THE USE OF NETTING FOR HAIL PROTECTION – DESIGN AND MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS FOR POME FRUIT ORCHARDS

Hail is a major threat to the achievement of consistent production of high quality fruit in Victoria’s pome fruit growing districts.
Several types of netting are now available to protect fruit crops from hail.
Permanent covers using these materials have been erected over approximately 40 hectares of apple orchard near Drouin, in the Gippsland fruit growing district, 100 km east of Melbourne.

This paper presents a case study in design and management of orchard under hail netting, and highlights tree growth and fruit quality observations under two of the commercially available netting materials.

Australian Temperate Fruits Review Conference

B. Scott

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1989.240.25