Written by Hortomallas Hortomallas on 15 July, 2015. Posted in crop netting, crop rotation with netting, disease control with netting, fungi / mycosis / fungal attacks, humidity and crops, weather / Climate Change

Weather Damage and the Need of New Agricultural Techniques as Horticulture Crop Nettings

Use trellis netting to prevent weather damage

Today ´s climate change and weather damage related to it, brings about the need of new agricultural techniques to try to mitigate the damages, and allow a successful harvest, horticulture crop nettings becomes a necessary tool given this new environment!   All one needs to do nowadays is turn on the TV or radio or read the latest news on-line… or simply look outside the window!   Weather patterns are changing, colder and more extreme climates are popping up all over the globe!  No rain or too much rain are just as bad for agriculture.  And when too much rain comes down in one day, a whole season of work and investments may go down the drain, literally!  That is how weather damage affects our productivity and investment.   Water and humidity related crop diseases are becoming more of a norm in today´s agriculture.  A clear example is the cucumber (Cucumis Sativus L.) grown both for fresh consumption or for food processing industry.  Being a species of tropical origins the cucumber needs a relatively higher temperature and humidity, even though there are species that have been adapted to more temperate climates. Over 40 degrees C. it slows its growth, as it does when the temperature drops below 14 C. , in case these temperature extremes are extended in time the plant will lose the female flowers, below 1 degrees C. the plant will die and rot without any way to be saved!   As far as humidity, cucumber is very sensitive to damages brought about by fungi that thrive in high humidity conditions.  Two ways to combat fungi: prevention (netting) or fumigating (and say goodbye to your organic prices!). When cucumber is grown on the ground the humidity is trapped between the leaves and the wet soil, spoiling fruits, leaves and flowers and creating the ideal micotic conditions that will destroy the crop or reduce it´s commercial yield.   Also growing cucumbers on a bamboo stick or metal stake, will not allow the plant to optimize its spreading over a larger surface increasing solar exposure and air flow, growing elements that naturally impede the development of fungi. Therefore  the ideal method or system to grow vegetables that need some sort of vertical support in open fields nowadays is using trellis netting like HORTOMALLAS, a product that has been in the market for many decades, but that now with the need to be ready in case of  increased rain fall.     for more detailed info this study coul be of interest: https://www.uvm.edu/~wbowden/Teaching/Risk_Assessment/Resources/Public/Projects/Project_docs2012/Presentations/Team02_Climate_Changeand_Ag_Pathogens_presentation.pdf nothing like growing cucumbers on HORTOMALLAS support netting against weather damage!