Shadenet house construction

Farm Advice
#1

Hello friends  good evening
shade net cultivation  — is somewhat  a cheaper version of  polyhouse cultivation.
please provide details regarding  construction of shade net houses and  other innovative ideas to be incorporated in this setup.
i have few questions also

  1. is it possible to control the damage caused by heavy rains  [ dripping of water inside the site ]  in shadenet houses?
  2. has anyone tried  or studied the possibility of controlling temperature and humidity inside shadenet houses?
    experts  & enthusiasts — pl contribute your views and enlighten all
    thank you
#2

hello friends  waiting for ur valuable suggestions          :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

#3

Hi

Ok I will share my experience that I had with maintaining a vegetable nursery under shadenet conditions.
It is not possible to prevent rain from entering, in my case I could cover my trays with plastic by creating small tunnels at ground level. But for proper crop cultivation, you cannot. I think you should plan your crop such that is is over before rains arrive.

For controlling temp and humidity, air movement is always there. I would say shadenet is poor mans greenhouse where you cannot control everything but initial investment is also very less.

One technique that I had seen in Pune was low cost greenhouse effect technology where the growing area is surrounded by plastic from the sides only upto height of 6 feet. What this does is captures the CO2 produced during the night by plants and since CO2 is heavier than air, it will not go away till the plants consume and convert to O2 during the day time by photosynthesis process.

Check this http://www.arti-india.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=25:low-cost-greenhouse&catid=13:agri-horticultural-technologies&Itemid=52 for more information, they have many other techniques which could help others. In shade net to some extent you can get greenhouse effect without much investment.

Good luck.
Nikhil

#4

Hi,

Does anyone have a detailed design for a DIY/low cost shadenet?
I am considering an economical one using granite kadis and shadenet fabric. All ideas appreciated.

#5

Hi
You can try using 4" water drain cement pipes, which should be filled with steel rod and concrete.
It may work out cheaper.
I have also attached some pics for our low cost green house construction.

Nikhil

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#6

Thanks Nikhil. The cement pipe seems a good alternative - any ball park on how much each pipe costed you? Stone pillar of 8’ length costs Rs. 170 each here, I will compare it against the pipe.

  1. My first level thought is to alternate long and short poles in adjoining rows so that the roof has some slopes. Is this better than a flat roof?
  2. How do you attach the wiring and cloth to the poles?
  3. What % shadenet cloth is best for growing winter crops in summer?
  4. What do you use for the sides? Plastic skirting or shadenet cloth itself?

Thanks.

#7

Hi
If you buy from manufacturer directly, then here in Mysore it costs around Rs. 80 per pipe. Then add steel cost and concrete cost, I dont think it should be more than Rs. 120.
You can do alternate poles or, design your roof truss such that it does not need any support in the middle. If going for wooden roofs, then any steel truss design can be made my nailing different members. In the photo you will see we dont have middle pillar. You can save so many pillars, but will have to go for thicker poles.

We drilled holes in the pipe and inserted small steel rod in each hole. When you fill concrete, it fixes the steel rod as well. Once concrete is set, you can bend the rods to ring/hook shape and use for tying. We had it on all four sides. You can see in the pic.
Ours was green house with shade net to be pulled when required, we were using 75% shadenet. I think this depends on how much summer sun and duration of summer.

Sides were insect net fixed permanently with plastic curtains which are pulled up during day and let down during night.

One more point is we had opening on the top similar to steel greenhouses, one of the truss members were slightly longer to have small opening on the top for air movement. Air entering from sides would escape from top.
Also orientation was north-south as we had winds from east as well as west.
I am attaching some more pics and also a diagram of our roof.

Please note that this was designed by us in our farm and we planned to use lowest cost items and use innovative solutions. So the ideas i have presented may not be fancy and will involve some extra work. :slight_smile:

Good luck.
Nikhil


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#8

Nikhil and others,

What is the best way to attach the shadenet to the pillars? I am hoping not to have a wooden or pipe framework. Instead, I would like to support the shadenet cloth using GI wire tightly fixed to the pillars spaced 10 feet. Does this sound feasible?

How is the shadnet cloth fixed to the pipe or wire in general - stitched or pinned or …? I understand this area is a source of easy tearing.
Am I right two sheets of the shadenet are simply stitched together with thread and needle? Is it simple DIY or needs experts?

I would like to use the same shadenet cloth for the sides as well.

Thoughts?

