Greenhouse Planting Management Techniques for Windy Spring Days: Master 3 Points and Save Money
Although the warm spring breeze is truly delightful, it can bring certain troubles for farmer friends who grow crops in greenhouses. A single careless moment can damage equipment and increase planting costs. So what are the greenhouse planting management techniques for windy spring days? Master these 3 points and you will save money!
1. Greenhouse Planting Management Techniques for Windy Days: Watch the Wind Direction
A level-5 north wind cannot blow over straw curtains, but a level-4 west wind or east wind can. To keep the straw curtains from being blown over after the greenhouse is closed, floating film should be used for wind protection, with priority given to guarding against easterly and westerly deviations.
When closing the greenhouse at night, if the wind is blowing from the west or a westerly deviation, for the floating film fixed on the back slope of the greenhouse, the vegetable grower only needs to weigh down the west side of the floating film. This way the wind will not blow under the bottom of the floating film, and it can also press out the air in the air pockets formed when the floating film was laid, making the floating film cling tightly to the straw curtains and preventing strong winds from lifting the floating film and blowing over the straw curtains. When the wind is from the east or an easterly deviation, use the opposite weighing method, and for floating film that is not fixed, the north side should also be weighed down.
2. Greenhouse Planting Management Techniques for Windy Days: Watch the Timing
During the day, the wind mostly picks up in the morning and gradually increases, but by the afternoon it gradually decreases, so vegetable growers can pull open the greenhouse covering ahead of time.
Nowadays the lowest outdoor temperature in the morning is generally no lower than 0°C, and it lasts only a short time. After the sun comes out, the temperature rises quickly, and after the covering is pulled open, the temperature inside the greenhouse will not drop noticeably. So vegetable growers can move the time for pulling open the covering up to 7 a.m. (later, as the weather warms and daylight hours lengthen, the time for pulling open the covering should gradually be moved earlier). At this time the wind is generally weaker and will not blow over the straw curtains.
By the afternoon, the wind gradually decreases, and vegetable growers can postpone the time for closing the greenhouse to after 5 p.m. For old straw curtains that have been used for many years, to prevent strong winds from blowing them over, several vegetable growers can join together to close the greenhouse, shortening the closing time and reducing the chance of the straw curtains being blown over by the wind.
3. Greenhouse Planting Management Techniques for Windy Days: Watch the Method
For greenhouses where straw curtains are pulled open manually, the straw curtains will press down the greenhouse floating film, so there is no need to worry about the floating film being blown away by the wind. For greenhouses that use a roller shutter machine, vegetable growers mostly stop rolling the straw curtains 0.5-1 m north of the ventilation opening, so the straw curtains cannot press down the floating film. If vegetable growers directly roll the floating film onto the back slope, it can easily be blown up by a south wind. Vegetable growers can, when the floating film has been rolled up to 1-1.5 m from the fixed position, roll the folded floating film to the northernmost side of the floating film, then fold the unrolled 1-1.5 m of floating film and cover it over the upper part of the rolled-up floating film. This way, even without weighing it down with bricks, the south wind can be prevented from blowing away the floating film.
Spring has lots of wind and strong wind, and many greenhouse straw curtains are blown over, or floating films are blown away. Only by mastering the correct greenhouse management techniques can vegetable growers reduce losses and obtain better returns.