Insect screens prevent pollination by bees and insects
Insect netting is a plastic netting with very fine mesh, commonly white or transparent in colour. Insect screens can be used as bee nets to keep bees away from plants. This prevents insects from causing damage to the fruit or preventing cross-pollination. This is useful for fruits such as pitted citrus, berries and grapes.
Is the netting resistant to bees and other insects?
Bees are wild insects that are widespread and have a high flight capacity, with a radius of over 2 miles. This also means that bees are almost everywhere.
This can cause problems for some varieties of fruit. In the case of pitiless citrus and berry varieties this is not a good thing, the seeds can make the fruit inedible. If your fruit tree is pollinated by bees when it is in flower, it means you will get the seeds.
Likewise with grapes, when the grapes are fully ripe, bees appear frequently. Bees are fascinated by the high sugar content of grapes and they will even destroy them and suck the juice out of them. Not only bees but also other insects love grapes. Once the skin of the grapes has been damaged, it can cause mould to multiply and cause infection. This results in reduced yields and lower quality.
Insect screens are applied to every vine. This step is essential to keep insects away from the grapes. Moreover, it is certainly more convenient and environmentally friendly than insecticides. At the same time, air and moisture are not blocked while the insects cannot get in, which is certainly very practical.
What is the difference between insect netting and bird netting?
The difference between insect netting and bird netting is the size of the mesh, which is also made of polymer plastic. The difference between the two is that the mesh size of bird netting is often larger than 12mm x 12mm, a size that does not prevent insects from entering.
Insect-proof nets, on the other hand, prevent birds from entering. Bird-proof nets do not prevent insects from entering.
How do you choose insect-proof netting?
Choose and decide from the following 3 elements.
- Area of use. Apple and pear orchards have a particularly large area of use and cost and installation costs are a major consideration. Therefore, a general rectangular mesh insect screen of 60g is sufficient.
- Effectiveness of use, if stringent protection against bees and insects is required, especially for citrus. A very fine mesh, usually 30-40 mesh, is required.
- For grapevines, an in-between option is to use a triangular mesh insect screen.
Conclusion
Insect netting is a key material in pest management kits, protecting plants and deterring insects. In particular, pests and bees. In addition the use of insect netting should usually be started early in the plant’s growth. This will eliminate the effects of insect eggs. Consistent use of insect netting will give better results than the previous year. This is because the netting will gradually filter out the effects of eggs and larvae.
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