Most hail net failures are not material failures — they are installation failures. The net that tears in its first storm was usually over-tensioned into a drum, the one that rips at the seams was overlapped 15 cm instead of 30, and the one that ends up draped over the trees after a gust was anchored in shallow soil. Install hail netting so it can flex, overlap it generously, and anchor it like you expect the storm — because the storm is exactly what you are buying it for. This is the orchard installation guide we send with every container of hail net we knit, based on the systems our customers run from Spain to New Zealand.
Drape-over-row is the fastest and cheapest: the net goes directly over the tree row with no overhead structure. It works for small orchards and gardens, but the net rests on the canopy — hail impact transfers through, branches chafe the knit, and wind whips loose edges. It is the entry-level option, not the commercial one. Canopy (overhead flat) is the commercial standard: poles and a cable grid carry the net 1.5–2 m above the trees as a flat or slightly sloped ceiling — hail hits the net, not the fruit, and the trees never touch the mesh. Shade-house / pitched structure is the premium system: a peaked or arched frame that sheds hail (and some snow) to the sides instead of catching it on a flat plane — the right choice in heavy-hail belts and where structures already exist for shade or bird nets. Decide the system first; it determines your pole count, your net GSM and your budget per hectare.
The net is only as strong as the skeleton under it. Mark pole positions from your row spacing — typically one pole per 8–12 m along the row, with rows of poles spaced to your panel width. End and corner poles take the system’s entire tension load: they need to be heavier, set deeper (80–100 cm minimum in normal soil) and braced or guyed outward — an under-anchored end pole is how a whole row of canopy folds in a gust. Internal poles carry weight, not tension, but still need proper footings in soft or sandy soil. String the cable grid (galvanized wire along and across the rows) at final net height, tension it to the end poles, and only then hang the net. A grid that sags under its own weight will sag twice as much under the net and three times under wet hail.
The counterintuitive rule of hail net: do not tension it like a drum. Hail protection works by the net flexing to absorb impact — a hailstone’s energy has to go somewhere, and a slack-to-firm net converts it into a long, soft deceleration. A drum-tight net has nowhere to give, so the same stone either punctures the mesh or tears the fixing point. Hang the net on the cable grid with clips, carabiners or knitted eyelets, tension it just enough to clear the canopy at its lowest sag point (remember: it will sag further under water load), and leave visible flex. If the net hums when you flick it, it is too tight.
Panel joints are the second failure point. Overlap panels by 30 cm minimum — 50 cm in high-wind regions — and clip the overlap to the cable at close spacing so it cannot gap. A 15 cm overlap looks fine on a calm day and opens like a zipper in the first crosswind. Edges go to the perimeter cables through the net’s reinforced eyelets — this is exactly why we knit reinforced eyelet edges into our hail net as standard: the eyelet row takes the load along the whole edge instead of concentrating it at improvised tie points. At row ends, drop the net down the end poles or close the gable — an open end is a wind scoop that inflates the whole canopy.
Install before the hail season, not after the forecast — in most regions that means late spring, before the convective storms start, and after bloom so pollination is undisturbed. A calm, dry day is not a luxury: a 200 m panel in even light wind is unmanageable. If you are netting for the first time, do one row end-to-end as a learning run before committing the crew — the second row goes twice as fast. And schedule a spring check every year: retension the grid, re-clip any opened overlaps, and walk the eyelet rows before the season, because a 20-minute inspection is what stands between a 5–8-year net and a 2-year one.
A 40’HQ carries 14–15 tons of hail netting — at 45–60 gsm roughly 23–33 hectares of canopy per container. MOQ is 2 tons with mixed panel sizes and knits in one shipment; we cut panels to your block dimensions with reinforced eyelet edges to your cable spacing. Lead time 25–35 days after deposit; payment T/T 30/70 or 100% L/C at sight; samples free, you cover the courier. Send your orchard plan — row spacing, block dimensions, hail zone and destination port — via the contact page or WhatsApp and we will return a panel schedule, pole spacing and container loading within 24 hours.
1.5–2 m above the canopy at the net’s lowest sag point. Lower than 1.5 m, growing shoots reach the mesh, chafe it, and transfer hail impact to the fruit. Account for future sag under water and hail load — what clears by 2 m today may clear by 1.6 m in year three.
Firm with visible flex — never drum-tight. The net protects by flexing to absorb hail impact; a drum-tight net transfers that energy into the mesh and fixing points, which is how nets puncture and eyelets tear. If the net hums when flicked, it is too tight.
30 cm minimum, 50 cm in high-wind regions, with the overlap clipped to the support cable at close spacing. Under 30 cm, joints gap open in crosswind and hail falls straight through the seam.
Canopy, almost always. Drape-over is cheap and fast but the net rests on the trees — hail impact transfers through, branches chafe the knit, and wind whips it. Overhead canopy costs more in poles and cables and pays it back in protection, net lifespan and harvest access.
End and corner poles: 80–100 cm minimum in normal soil, heavier section, braced or guyed outward — they carry the system’s entire tension load. Internal poles carry weight, not tension, but still need proper footings in soft or sandy soil.
Flex absorbs hail, tension kills nets: 1.5–2 m above the canopy, 30 cm+ overlaps, deep braced end anchors, and never install in wind. Send your orchard plan and we will spec the hail netting, panel schedule and structure spacing with it.
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