Written by Hortomallas Hortomallas on 12 December, 2016. Posted in agricultural raffia, bean net, crop netting, crop rotation with netting, cucurbits support, disease control with netting, double wall trellis, eggplant support, horticulture netting, Manuals /Guides /Pamphlets, mechanical stress, melon netting, pathogen reduction, pepper trellis, quality of trellis netting, raffia comparisons, SCROG / SOG / Sea-of-Green / Screen-of-Green, solanaceae support, squash net, tomato net, tomato raffia, tomato rings /tomato clips, tomato stakes, tomato trellis & support, training tomatoes, trellis netting, trellising net, tutoring vegetables

Reduce mechanical stress with HORTOMALLAS: Download the pdf “How to Manual”

Mechanical stress reduces your production yield by many tons per hectare

Mechanical stress appears as a physical alteration in the plant or in one of its parts and can affect the plant at any stage of its development. Wind and rain are the main factors causing mechanical stress but there are other factors too such as animals and in the case of crops, agricultural practices.

HORTOMALLAS trellis netting reduces mechanical stress in vegetable crops.

Support netting facilitates the pruning, therefore reduces mechanical stress in tomato plants.

Studies on mechanical stress in plants have been carried out since the 1970s, and have found that it reduces seedling sizes and affects the development of the fruits of the crop. Seedlings (the youth stage of the plant being cultivated) are the most affected and lose height or stem thickness when they are exposed to mechanical stress.

Using crop netting by HORTOMALLAS will increase your yield as plants will be induced to grow vertically, therefore being able to increase the density. In this picture melons are trained vertically.

Mechanical stress is generated to varying degrees whilst carrying out agricultural tasks and can cause anything from a mild effect of slowing down the plant’s growth, to causing its death. Transplanting, or planting out, tutoring plants and pruning are essential to tomato production. SIAP reported in its preliminary data that in 2009 395 tons of tomatoes per hectare were produced, to be sold at USD $1.25 (average price per kilogram) in boxes of 25lb (11.330 kg) for USD $14.16 per box (figures taken from INFOACERCA). Given that up to 18% of the yield can be lost due to mechanical stress caused during its production stage, this would equate to losses of up to 7,100 kg per hectare, with a value of US$8,887.50.

Agricultural tasks like pruning or harvesting can be carried out easily when the crop is tutored with support netting.

When cultivating tomatoes, double-walled support netting is recommended.

For that reason, generally, care should be taken to minimize the stress caused to the crops, although some studies have revealed that mechanical stress on seedlings just prior to their transplanting can actually benefit the plants by standardizing the plants’ height and making them more resistant to being handled.

“v” shaped support netting is recommended for crops of tomatoe, bell peppers and chilies.

Using HORTOMALLAS support netting reduces contact with the plants whilst tutoring. Support netting or tutoring nettings are very easy to install and don’t retain moisture as they have been made from one single piece of material. They can be installed in a single line for vine crops like chayote, pumpkin etc. Or, for crops of chilies, peppers and tomatoes (certain varieties), they can be installed in double rows of support netting (“v” shape or sandwich formation).