When you are in charge of protecting and maintaining grape crops during the crucial stages of fruiting, finding the right vineyard netting is key to keeping plants healthy and viable. Vineyard crops can be quickly eliminated by the threat of bird and pest activity, and pecking or partial fruit removal can leave behind bacterial infection and decay that will produce highly acidic products that are unsuitable for wine. So in order to get the best fruit products from the crops that you've been weaning since inception, there are a few things to consider before you invest in vineyard netting.

All-Weather Durability

Not all vineyard netting is alike, and though some nets promise the protection of plants from pest activity, they may only be suitable for one-time usage. Vineyard netting should ideally use braided, twisted, or twined ropes composed of either polypropylene, nylon, polyester, or polysteel, because the combination provides the highest degree of protection in all types of weather conditions. Vineyard nets should be highly resistant to sun and chemical penetration, as well as display a high degree of tensile strength, like that found with marine and industrial grade roping. For a business like Redden Net & Rope marine rope and vineyard nets are a specialty.

Protection and Permeability

Vineyard netting should not only be strong enough to protect your crops against avian assault, it needs to be permeable enough to permit light and nutrient penetration. Adequate light and nutrient penetration are especially needed during the critical time where fruit increases sugar content and fully ripens before harvest time. Though holes are necessary for allowing water and nutrient penetration, you should always limit the size of netting openings to protect fruit against serious vandals, like the starling. So instead of increasing the hole diameter of your netting, consider finding nets that offer clear or translucent materials to provide maximum light for your plants.

Cost-Effectiveness

Though it can be tempting to reduce the amount of time you use netting to harvest periods and opt for disposable netting, you always should use quality nets that can be used more than once. Cheap vineyard netting can do the trick at keeping target crops out of reach from tricky thieves and pests, but you'll have to invest in them over and over each season, which is not only expensive for large-scale grape operations, it's environmentally irresponsible as well. Quality vineyard netting will cost more up front, but it can last you years, instead of months, giving you a reliable and responsible method of protecting your cash crop for many seasons.

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