The Benefits and Advantages of Using Thermal Blanketing in Farming

In regions apt for farming, the success of a crop, or rather achieving valid results – long lasting, abundant harvests – in other words, productive – doesn’t just depend on the quality of the soil and the seeds. It is well known that mitigating weather conditions and controlling pests must be effective and organized. If we fail in this, the final result is clearly defined by loss of man hours, unnecessary wear and tear on machines, loss of money and probably the most important loss: time.

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Placing thermal blankets over outdoors lettuce crops.

There are sever solutions to these obstacles which range from seeding clouds with silver iodide (Agl) in order to create rain and water fields to the application of powerful chemical solutions used as insecticides like DDT. Of course, these possible solutions end up causing more trouble than the problems they solve. To this end, thermal blanketing has given extremely beneficial results while protecting crops from weather conditions and pests.

Weather conditions can truly be the Achilles Heel of any agricultural undertaking. Weather conditions, which basically include the temperature, cloudiness, relative humidity, rain, barometric pressure and wind, determine consequences like frosts and drought. These elements end up defining the future and productivity of any crop that is being grown in a region or town.

On the other hand, pests cause a wide variety of diseases in intensive and extensive crops. Birds and flies can be vectors of a series of pathogenic agents like fungus and viruses that cause diseases in plants. For example the future of corn and rice crops is determined by blocking birds which eat many of the seeds that lie on the ground where they’ve been planted.

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A micro greenhouse for vegetables protected by thermal blanketing to combat low temperatures.

When growing vegetables or ornamental plants, in home gardens and in large scale industrial farming, the presence of flies represents the grave risk of spreading fungal and viral diseases.

As earlier mentioned, we need to find effective and cost friendly alternatives in order to control the risk of losing the investment we’ve made growing a crop from zero.  This blanketing is in and of itself a non-woven cloth, generally made from low density polypropylene. The weight of commercial frost blanketing is about 17 grams per meter. This characteristic is ideal because it means it can be employed with various types of crops: from flowers, fruits and vegetables to beans.

It is important to highlight that this cloth is porous – it has micro pores that can measure from 40 to 100 microns (1 micron = 1 x 10^-6m). This is an advantage because it allows water, air, and sunlight to pass through. These are fundamental elements for the survival of plants. Although frost blankets are made from low density polypropylene, they are very resistant to wear and tear if they are properly handled. They are also manufactured using additives that mean that the frost blanket will not deteriorate when exposed to the sun’s ultraviolet rays.

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Anti-frost protection for lettuce crops with INVERNAVELO frost blanketing.

This blanketing represents one of a variety of new materials used to guarantee the quality of ornamental and edible crops. It is one of a series of materials named geotextiles which have applications related to the geosphere. These can range from blankets made to contain water in reservoirs to clothes that separate running water into canals of rock and earth, drainage cloth, fabric to avoid erosion, and shade cloth among others.

Employing thermal blanketing in agriculture, as its name indicates, is designed to control the most important variable in farming: the temperature. When it is used, crops experience an increase in temperature of 3 a 5 °C. It is incredibly important for crops that are sensitive to abrupt changes in temperature in regions where there are often unpredictable frosts. It is for this reason that this material is often called frost blanket.

On the other hand, for places where there is often drought, the use and installation of thermal blanketing for agriculture represents an excellent advantage since it allows for a decrease of 30% in the amount of water needed for irrigation. This is due to the fact that water evaporates more quickly when crops are not covered with this cloth.

In addition to mitigating the temperature for crops, this blanket allows us to keep many other biological agents in check (flies, mosquitos, caterpillars, slugs, and even rodents).  These agents are responsible for the spread and proliferation of diseases in the plants. Through the use of blanketing, the cost of using herbicide, pesticide and fungicide is greatly reduced.

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Thermal blanketing for agriculture allows us to lower the loss of water due to evaporation.

Whether it is used in open fields or in greenhouses, the use of thermal blanketing for agriculture represents an excellent option to guarantee the viability and productivity of a crop.

Another very important aspect of using this kind of blanketing is its installation and putting it away when it is no longer needed to protect crops from temperature changes. The installation is really very simple and straightforward. It is important to highlight that this cloth comes in a range of different sizes.  This means the farmer or gardener can pick the right size for his or her needs. Because this fabric is resistant, it can be reused several times and at when it cannot be used any longer, it can be disposed of without polluting the environment.   At the end of the day, it is a priority to find ecological alternatives and that respect the environment that is all around us. Thermal blanketing achieves this on the farm since it replaces the use of toxic chemical compounds. It is better, not only for the environment, but for humans too. By using thermal blanketing, we are improving our own quality of life.