If Hail Is The Problem - Crop Saver Multi-Net Is The Solution!
Crop Saver™ Multi-Net™ blocks hail to keep crops safe. It's perfect for protecting vineyards, berry patches, vegetable gardens, and other crops. Annual hail damage to fruit crops costs US and Canadian farmers millions of dollars annually. The good news is that this damage can be prevented with hail protection netting.
Hail netting can be installed on hoops, arches, and other frames to support the netting above the crop plants, as shown in the image to the right. It's important to note that while large hailstones make the news, even tiny hail can inflict severe, though initially hard-to-detect, damage to fruit, flowers, and leaf buds in their early development.
Why Cover Your Crops?
Hail causes a variety of damage impacts. The first, referred to as "direct damage," involves immediate impacts on fruit and plants. Damage can include fruit shredding, where skins are sliced open (open wounds); fruit bruising (closed wounds); and fruit being stripped from stems. While fruit damage is often the focus after a storm, direct damage also causes injury to and loss of limbs, buds, leaves, tender stems and twig tissue.
A second type of hail damage is referred to as "secondary" damage.
Secondary hail damage involves consequences that occur over time, after the storm has passed. This can include infection from pathogens like twig canker fungi, as well as bacterial and fungal agents that cause soft rot in fruit. These resulting wound injuries can take days, or even weeks, to manifest, but they can completely ruin a crop. Damaged fruits often mature with surface blemishes and malformations, making them unsaleable.
It's no secret that fruit takes a beating from hail damage, but the impacts go beyond the loss of tonnage value. If your operation depends on "estate-grown" fruit for finished products like wine and other foods, a single storm can wipe out a harvest and a season's worth of shelf inventory. Lost harvests also mean lost jobs and income for those who depend on these activities. In summary, hail crop damage has far-reaching impacts, from the field to the community. Crop Saver Multi-Net is the hail protection netting that gets the job done. Protect your crop and don't miss a season.