UV stability insect mesh further increased due to global demand

Date:07-24-2023

Insect mesh specialist SchermNed has increased the UV stability of its insect mesh. This is a further development of the special insect mesh filter that the company has been supplying for years. In the filter, mesh with a kly value (kilo-Langley value) of 1350 becomes the new standard. This was announced by Carl Stougie and Jack van der Voort of the Westland-based screen installation company, which has specialized in insect mesh since 1990.

The intensity of UV radiation is measured in kly (kilo Langley). Kly is the unit that indicates how much UV radiation energy falls on a square centimeter per year. The higher the kly value, the longer a product, in this case insect netting, is resistant to high UV radiation.

"Especially in countries around the equator, this radiation is high," Carl knows. "But also in southern Europe, UV radiation is higher, and higher UV stability is of great importance."

This year, the family company is supplying insect netting with the new, high UV stability for a greenhouse construction project in Saudi Arabia. "If you use mesh there with values common for the Netherlands, up to 600-650, that mesh will be used up after three years due to the high UV radiation."

Unknown

SchermNed supplies insect netting for horticulture in various ways. Well-known is harmonica netting, and loose rolls or special flexible netting tents can also be supplied through SchermNed, but in addition, they have developed their own insect netting product: the insect netting filter. "In this, we were already working with kly values of up to 1000," says SchermNed.

More and more growers are discovering the advantages of this solution, where the mesh stays on the inside of the window when the window is open. "This allows growers to grow in the same climatic way as without netting as well as continue to create a good climate." This is a unique observation, the men stress, both from tests via TNO and from experiences of "many growers."

SchermNed buys the latest netting with even higher UV stability. They do not make their own netting in Naaldwijk. They do work with a long-standing partner(s), some since 1990. "We notice that few people are still aware of the importance of a high kly value. Only when we then show visual material or send a link with an explanation do people realize its importance."

New standard

The question was how far you can go with the kly value in insect netting. "We put that question to our manufacturer. They will add certain additives to the mesh. There is a maximum to that, though. New techniques now make it possible, and so does the demand from the market, which wasn't there before. As a result, we can now supply this improved gauze. Nobody supplies mesh with higher values."

For the project in Saudi Arabia, SchermNed is having an instructional video made in several languages for the supervisor and local people who will install the insect mesh filters with the latest mesh at a large project in the desert. "We used drones, among other things, to simulate the installation in the greenhouses. Surely locals would rather watch a video of a few minutes than read through 12 pages of instruction texts. After all, I prefer to do that myself," Jack then laughs.

He calculates that the higher value means that even with a high UV breakage of 220 kilo Langley in Saudi Arabia, the mesh will last for years. "After this period, the breaking strength is usually still 50% of the initial value, or in other words, in practice, the lifespan can be shorter or longer depending on the situation. In the case of our SchermNed insect filter, for example, the mesh is mounted inside, which also has a more positive effect on the lifespan due to sunlight (and also sand). A significant improvement over what was possible until now."

For harmonica mesh, SchermNed already supplied mesh with a kly value of up to 1150. "That is equivalent to 1000 for mesh in our special insect mesh filter, which remains on the inside of the window. The now even higher value for the insect mesh filter is unique. It is going to become the new standard with us."