Insect Screens

INSECT SCREENS AND NETTINGS
FOR ALL TYPES OF PESTS FROM BIRDS TO THRIPS
FOR YOUR GREENHOUSE CROPS.

USGR is a worldwide supplier of nets, shades and fabrics from warehouses worldwide. Minimums apply.

Insect Screen Overview

Insect screens are used in greenhouses, nurseries, agricultural farms and other places where people do not want insects infecting crops.Insect fabrics come in many sizes and are used to control many different types of insects. Bug screens are generally used to control large flying and crawling insects, whereas insect screens are generally used to control such small insects, almost microscopic like thrip. Insect protection curtains are hung on walls and openings to prevent various sized insects from penetrating through the screen. Insect control and insect protection is becoming very important where people no longer want to use so many insecticides. Test management screens also keep out larger insects such as bees, mosquitoes and other comparable sized insects. These are generally referred to as bug screens and have larger holes. The bug fabrics do not control small insects such as mites and smaller pests.Our pest screens are not made for keeping rodents or small birds and are generally used for very small flying pests. Agricultural insect screens are used to put over outdoor crops and are popular in areas where fine holes prevent small insects from damaging the crop.

The LS Svensson insect screens are very popular in greenhouses and give excellent insect protection against such small insects as white fly, thrip, aphids.

Thrip insect screen and pest insect screens and fabrics are very dense and reduce air flow.The denser the pest screen, the better the insect protection.But there is reduced air flow.

We engineer and design insect screen because of our knowledge of insect control, particularly in the area of greenhouses.We offer greenhouse screens, pest control curtains and bug protection for all types of greenhouses and most greenhouse manufactures, such as Nexus, Rough, Janco, Richel, Azrom.

Anti-virus insect protection is very important in growing such crops as organic. Integrated pest management generally includes some sort of insect screen, curtain, bug fabric to balance all types of crops and is required in some countries and agricultural/warehouse facilities.

quality installation of insect screen
A quality installation of Econet Insect Screen
installed on our Pacesetter greenhouse.

No recent introduction has caused so much concern as agricultural Insect Screens. Claims are made by numerous manufacturers of greenhouse structures, fabric producers, and environmental control companies: BUY MY SCREEN or BUY MY SYSTEM AND YOUR PROBLEMS ARE OVER. USGR doesn’t think so. Here are some things we have learned the hard way:

  1. When it rains the surface tension of water greatly reduces air flow and increases heat.
  2. When using mechanical vents, if there is a wind, the screens get dirty and if not cleared regularly, heat builds up.
  3. It is difficult to get enough ventilation, particularly if you depend on sidewall Insect Screens where the distances between sidewalls are 40m or 50m and even more in a dense crop. And even more in a dense crop using natural ventilation.
  4. When built near dirt roads or blown fine sand (as as mid eastern regions), the screens plug up constantly.
  5. Most growers do not use enough screen.
  6. The more dense the screen, the higher the costs; the better the insect control, the lower the air flow.
  7. There are 7 to 20 other reasons for using caution in selecting Insect Screen. Contact us before you buy.

There are far more important issues than price when selecting the proper screen. We witnessed a disaster in Hawaii some years ago when a grower covered the sides and ends flush to the greenhouse. The house contained a $120,000 crop. The crop was totally damaged in less than 24 hours from intense heat build up. We have often seen one and two pad systems where the grower covered the fans and pads with quality screen and had tremendous reduction in air flow causing all sorts of problems. These are extreme cases, but worldwide we believe improper application of insect screens has caused millions of dollars in crop losses (insect screen is also known as thrip screen, insect fabric, white fly screen, insect nets, and anti-virus insect screen).

 

7 times pad area installation
Insect screen: 1030 square feet; pad area: 150 square feet.
2 54″ fans @ 1 hp. Temperature throughout house never
exceeded 28oC with 36oC outside. 26oC web bulb at 1400 hours.

Good greenhouse environments possible with proper design and installation.

Quonset covers help contain or exclude

Our Insect Control Quonset Covers are a great way to both exclude unwanted pests and confine beneficial insects in your quonset or cold frame structure. Our covers can be made to fit any size structure and are useful for pollination applications.

  • Helps exclude unwanted pests and confine beneficial insects from your greenhouse or warehouse.
  • Available for almost any quonset or cold frame dimension.
  • Great for pollination applications.

Our insect screening is not only for greenhouses,
but all types of agriculture.

Our Insect Screening is a finely woven, U.V. resistant, High Density Polyethylene fabric. Great care is taken in the production of this fabric to ensure uniformity of weave and strength. The fabric’s construction ranges from 20 x 20 to 52 x 52, and the actual hole sizes rages from 38 x 38 mils to 11 x 11 mils.

Characteristics:

  • Blocks many types of harmful insects.
  • Finely woven, uniform screening.
  • Long lasting, U.V. resistant polyethylene.
  • Water and air permeable.
  • Air porosity charts available upon request.

We have seen research that indicates in control environments the screen should be 5 times larger in square footage than the pad – we feel 7 times is better. In India a client uses 10 times and has great results.

When using greenhouse sidewalls, install at an angle to give greater coverage. In the ends use a log or boxed structure to increase surface area. When installing at the ends of a Ground to Ground house, add extra bows and cover with insect screen. There are many options it all depends on your structure, location, protection desired, air flow required, heat build acceptable, and of course price.

Insect screen can be a major contributing factor to your success, and help in reducing insect infestations and chemical usage, but we are always cautious when our clients buy screens uninformed.

Now the bad news: Insect Screens are not “cheap.” We have found that cheap screens don’t work. There are screens that keep out birds but that is hardly an insect screen. Density determines infestations. The most often requested protective screen is against THRIP. Everyone wants THRIP protection .Whatever screen you buy, find out from the supplier what is the air flow reduction and light transmission reductions well as the insect protection. Insect screens reduce light transmission. This is often an overlooked issue.

You must also have a very tight greenhouse so locking devices and proper air conditioning and pad systems enter the picture. You can increase air flow by fan size, power and efficiency, and increased CFM or CMH. This may require changing or upgrading the fan and pad system.

U.S. Global Insect Screen for greenhouses and agriculture

We have researched the world for good but inexpensive insect screens without luck. We have found you cannot put the words “insect screen”, “quality”, and “cheap” in the same sentence.

We have settled on ECONET from Svensson as not only the best quality but also the longest life, strongest, most effective product; it is made by the worlds largest supplier and frankly one of the best companies we represent.

Here is their quick data sheet. The material comes from US, Netherlands, and Sweden at this writing and can be shipped with Svensson Shade and Heat Retention fabrics. We chose to offer LS Insect Screens because they perform as advertised and are they are the creative fabric company of the industry worldwide.