5 Expert Plant Netting Tips

Tips and tricks for the easy and effective sourcing and application of plant netting to save you time, money, and hassle

bird barrier installed
A bird net provide to the crops the best protection against the bird attack.

Plant netting is an essential part of any garden. It helps protect against every gardener’s worst enemy: birds. Even if you do not have a problem at the moment, you ever know when birds will strike, particularly if you have inviting new fruit plants that are just coming into season. For this reason, bird nets are a must have for any gardener. This article will provide some great tips for the entire process of finding, sourcing, applying and monitoring plant netting that will make it easy, cost effective, worthwhile and enjoyable in both simple situations such as basic plants and trees, and more complex situations involving espalier trellises and alike.

  1. Choosing the right plant netting

vertical support made with trellis applied on cropfield
For get the best results in your plants, you must choise the right option for your crops.

Choosing the right plant netting is always the most important step in the process. There are two aspects to this decision. The first regards material. There are a number of materials on the market, however not all of them may be suitable to you. Nylon is probably the cheapest option on the market, and will be suitable for temporary or seasonal usage in generally forgiving conditions. However, if you are looking for more permanent, heavy duty plant netting, you can’t go past hemp, which is a durable, heavier material that is guaranteed to last. It will not tear or break, unlike some of the cheaper options on the market such as nylon; however it will be in a higher price range. Also, a material like hemp is much more natural looking, and for many of us it is a far better-looking option.

The next decision to make regards the size of the holes. This decision relies largely on the purpose and your area, however generally plant netting with holes of between square centimeters and square inches should usually be sufficient, unless there are particularly small beaked birds in your area. Even smaller holed plant netting will still be adequate, so long as it does not get to the point whereby it becomes an obstruction to sunlight.

  1. Buying plant netting in bulk from hardware stores

cropfield using a vertical support system with trellis net
With a correct quantity of net for your garden, your crops will can take all benefits of the support and protection.

Once a decision has been made about what type of plant netting you want to buy, you must then find a way of sourcing it. There are two options for this. Firstly, there are a range of popular boxed plant netting sets that are on the shelves of gardening stores and hardware stores. These are reliable options; however they are not the right option.

The second option is to buy the bird net as raw material. Most hardware stores will offer plant netting on large rolls, and will cut pieces to your required size. Although boxed plant netting sets will advocate fancy features such as tapered edges, there is absolutely no difference in quality between these options and pieces cut off rolls in hardware stores. The raw material option will, however, be far cheaper, particularly if you shop around and find a hardware warehouse. As such, it is highly recommended that you get out in your garden, and take stock of how much you will need, so that you can make the journey to the hardware warehouse with a good idea of how much product you will need. Buying in bulk in this way at a hardware warehouse is guaranteed to save you money.

  1. Getting around espaliers

hortomallas trellis net installed on vertical
As a recommended use hooks for hold the trellis net and avoid that the breeze the collapse.

When you are applying your netting, there is no doubt that you will come across some difficult situations. It will not always simply be a matter of throwing netting over a plant or tree. Every garden, and indeed every plant, is different, and there is no one way to apply netting, however there are certain tips which can prove helpful in many situations. Espaliers are an example of such a situation. When dealing with espaliers that are set against a wall, it is a good idea to make use of hooks, which can be found at hardware stores. You will be able find temporary ones, which stick on, and permanent ones that screw in. If you live in windy areas, affixing the netting to the hooks using tape may be necessary. Attaching netting to espalier trellis is an even more complex situation. Using string is one option, however I prefer the use of cable ties, which are rather subtle when the end is cut off, leaving only the joint.

  1. Monitoring your plant netting

Whilst you should be able to circumvent any issues with tearing in your netting by choosing a high quality, durable material, (such as hemp) it is highly important that you check and monitor your netting to ensure that no tears have opened up which would render the netting useless. Checking for tears every 6 months or so, or before the major seasons, is a good way to ensure that birds don’t get a chance. The other aspect of your netting that will require more constant checking is whether your netting is still covering all or your plants. One should do this every week or two, and more often if you live in an area with particularly violent or windy storms. Checking after each main weather event is a must.

trellis support net providing support to plant
Check constantly the net status for ensure that don’t there is problems.

  1. Decorate!

This final tip is one for those of you with a creative streak running through you. Decorating netting before you put it up will make your bird net look better in your garden, and will be a highly enjoyable process. Of course, it is not compulsory, but it is a great activity for a rainy day, especially if you have young children. With enough creativity, almost anything can be classified as decoration. Old beads, ribbon and any spare bits of material would all make for great decorations, so long as you have some spare glue around the place, but really, you have total control.

