Why use double walled of support netting or V supports.

Advantages of double walled tutoring nets on both sides of furrows.

The method of using double walled tutoring nets reduces. The mechanical stress on the plants and slows down the spread of plant pathogens. You might ask yourself how to save manpower when fastening plants to the HORTOMALLAS® horticultural netting. Using double rows of netting trellis is the most efficient solution.

You can increase planting densities by using HORTOMALLAS®, the net for tutoring and support which is replacing raffia.

Cucurbitaceous plants (CUCUMBERS, MELONS, PUMPKINS) climb up by themselves to reach heights. That give their foliage the best exposure to the sun as is possible. While others like those of the Solanaceae family (TOMATOES, CHILLI, PEPPERS, EGGPLANT). Need to be guide and fasten onto a vertical support system. To stop their leaf stems falling to the ground and bruising their fruits.

Photo caption: Here is an example of how tomato tutoring has been install inside a macrotunnel.

When cultivating plants that do need to grow upwards but require a support system to do so. (normally posts and rods with raffia or sisal) we would advise using double rows. Along both sides of the furrows and the plants so that they can lean on the support netting squares. And thereby avoid the labor cost of fastening them onto the nets. (this system is very common in greenhouses in European countries).

Photo caption: Tutoring tomatoes in open fields or in tunnels allows the plant to grow quicker.

Alternatively, you can use a V support system, where the same netting is fold at the bottom of the plant (V) and the plant is allow to grow inside the V (being support by poles and rods of course) in such a way that the upper stems are expose to the sun comfortably on top of the horticultural netting. This system is commonly use in open fields where manpower represents a high percentage of production costs or to avoid laborers accidently damaging the plants by over-handling them.

Photo caption: When using double walled netting, it’s a good idea to use slightly more netting at the foot of the plant to support its initial growth well.

The double rowed or double walled netting system is very important in reducing the amount of pathogens that are transmit manually while carrying out agricultural tasks such as pruning and tutoring (the workers’ hands become carriers in spreading diseases). By eliminating the need to manually guide the plants as with raffia, the spread of contagious diseases is reduce during the guiding and tutoring of the plants, since Solanaceae plants are allow to grow through the squares of the netting and continue to be nourish by sunlight even when they are heavy with fruit. This technique also allows you to eliminate the days a plants loses when recuperating from mechanical stress after being repositioned manually away from its optimal solar exposure position.

An example of double walled tutoring with HORTOMALLAS® trellis netting. This technique enables the reduction in the manual transmission of plant pathogens.

For more information about tutoring Solanaceae click here: