Sun protection in plastic greenhouses with ReduSystems
Worldwide there is about 1.200.000 ha of professional plastic greenhouse and tunnel. Most crops in these greenhouses need protection against heat and/or light during summer. An easy and efficient way to protect the crop is to use a temporary coating applied on the outside surface of the greenhouse. The coatings within the ReduSystems product line have been developed to be used on different kinds of greenhouse cover like glass, plastic film, acrylate and polycarbonate.
Next to a crop related reason to use a ReduSystems coating there is also a more technical one. Using a coating will extend the lifespan of a plastic greenhouse film that does not have built in UV protection. For sure in high radiation regions the UV light will start to degrade the polymers in the plastic as soon as the cover is installed. In practice the coating can extend the life of a plastic greenhouse film with 1 to 2 seasons depending on the climate and the properties of the film.
In order to guarantee the compatibility of the coatings on plastic film, many trials have been done on different kinds of films in the laboratory of Mardenkro. although we test as many and as thoroughly as possible, there are still a few issues to keep in mind when using ReduSystems coatings on plastic film:
- New plastic film usually has a "non stick" coating applied during the manufacturing process. This oily layer needs to wear off before ReduSystems coatings can be applied. A few good rain showers will take care of this. If you do not want to wait ReduClean can be applied to remove this oily layer.
- All ReduSystems coatings can be easily removed with ReduClean. On a glasshouse the rain will wash the ReduClean and coating off. For the most commonly used plastics the same can be said. We do however recommend to test this first. If rainfall is not expected or if immediate removal of the coating is required it can be removed by rinsing with water after the ReduClean application.
- Most plastic films are already diffusing the light. Therefore diffusing products like ReduFuse do not offer added value when combined with plastic greenhouse cover. This is not the case with ReduFuse IR, that will also reflect part of the infrared radiation.
