Hail protection
Hail damages this season's fruit and the buds that carry next season's crop. The net catches it before it reaches the tree.
Built to take the hail, so your crop doesn't.
Crop Shade designs and builds shade, hail and insect net structures for farms, from citrus and macadamias to berries and vegetables. Engineered for your site and built by our own teams.
- 2 000+Net structures built
- 29 yearsBuilding since 1997
- 9 teamsOur own site crews
Why net your crop
One structure. Six ways it protects your harvest.
Weather is harder to farm around every season, and buyers want bigger, cleaner fruit. A well-built net house tackles both.
Less sunburn
Shade lowers the heat on the fruit's skin, so less of the crop is lost in the pack-house.
About half the sunburn on netted apples (9.3% vs 19.8%)
Wind shelter
The net works as a windbreak, cutting wind scarring, rub and broken shoots.
Lower average and peak wind in a CRI citrus trial
Water savings
Less sun and wind on the soil means less evaporation, so you irrigate less.
25–30% less water used by netted trees
Birds & insects
Keep birds off ripening fruit and insects off the crop, with fewer sprays.
16.8 t/ha marketable tomatoes under fine mesh, vs 2.7 t/ha in the open
Better packouts
Cleaner, more even fruit means more of your crop makes export grade.
88–92% packout under net, vs about 57% in the open
Crops we protect
The right net for every crop.
Shade percentage, net colour and structure all depend on the crop. See what the research says and what we'd build for yours.
2×
Citrus
Up to double the yield per tree on Orri mandarins under net.
Citrus nettingKiwi fruit
Kiwi netting ½Apples & pears
The sunburn of open orchards, in Elgin-area trials.
Pome fruit nettingVegetables
Vegetable nethousesBananas
Banana netting 6–9°CAvocados
Cooler fruit skin on Hass under 20% nets, and more class 1 fruit.
Avocado nettingNurseries
Nursery netting +25%Table grapes
More export cartons per hectare for a Vredendal grower after netting.
Grape nettingAlso: Macadamias · Blueberries · Cherries · All crops
Roof cables6–8 mm staywire, 2.5–4.5 t
H5 creosote poles150–175 mm, 15–20 yr life
Set 600 mm deepAnchors 1.5 m down, rated 8 t
How we build
Engineered from the anchor up.
Most structures fail at the anchors and poles, so that's where we over-build, with quality materials made in South Africa.
Survey & design
We survey the block and our draughtsman designs the structure for your crop, slope and weather.
Poles & anchors
Poles go in 600 mm deep so they can't lift. Anchors are buried 1.5 m deep at 45°.
Cabling
Galvanised staywire for anchor and roof cables, tensioned to carry the net and a hail load.
Netting
Net from proven South African makers, wired and hog-ringed to the cables.
Projects
2 000 structures and counting.
Net houses from the air, Limpopo
I'm usually much more excited about the results than the farmers are, but this time it's the other way round, which tells me the nets are making a huge difference.
- MacDarin
- Primkop · ANB Operations
- De Wagensdrift Citrus · Loskop Dam
- Sappi · Sabie
- World Vision · Mozambique
- Pineapple growers · Ghana
- Ezigrow Seedlings · White River
- Cherry Ridge · Buffelspoort
- Inyoni Boerdery · Komatipoort
- CT Organics · KZN Midlands
For farming companies
Netting a large estate?
We build at scale, with designs, specs and crews you can sign off on.
- Designed per blockOur draughtsman designs every structure for its site, crop and weather risk.
- Specs in writingAnchor ratings, pole treatment and cable sizes, so you know what's going in.
- Our own crewsNine site teams, plus a mechanical back-up team for vehicles and equipment.
- Safety firstSafe sites for our people, your people and everyone else on the farm.
Free, no-obligation quote
Tell us about your block.
Leave your number and we'll call you back to talk about your crop, the area and the right net.
- Call079 873 6462
- WhatsApp079 873 6462
- Office
White River, Mpumalanga, 1240