Knitted netting to protect fruits and vegetables from hail and other natural disasters

Abstract

Protection nets are made using knitting and weaving techniques, and sometimes also other techniques. Various applications of protection nets, in particular knitted protection nets that protect the stem, fruit or object from hail, then from the sun, wind, animals, etc., are presented. In this paper special attention is given to anti-hail nets that are mounted over fruit plantations or in various other ways in vineyards to protect vines from hail or bird invasion in case of ice wine harvest. Collisions of hail with a hard and elastic substrate are described, and procedures and techniques to break up hail in the air are presented. Every year the Republic of Croatia officially registers all the natural disasters and assess damage individually. Over the last ten years hail on average caused damage worth around 45 million EUR or 35 % of the total damage caused by the natural disasters in Croatia. Construction forms of protection nets knitted on warp knitting machines with two or three groups of warp threads are specified. In addition to protection nets, information is given about the shades that protect facilities, personnel or animals during extreme heat, especially nurseries with young stems.