Net curtain for preventing scorching

[RachelTurner]

Hi everyone,

Is a net curtain enough to prevent scorching in a sunny window (more or less west-facing)?

My growing collection of succulents are on my bedroom/office windowsill, which is more or less north-facing, but it's a fairly large window, and does get a side-swipe of sun for a couple of hours in the early morning, and again in the evening from around 7pm onwards.

My plants are doing well there, including the sun-loving ones, at least for now. I'm not sure how they'll fare there over the winter though, and it's getting a bit crowded on the windowsill. I was thinking of moving a couple of the sun-loving ones to the landing windowsill, which is more or less west-facing and gets the sun all afternoon, but obviously I'm aware that plants can get burnt if they're in full sun. The window gets the full sun in the afternoon, but doesn't get too hot as the upper portion of the window's usually open. The sun's still a problem though so I'm wondering if a net curtain might be the answer.

Thanks,

Rachel

[Eric Williams]

Hi Rachel, I don’t think you will get scorch on a North facing window especially if you have morning or evening sun. The West facing window axis could get quite hot at times during the day. The only shade I have in my g/h is some green garden netting on the South side, and I have never had scorch.
A net curtain will certainly help to prevent excessive heat getting to the plants, also it may help if you have room to move plants further from the glass. Some succulents love a bit more sun and can turn to a nice pink colour, which does no harm. Please carry on growing as we have all started out like you, and we have all made mistakes too. If this forum was up and running when I started growing, I would have been very pleased. There is so much good advice here. Cheers

[esp]

You don't specify what plants you are growing, but many cacti and succulents will be totally untroubled by a few hours of west facing direct sunshine each day. Many will prefer even more direct sunlight.
A possible issue with sunlight is sudden increases, such as moving a plant from a north facing to South facing window, where net curtains may be helpful to ease the transitions.

[Apicra]

Think about pots as well as plant surfaces .... a black pot in sunshine will heat up surprisingly! Providing complete shade for your pots will help. Pushing pots together is an easy way to start.

Best wishes,
Derek Tribble

[RachelTurner]

Thanks for the suggestiond/advice.

I have a mix of succulents and cacti (mainly succulents) - I'm like a child in a sweet shop when I see something with different shaped/coloured leaves! The ones specifically I'm thinking that possibly could do with a bit more sunshine are a Sedum Rubrotinctum, a couple of echeverias, and possibly my Crassula Marnieriana.

Thanks for the advice about the pots too, Derek. I never even considered the colour of the pots.

I work from home (which I've done for about 10 years, even before it became fashionable with Covid ), so I'm at home 90% of the time and can move them around so they're not in the sun too long. I did actually take my Haworthia Fasciata out into the garden for an hour last night - I think the neighbours think I'm going do-lally sitting on the bench having a conversation with a plant!

[Eric Williams]

Prince Charles talks to his plants, so can we lol.

[MikeT]

I can't think that I've ever had a plant scorch on a windowsill, even south facing. It must be possible in theory. In practice, it's not just high temperature, but also lack of air movement that results in scorching. Air in a greenhouse (without a fan or plenty of ventilation) can be very still, whereas this is much less likely on a windowsill, with a far greater volume of air in the room. One note of caution though, if a plant has been growing in low light level (away from a window), it would be at risk of scorch when first put in full sun.

[RachelTurner]

Thanks. I think what I may do is try moving them just for short spells to begin with. The advantage of working from home is that I'm there all day, so can keep a careful eye on them.

The C.Marnieriana is kind of between two windows, furthest away from the bedroom window, but probably around 6ft from the west-facing landing window, which gets the sun in the afternoons - the bedroom door's open most of the time though for the benefit of the human inhabitant in terms of both light and air flow. I think it's just a bit too far away from the window where it currently is to benefit much from the light though.

[esp]

Daily moving of plants on an ongoing basis is a pain, and tends to lead to accidents - dropping, breaking, impaling oneself etc. It's best avoided. Gradually moving over a few days to a sunnier spot is good though.
6 feet from the nearest window is most likely 5.5 feet too far away. Once plants are accustomed to full sun, as close as possible to the glass is generally good for sun-loving types.
If you think about typical garden plants in the UK, many of them are in full sun, all day, every day without any harm. These are plants suited to UK outdoors conditions, not coming from some of the sunniest climates on earth, as many succulents do.
Of course, some succulents do grow in the shade of taller plants, but they are still often capable of coping with several hours per day of full UK sunshine.

[RachelTurner]

Daily moving of plants on an ongoing basis is a pain, and tends to lead to accidents - dropping, breaking, impaling oneself etc. It's best avoided. Gradually moving over a few days to a sunnier spot is good though.
6 feet from the nearest window is most likely 5.5 feet too far away. Once plants are accustomed to full sun, as close as possible to the glass is generally good for sun-loving types.

Thanks, that's good advice. I've moved three of my echeverias and my two cacti over to the west-facing windowsill. Studying the sun and the windowsill a bit more I realised that although the sun comes round to that side of the house, the window's actually in shade until just after lunch time because of the house next door, so they get more light generally being there being on the windowsill, but only get the full sun from around 1pm onwards, so it's not too much of a shock for them