1-08-2018 |

Plant Training is Effective and Productive Technique

    Simple and Easy Plan Training in the Exact Size and Shap

plastic support net on vertical
Apply the plant training to your crops you will get more benefits to your harvest.

 

The primary goal of every breeder or gardener is to increase the production and use the maximum of available space. Plant training is an ideal solution in all the cases where space is limited. The greatest advantage is that there’s no need for upgrading light, the setting or air circulation. The process is simple and easy but it has several stages one should pay attention to. As a final result, the yield could be up to 40% bigger in compare with untrained plants. During the plant training, the breeder bends stems gently and ties them in place. In this way, multiple buds have been created that use the light efficiently. The setting remains unchanged in general but the yield is higher. The procedure is not at all heavy and you can do it all alone. Size and shape of your plants are not predetermined, and you can train your plants in any wanted shape or size. You can also grow your plants flat or along the net. In both cases, side buds will be exposed to the equal quantity of light. With only main bud exposed to light, the productivity of your crop will be limited. More buds growing in the same environment lead consequently to the higher production. Producing plants of the exact size and shape provides a standard for the yield. Especially indoor crops show excellent results of the plant training without additional space and light.

Complete Control over Your Crop

support net providing vertical support to eggplant
With the support net your crops improve the quality and the health of the crops.

 

Whether your crop is outdoor or indoor, plant training enables a lot of manipulation. If you apply this technique you prevent the plants grow bigger than they should. Stems remain even and you get more buds from the light. No changes to your set up are necessary. Having a complete control over your crop reduces risks. Much better distribution of light and air around the plant is possible through the proper distance between stems. For that reason, sides of the plant can produce large and numerous buds. To implement plant training on your crop, you will need garden wire or soft twine. They will hold the plants in place without doing any harm. Shorter plants catch the growing light or the sun faster and easier. Tomato ring or bamboo stake can also be implemented with this technique as an additional support. Pinching off the tops of the plants is not necessary but it is helpful. On the other side, any kind of cutting is stressful for the plants so you can simply bend the tops as you have done with the side branches.

bird barrier installed on beach
The bird net can protect the crops and avoid that the birds destroy your harvest.

After you have trained the plants, you should take their protection into consideration and apply bird netting. It is the reliable system in making a safe environment for your plants. Sometimes, only one small bite is enough to lower the quality of the fruits. Usually, far more than only one plant has been ruined. If your crop doesn’t meet the required standards, the overall productivity comes into question. Bird netting prevents birds from picking the plants. Complete control over your crop includes optimal growing conditions and protection from pests at the same time.

Trellis netting is the sophisticated procedure of acquiring optimal environment for training vertically growing plants. It is adjustable to a different size and space, and it can be made in the largest variety of shapes in accordance with breeder’s requirements. Vine vegetables, such as cucumbers and tomatoes need trellis netting to grow off the ground. Serving as a supporter, it is more stable than supporters for single plants. The implementation is simple and easy and it is reusable in the next season. It is recommended to install it just after the seeding when stems are small and only a couple of centimeters high.

Techniques that Pay off

Plant training is affordable and it is a small investment of your time that will certainly pay off. You should think about the type of your crop to know exactly up to which height you want to train it. The procedure varies from basic options that require no time and almost no technique to the more complicated procedures for larger spaces. In any case, lower side branches should be able to grow and flourish with enough light. Plants that are too tall to bend need to undergo the procedure of softening before they bend at a sharp angle. This technique of the plant training is called super-cropping. Sometimes, it is implemented by the plants that have gone out of the control. The screen of green is also one technique that includes screen over the plants. Most of the trainers are suitable to support heavy plants and buds. If you want the buds to grow as big as possible, you can apply defoliation – a method of strategically removing leaves on indoor-grown plants.

Smaller Plants are More Productive

trellis net installed on cropfield
The net is a resistant net able to provide to yuor crops the best support for that they can get the best growth.

The main idea of plant training is to grow numerous small plants instead of several big ones. This method shortens the time of the growth for few weeks. That means you can get more than one harvest per year with certain sorts. Enabling your crop optimal environment is not enough to acquire higher productivity. Keep in mind protection of bird pests and the fact that not all plants are growing in the same way. Some of them give the best results if trained flat while others are to be grown vertically using different kinds of nets. Grow lights or the sun often distribute unequally producing uneven growth of the plants. Training prevents the unequal distribution of light by spreading plants over the available space so they can have a necessary light on the top and on the sides. Side light increases the productivity supporting the growth of side buds instead of only the top ones.

