Hail damage does not schedule itself around your procurement calendar, but your procurement calendar decides whether you have a net when the first storm cell forms. The two questions that matter are simple: install the net after fruit set and before your regional storm window, and order it by counting backward — 25–35 days production, 4–6 weeks ocean freight, one to two weeks for installation. For Southern Hemisphere orchards, that means the buying decision belongs in winter and early spring, not in the week the forecast turns black. Here is the timing logic, the region-by-region calendar, and the spec that goes with it.
Anti-hail netting is a seasonal procurement product, and the Southern Hemisphere window is earlier than most buyers remember. The rough storm calendar for the main orchard regions:
| Region | Peak hail-storm season | Net must be installed by |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (stonefruit, table grapes, apples) | November – March | Late October / early November |
| South Africa (citrus, table grapes) | October – February | Late September / early October |
| Argentina & Chile (pome and stonefruit) | October – March | Late September / October |
| New Zealand (apples, kiwifruit) | November – February | Late October |
Notice the pattern: the first severe cells arrive at the start of the window, not the middle. A net that reaches the farm in January still protects the late-season fruit — but the November storm is the one that takes the early varieties, and those are often the highest-value blocks in the orchard.
The installation timing question has a real answer. Netting too early — during bloom — gets in the way of the work that matters most in those weeks: pollination, thinning and early canopy management. Netting too late means gambling the crop on the forecast. The practical rule: erect permanent structures whenever you like, but hang the net panels right after fruit set, once the crop is visibly established and before the first storm window. At that point the pollination work is done, the fruit is big enough to matter, and the net’s shading effect on the young canopy is minimal because knitted hail mesh is mostly open air. Orchards with permanent overhead structures simply leave the panels on year-round and skip the annual hang-and-remove cycle; blocks on seasonal frames rehang every spring after fruit set.
Every hail-net order should be scheduled by subtraction, not by hope:
Add it up and the honest lead time from deposit to protected orchard is roughly 9–13 weeks. For a November 1 installation that means ordering in late July or August; for the December–February peak, orders can still land as late as September or early October. Buyers who call us in November for a November storm are usually better served by planning the net for the back half of the season and protecting next year’s early varieties properly — we will tell you plainly which of those your dates allow.
The hailstone is only the first hit. Fruit that survives a storm with punctures and splits becomes a disease nursery within days: brown rot and other fungi enter through the wounds, and a block that “only lost 10% to hail” can lose far more in the two weeks after. The canopy takes a second hit too — stripped and broken leaves reduce the tree’s ability to size and sweeten the fruit that remains, so a storm that leaves half the crop on the tree can still cost you the grade on all of it. This is why the timing decision compounds: a net installed before the first storm does not just save the fruit it shields on impact day, it also removes the follow-up spray passes and the rot losses that wounded fruit generates across the rest of the season. Buyers evaluating a net purely as storm insurance are counting half the benefit.
Our anti-hail nets are knitted from 100% virgin HDPE with UV stabilization, in 45/50/60 gsm grades with 3–8 mm mesh and reinforced edges plus knitted-in eyelets. The selection logic for SH programs: table grapes and cherries spec the mid grades for strength under tensioned overhead spans; citrus and pome fruit spec by block layout and hail history; 60 gsm is the choice for exposed blocks, permanent structures and regions where nets stay up year-round. Mesh size follows the fruit and the hail history — finer meshes for small fruit and severe-hail districts. Panels are cut to your block dimensions, so a container can mix the layouts for several orchards at once. For the grade-by-grade breakdown, see the hail net GSM and mesh size guide.
OMB Textiles is a knitted HDPE netting manufacturer in Changzhou, China — founded in 2003, supplying anti-hail netting to orchard contractors, cooperatives and distributors across Spain, Italy, France, Greece, Australia, South Africa and the Americas. MOQ is 2 tons with mixed panel sizes and grades in one container; a 40’HQ carries 14–15 tons, which covers on the order of 23–33 hectares of orchard canopy at 45–60 gsm. Samples are free, you cover the courier. Send your block dimensions, region and target installation date via the contact page or WhatsApp — we reply within 24 hours with a panel layout, a production slot and the latest order date that still makes your window. The full spec range is on the anti-hail net product page, and the orchard application detail is in anti-hail netting for orchards.
Right after fruit set, once pollination and early canopy work are done and before your regional storm window opens. Permanent structures can stay netted year-round; seasonal frames get their panels hung each spring after the crop is established.
Count backward from installation: 25–35 days production, 4–6 weeks ocean freight, 1–2 weeks installation — about 9–13 weeks total. For a November install, order by late July or August; for the December–February peak, September orders still make the window.
Yes — a net installed mid-season still protects the remaining crop and the late varieties. What it cannot do is recover fruit already lost. If your dates are tight, tell us the target week and we will say honestly whether your port and production slot can meet it.
60 gsm with reinforced edges and eyelets for nets that stay up year-round or span wide, exposed blocks. Lighter 45–50 gsm grades suit seasonal panels on standard spans. The full grade logic is in our GSM and mesh guide.
A 40’HQ carries 14–15 tons of netting, which works out to roughly 23–33 hectares of canopy at 45–60 gsm. Mixed panel sizes and grades can share the container, so one shipment can cover several different block layouts.
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