Fruit Security Holland specializes in crop protection via hail nets and foil covers. This Dutch company has introduced a black, high UV-resistant hail net that lasts for 25 years. This net prevents sun damage too, and you can use it to delay fruit ripening for a few days.
Longer lifespan saves €20,000-€25,000/ha
Hail nets protect fruit against damage from wind, hail, driving rain, insects, and birds. There are more and more hail nets being put up every year in the Netherlands. Fruit Security's new hail net not only has a different color; its chemical composition differs from the usual crystal hail nets too. In the Netherlands, hails nets used to have an average UV resistance of 80 KLY.
Carbon is a UV stabilizer and slows down the hail nets' aging process to 1400 KLY. Standard crystal hail nets have a lifetime of ten years. The black hail nets' new carbon chemical composition increases that to as much as 25 years. These nets, therefore, save fruit growers between €20,000 and €25,000 per hectare.
Prevents sun damage, spreads harvest
Using black hail nets is new to countries like the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and the UK. In Austria and Italy, they have been using these for some time. Experience shows that black hail nets allow less light through. So, they offer improved sun damage protection, especially for fruits like apples, pears, and apricots.
The fruit also colors more uniformly, resulting in a more homogeneous fruit quality. Using black hail nets can extend fruit ripening by an average of four days. Fruit growers can thus use black hail nets to postpone the fruit harvest somewhat. And better spread the deployment of their pickers over different areas. Another advantage - black hail nets blend in better with the landscape.
For more information:
Fruit Security Holland
17 Darwin Street
6718 XR, Ede, NL
Tel: +31 (0) 318 301 731
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.fruitsecurityholland.com