10-03-2017 |

Produce Certain Results with Help of Plant Training

            Plant training to produce higher yields, reduce the incidence of disease and make caring and harvesting the plants easier

Plant training is a technique used by agriculturalists to produce certain results. Often the purpose is for bigger and better yields, but plant training is not limited to this aspect. It involves the physical manipulation of the plant for a purpose. The plant training technique is directly related to that certain purpose. Plants can be propped up, the buds can be pinched, the stems can be twisted or tied to change the shape of the plant, sections of the plant can be cut or pruned, and the plants can be thinned or spread apart. In industrial or in larger garden applications two other training techniques maximize the production of the plant. Horticulture netting can support plants off the ground or a scrog net can be used.

 

What it is Not?

It does not involve genetically modifying the plant. It has nothing to do with types of fertilizers or improving environmental conditions for the plants such as adding grow lights.

 

Common Examples of Plant Training Techniques

Look in almost any backyard garden and you can see the tomato cages cradling this very common plant. The support serves many purposes. It holds the leaves up to the light while supporting the delicate stems. But most importantly, it keeps the fruit up off the ground where it may otherwise rot. Often cucumber buds are pinched so that the plant grows bushier, thereby producing more buds and ultimately more fruit.

 

In the flower garden, the trellis provides support for the climbing flowering plants such as the clematis. The gardener ties or twists the stem around sections of the trellis for a pleasing result.

Pruning of the hedge has several results. It allows the pruner to achieve the desired shape while it promotes the growth of more stems so that the hedge is now thicker. Sometimes pruning is done in order that the fruit can be accessed easier. Routinely apple orchards prune their trees to assist in the harvesting of the fruit.

 

The tiny seeds of many vegetables such as beans are started in a bed with each plant close to its neighbor. But as the plants expand, it is prudent to spread them apart or thin them so that they have the proper space in which to grow.

 

Industrial Applications

Scrog nets and horticulture netting are often used in industrial or larger garden situations. A scrog net is a grid of stiff open weaved wire that is placed just above the young plant. As the plant grows, it pokes through this grid work. From that point, the worker or care taker is able to tie the stem so the plant will grow horizontally. As the plant matures, from the one stem now more branches will develop. And with the more branches, the one plant produces more flowers, fruit and seeds. Note that the production of the buds from the screen level results in a similar height for all of the buds.

 

If you are growing plants using an artificial light source, the additional benefit is that all of the buds receive the same amount of light. Thus more control of environmental conditions is achieved. This scrog net is easy to build, doesn’t require any special skills from the workers and needs only a minimum of tools. It also has the benefit of a very open hexagonal weave which provides aeration for the plants thus reducing the likelihood of mold production. Serrano pepper, roma & cherry tomato and tamarillo plants produce fruit very well with this method.

 

Horticulture netting has many pluses as well. It too has an open weave but it is made of polypropylene and is hung vertically. One of the biggest advantages over tying the stem is that with the net since the fruit or flowers just lean on the net for support, the growth of the delicate stem is not constricted at all. Squash, pumpkin, watermelon, and cucumber benefit from using the netting. In addition, the fruit is up off the ground which means less rot and easy harvesting.

 

Bonsai

A very specialized group of plant training techniques is involved in producing the beautiful and artistic bonsai. Branches are pruned to enhance the plant’s appearance. Stems are held in place by a wire structure to achieve a variety of fantastic shapes. Later the wire is removed, once the bonsai has been trained to remain in that shape. Often it takes years to achieve the desired results.

 

Cannabis

A renewed interest in plant training techniques has taken place in the cannabis industry. An Internet search of the term results in several top articles about growing these plants. Specifically, the plant can be trained to produce more buds in several ways. One very easy way is to tie the stem of the very young plant so that it grows almost horizontally. From this one stem many more branches grow.  In appearance the plant resembles more of a cannabis bush, however when left alone, the plant will produce only one stem per plant. With the addition of a scrog net, the stem can be secured in several places thus allowing the growers to control the height of all the buds, making the use of grow lights more effective for every plant. Pinching the top bud to produce more stems and buds is common as well.

 

Scientific evidence supports the use of plant training. Studies around the world show that plant training methods produce higher yields while reducing the incidence of disease and as an added bonus often make caring for the plants and harvesting the plants easier for the workers. In industrial applications, the use of scrog nets and horticulture netting is utilized with great results. Since plants are used in a myriad of ways, people have developed many other training methods to enhance their growth.

9-23-2016 | 1

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