Haygrove South Africa has introduced a domed structure to cover tree orchards, in response to a number of difficulties that have become apparent. Their structure offers growers the flexibility to easily add or remove the shade net at will.
The massive increase in covered tree orchards in South Africa has revealed a number of shortcomings, like the vulnerability to hail of flat top structures, currently the most commonly used structure for tree orchards, management of fruit set and vegetative growth under permanent cover as well as a possible increase in pests in the humid microclimate under net.
“Covering at least a percentage of your crop is going to become completely necessary going forward but the longterm effects are still unknown. The primary purpose of our design is giving the grower the ultimate flexibility and the ability to adapt and change the net structure according to what he’s doing,” says Andrew Wood, sales manager at Haygrove South Africa. “The grower can remove the net very easily for bud initiation and pollination, if necessary, because bees don’t like being under cover. With apples, for instance, you’d leave the structure open until fruit set occurs, and then prior to the hottest periods of the year or before a wind or hail storm you pull over the covers.”
“In response to what we heard from growers, as well as to the research done by organisations like Hortgro, we went back to the drawing board and made a few R&D changes to our current tunnel structures and what we came up with is a more cost-effective structure with the ability to easily add and remove the net from ground level. In other systems removing the net, particularly at height, requires picking platforms and requires you getting back at height, which becomes labour-intensive and costly from a time point of view.”
“We give growers the flexibility to be covered when they want to be covered. We provide the structure and the type of netting is entirely up to the customer. There is the possibility of adding a double layer of net or changing the type of shade net. From a construction point of view, we’re not dependent on it being flat or level. We can put up the structure on any gradient and it can be a gradient in multiple directions.”
Covering a 3.5 m orchard with a 4m high flat top structure means that very quickly the space is completely taken up and it creates more of a microclimate for the crop and as a result there are a number of issues like disease pressure, he explains. “With the hoop structure you’re getting 35% additional air volumes and light volume above your crop, allowing for improved ventilation.”
Haygrove Tunnels is based in Grabouw where a large part of their tunnel structures are manufactured, distributing to the whole of Southern Africa.
For more information:
Andrew WoodHaygrove South Africa
Tel: +27 21 859 1026
Email: Andrew@haygrove.co.za