#9

Hello

My tips

  1. I am not sure how you will be able to fit on GI wire.Simple tying with thinner wire will work but wont be perfect. If you are going to have one huge big piece of shadenet and put it from top, then could be possible, but it will be a pain to install.
  2. For structure if you are using steel members, then you can go for profile and spring system. Like what is used in greenhouses. The aluminium profile is fixed to the member using self drilling screws and then keep shadenet and put spring. It is really very simple, we have used it in all our sheds which have plastic roofs.
  3. Make sure you stitch the shadenet with UV protected thread, otherwise, the shadenet will come apart in less than 6 months due to sun damage.
    The profile can be fixed to any side and used for fixing the shadenet. And beauty is when you want to remove, the shadenet does not tear and comes back in same form. You just remove the spring. Even the profile can be removed from the steel members by removing the screws.

I thought you were going for stone pillars, then it will be difficult to attach or fix the shadenet.

For profile and spring ideas, you can visit any greenhouse nearby to you and see how they have attached to plastic. You get in market in 4 meter lengths, the last time I checked, rates for both profile and spring was Rs. 40/meter.

Maybe I diverted from your topic and discussed something, but you can give a thought to making low cost steel frame. You get lightweight pipe sections which may fit your budget.

Good luck.

Nikhil

1 Like
#10

what is the cost/sq mtr you fellows are paying ? (including labor )

there is a very need for low cost designs which are suitable for our conditions and resources.

vvk

#11

nikhil

i see the top slanting and gutter in the middle of two slopes.
a small question comes in mind, as to why are we keeping the top slanted when we are using the shade net cloth ? because the water will anyways come inside the structure, sliding down to gutter and then out of the structure.
i may have misunderstood something here, please explain !!

i think the plain top tied with the pillars horizontally will save a little more cost in the structure.

Aman

#12

Hi
Mine was greenhouse, hence that structure. Although I have also seen shade net houses with plastic roofs.
Nikhil

#13

hellO  NIKSNARAYANA      THANK U FOR  the  useful info.  u had mentioned abt  shadenet house with plastic top.  pl explain  the construction procedure.  do you have a plastic top that can be rolled or a permanent one?
waiting for your reply
thank you

#14

As I said, mine was greenhouse. I have seen shadenet houses which have shadenet sides with plastic roofs similar to greenhouse. I am not sure if you call that shadenet, but it has more shadenet than plastic.
For plastic roof, you need the shape that I have attached in earlier posts, and there are pics as well of the wodden structure.

For flat roofs, you will need one big shadenet stitched to exact size and lay it on top, but I should not comment more, not an expert in construction, dont want to misguide anyone. Better to visit existing shadenet houses and see how they have done.

Nikhil

#15

[quote="Chandra"]
Nikhil and others,

What is the best way to attach the shadenet to the pillars? I am hoping not to have a wooden or pipe framework. Instead, I would like to support the shadenet cloth using GI wire tightly fixed to the pillars spaced 10 feet. Does this sound feasible?

How is the shadnet cloth fixed to the pipe or wire in general - stitched or pinned or …? I understand this area is a source of easy tearing.
Am I right two sheets of the shadenet are simply stitched together with thread and needle? Is it simple DIY or needs experts?

I would like to use the same shadenet cloth for the sides as well.

Thoughts?[/quote]

Mr Chandra -------  for sides, insect nets will be better— this will  protect from most of the pests  better than shadenet.

1 Like
#16

Nikhil

Whats the difference between shadenet house, greenhouse and shadenet house with plastic top ?

Till now i only knew shadenet house and polyhouse.  Thats it !!  I thougt greenhouse and shadenet house  are two names for the same thing

Aman

#17

Hi Aman,

Actually, I believe greenhouse and polyhouse are one and the same.
Shadenet house is without plastic sides or probably without plastic roof as well.

I am not too sure what you call a shed with plastic roof and shadenet sides, maybe others can help.

Nikhil

#18

hello Aman        polyhouse  is covered by polythene sheets . it may also have shadenet covering… we can control temp  and RH  HERE
SHADE NET house is covered by  shadenets only.  here  temp is reduced . we cant control  RH.
  polyhouse and greenhouses are almost same.  Greenhouse  is also  a type of polyhouse  setup with some advanced features  [  like advanced temp control system  , heating and cooling systems ]

#19

Hello ak and everyone

How is shadenet house  for summer cultivation of tomato and capsicum ??
Does one needs to have a slanting top for a sadenet house ??

We can always install misters and foggers for maintaing temp and humidity even in the shade net house.  Right ?

I am asking all this because i think shade net house construction is most economical amongst all the structures

Aman

#20

hello Aman
you r right. shadenet construction is cheaper.  just now  i have started constructing my  first shadenethouse.
i will post my experience later.    yes  we can use misters for temp control . but i am not sure about controlling humidity as air movement will be more inside shadenet house.
anyhow tomatoes can be cultivated  during summer inside shadenet houses.
in polyhose , inside temp will be higher than the outside  if no control measures are taken.
but in shadenet house  inside temp will be lesser than the the outside.