• Used for fruit and vegetable nurseries as well as for raising of forest species etc.
• Helps in quality drying of various agro products.
• Used to protect against pest attack.
• Protects from natural weather disturbances such as wind, rain, hail and frost.
• Used in production of graft saplings and reducing its mortality during hot summer days.
• Used for hardening tissue culture plant lets

Planning for a shade house

The shade house structure should be planned taking into consideration the type of crop to be grown, locally available materials and local climatic conditions. The provision for future expansion should be there.

Site selection

A shade house should be located in such a way that it is well connected with market for input supplies and sale of its produces. This structure should be constructed away from buildings and trees, so also away from industrial or vehicular pollutants. The site should be free from drainage problem. There should be provision of electricity and good quality water. However, wind breakers may be located 30m away from the structure.

Orientation

There are mainly two criteria for shade house orientation. They are the uniformity of light intensity in the shade house and wind direction. Single span structure may be oriented either in east-west or north-south direction but multi span structure should be oriented in north-south direction to ensure uniform light intensity.

Structural materials

A shade house structure composed of two basic components i.e. frame and cladding material. The shade house frame provides support for cladding material and designed to protect against wind, rain and crop load. The shade house mild steel (ms) angle frame lasts up to 20 to 25 years, if anti rust treatment is done at regular interval, whereas bamboo structure can last up to 3 years. The agro shade net lasts for 3 to 5 years depending on the climatic condition. Shade nets are available in different colours with wide range of shade percentages viz. 25%, 30%, 35%, 50%, 60%, 75% and 90%.       

 source:  http://www.ncpahindia.com 

Shade nets manufactured by "Toorineh Baft" last approximately 5 years and would be presented with 30 months guaranty.