Crackpots Rural
Victorian Compliant Orchard Netting Structures
Building a permanent orchard structure. With 5mm Netting
All netted orchard structures in Victoria are now required to be compliant with new regulations.
The regulations were introduced to minimise harm to small mammals and birds, and in particular bats. The problem was that the animals were becoming trapped in netting designed to protect fruit crops. This was particularly common if the netting being used was either loosely draped, or had a larger mesh size.
As a result, all netting used in non-commercial, or household orchards and gardens is now required to have an aperture of less than 5mm. This is measured along each side of the mesh when it is pulled tight.
Do the regulations apply to me?
The Department of Agriculture hasn’t provided definitions of a household, hobby farm or commercial operation. Rather they’ve said, if under Tax Office rules, growing fruit is a business for you, then you are exempt from the 5mm mesh size rule.
If growing fruit is not a business activity for you, then any netting that you use to protect crops on your property will need to comply with the new rules for Victorian Compliant Orchard netting.
This includes both throw over or temporary netting, as well as netting used in the building of permanent orchard structures.
Bird netting with a Frame
To date, the netting used to build our permanent EZBuild structures has been 1 ¼”, which is too large to be used in Victoria under the new regulations. Netting is measured in two different ways – mainly its knot to knot; but sometimes it’s the measurement of each side of the mesh that’s given.
With the current netting we use, 1 ¼” is the distance between two knots; and each side of the mesh measures 15mm.
For the bird netting now required in Victoria, each side measures 5mm, which is about 5/12” mesh to mesh – TINY!
The 1 ¼” netting has several characteristics that make it ideally suited for installing as a part of permanent orchard structure builds.
The netting is:
- Resistant to damage – the netting we use is knotted not knitted. This means that if the netting is damaged the tear will only go as far as the next knot. It won’t weaken the whole section.
- Long Lasting – the netting is made with 400 denier, 6 ply twine that is UV stabilised. This means we can offer a ten year pro rata guarantee with the netting.
- And it’s easy to work with. The netting can be tensioned to create an effective and long-lasting structure ideal for protecting your fruit crops.
We have been working with our suppliers to source a compliant 5mm netting.
We’re looking for something that won’t harm wildlife, will protect your edible crops, and still offer the longevity and strength of our current product. Plus, it has to be easy to work with.
Bat Friendly Orchard Netting
We haven’t got it right just yet, but we’re working on netting that is designed specifically for the requirements of the Victorian market.
We’re hoping that the 5mm sided aperture netting will be able to be made from the same materials as our tried and tested current netting product. So, we can be confident in both strength and the durability of this new product.
We also want it to work with the current EZBuild installation system.
It’s important to us that the new 5mm netting product will be able to be pulled taut across the orchard structure. This reduces the risk of entanglement for animals. Additionally, orchard structures are designed to sit one metre above the canopy of your fruiting trees, so there is less attraction for bats and birds to land on the netting to try and access the fruit immediately under the netting.
If you’d like to know more, please email or call us.
