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Gary350
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Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:59 pm
Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.

Garden BUG plant NETS

What is good price and good place to buy garden plant nets?

I need to cover 3 or 4 rows. 25 ft and 35 ft long rows.

Broccoli, Cauliflower, cabbage.

I am thinking net size should be 4 ft wide by 40 ft long???

I never had nets before not sure what to look for?

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applestar
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Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

The net needs to be lifted up so the plants at full growth don’t touch/push against the net. if the plants are plastered against the mesh, pests will easily lay eggs or suck on the plants through the net.

Start by thinking about what kind of support you want to use.

(1) One simplest/economical is said to be 9 gauge wire used for/sold with chain link fencing. (Admit I’ve never tried this but I see this recommended often) Cut the coiled wire into hoops long enough to push into the ground and still have sufficient height.

Clothespins are easiest for securing the mesh to wire. I’m slowly switching over to stainless steel clothespins — wooden ones with 2nd narrow groove for the clothesline work well with wire, but beware of cheap ones that rot quickly or wire spring is too soft. Plastic ones turn brittle in the sun/freeze.

This type of hoop structure sometimes needs ridge/interval support or the fabric will sag. e.g. String or flat tape wrapped or tied to each of the wire hoops full length of the tunnel. (This also helps to prevent hoops from leaning)

The ends can be knotted and tied down to tent pegs or 12 inch U pins.

Sides can be buried (least expensive), pinned to the ground, or secured to pvc or emt tubing with pipe clamps.

(2) Wire fencing can be cut into tunnels to support the mesh. You want fencing with big enough holes for your hands, or make cut out holes at strategic intervals.

(3) pvc or irrigation tubing sold in coils can be cut into hoops. You can use larger pipes or rods as ground anchors. Same ridge support as wire hoops. Use appropriately sized tubing clamps to secure fabric.

(4) For more serious and strong structure, for your size, I think buying or making pipe bending form and bending your own metal pipes would be the answer. I made some big hoops from 1/2 inch emt by wedging and bending against a big boulder…. But it was too hard for me to make many. Those metal tubings didn’t go to waste though. :wink:

(5) If you have wooden raised bed sides, then you can secure the hoops to the lumber.

…So the insect netting/mesh needs to be wide enough to accommodate the height of the support/hoops/tunnel + sufficient to bury or secure to tubing, etc. And long enough to tie close the ends — I think of it as approx one extra square (extra length that is same as width) on each end.

Here’s a short one I made for the sweet peppers from wire fencing tunnel and two insect mesh that were not wide enough— so I over lapped them. You can see the stainless steel clothespins used to secure fabric to the fence, and pipe clamps used to secure the sides to a tubing one each long side, that in this case are 12 inch U-pinned to the ground.
8E8A4B8E-FBC1-4E21-823D-33D998D31CA7.jpeg

Important consideration is ease of opening the covering material and securing it again. You need to work hard to close all gaps, but make it so it’s relatively painless to open and access.

Make sure the material is treated with UV protection and sold for agricultural use, if you intend to use the same thing over and over for several years. I’ve tried bolts of tulle — they last one season at most.

I can’t say where is best to buy I buy online — I’ve bought on sale from various sources — sometimes remnants — including putting in shopping cart and watching prices go up and down on Amazon.

:arrow: you might find some ideas here
Late Fall to Winter Gardening with protection - HelpfulGardener.com
viewtopic.php?t=76173

In Japanese youtube videos they commonly use very long — likely 7-8 ft skinny super-flexible fiberglas poles to make hoops that look REALLY easy to use — I have yet to find same product here although I have been looking at marker poles used for edge-marking driveways and along street shoulders during the deep winter snow. So far not within my budget + freight shipping due to +6ft length.

:arrow: About 5:48

https://youtu.be/3Vpv5OoU_zs

* She uses weed blocker water-permeable landscaping cloth for the paths and overlaps the insect netting, then uses special pins to hold down the layered fabrics for full lengths of the rows.

pepperhead212
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Posts: 2852
Joined: Wed Oct 15, 2014 1:52 pm
Location: Woodbury NJ Zone 7a/7b

I use rolls of Agribon, to cover my greens, as well as peppers. I make a hoop house for the greens, and 83" width is ok for the greens, but I usually use 10' wide, since that is what I need for the peppers in the Earthboxes. And the best source I have found for the price, plus the shipping isn't that bad, is Groworganic.com, though I did see the price has gone up, like with everything. I would buy a 250' roll, for around $55, and only $7 shipping. I'm lucky I ordered another roll, when I ordered the bag of surround, when I was running out of that (which also went up, but not as much). The one I get is the thinnest, to keep bugs off, not protection against frost, so it doesn't last as long. Here is their page, and of course, many of the things they have are for huge, commercial settings. If you've never ordered from them, there's a 20% deal they have!
https://www.groworganic.com/search?q=Ag ... ix%5D=last

There is nowhere locally that has these things available, even markets farmer's deal at - they probably have to place orders at those places, for this.



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