Does agro fleece harm plants?

What is agro-textile?

This is a ques­tion many gar­den­ers ask them­selves. Agro-tex­tile is a spe­cial mate­r­i­al used in hor­ti­cul­ture and agri­cul­ture which is made of polypropy­lene. It is a non-woven fab­ric that stands out for its light­ness, dura­bil­i­ty and water and air per­me­abil­i­ty. Thanks to these prop­er­ties, it is ide­al for pro­tect­ing plants from adverse weath­er con­di­tions such as frost or exces­sive sun­light.

Agro-tex­tile has a wide and var­ied use of. In hor­ti­cul­ture, it is used, among oth­er things, to pro­tect crops from weeds and also to pro­tect plants in harsh cli­mat­ic con­di­tions. It is also used to cov­er the soil, which helps to retain mois­ture and to main­tain the right soil tem­per­a­ture, thus aid­ing plant growth. How­ev­er, the ques­tion often aris­es among gar­den­ers and farm­ers: does agro-tex­tile harm plants? The answer to this ques­tion depends on its prop­er appli­ca­tion and the qual­i­ty of the mate­r­i­al from which it is made.

Types of nonwoven agro-textiles and their use

Agro-woven fab­ric is a ver­sa­tile mate­r­i­al for hor­ti­cul­ture and agri­cul­ture, avail­able in dif­fer­ent colours, each with a spe­cif­ic func­tion. The white agro-tex­tile, most com­mon­ly used to cov­er plants, is designed to pro­tect against frost, wind and exces­sive sun­light. Its struc­ture allows light, water and air to pass through, cre­at­ing opti­mal grow­ing con­di­tions while min­imis­ing heat stress. Black agro-tex­tile is main­ly used for weed con­trol. Thanks to its imper­me­abil­i­ty to light, it effec­tive­ly inhibits the growth of unwant­ed veg­e­ta­tion while allow­ing water and air to flow freely into the soil. Green agro-tex­tile com­bines the advan­tages of both of the above, but its main pur­pose is to pro­tect plants from exces­sive sun­light and soil ero­sion, espe­cial­ly in areas exposed to intense sun­light. Using the right type of agro-tex­tile, depend­ing on the needs and grow­ing con­di­tions, can sig­nif­i­cant­ly improve crop effi­cien­cy and plant health.

Advantages of using an agro-textile

Advan­tages of agro fleece in the gar­den are invalu­able, espe­cial­ly for gar­den­ers wish­ing to pro­tect their crops from adverse con­di­tions. Main advan­tages of agro fleece it:

• Pro­tec­tion against weeds, which reduces the need for chem­i­cal her­bi­cides.
• Main­tain­ing ade­quate soil mois­ture lev­els, which min­imis­es the fre­quen­cy of water­ing.
• Pro­tect­ing plants from extreme weath­er con­di­tions such as frost, wind or exces­sive sun­light.
• Reduced soil ero­sion for bet­ter grow­ing con­di­tions.

In sum­ma­ry, the prop­er use of agro-tex­tile brings many ben­e­fits and solves many crop prob­lems, but the key is its cor­rect appli­ca­tion.

Disadvantages and risks associated with the use of agro-textiles

Improp­er use of the agro-tex­tile can lead to a restric­tion of light and air, which slows down the growth of the plants and can lead to their weak­en­ing. Anoth­er risk for plants is the pos­si­bil­i­ty of dam­ag­ing their root sys­tems dur­ing the instal­la­tion or removal of the agro-tex­tile, which can neg­a­tive­ly affect their health and fur­ther devel­op­ment.

Anoth­er issue is the effect of the agro-tex­tile on the soil ecosys­tem. Long-term cov­er­age of the soil with this non­wo­ven mate­r­i­al can dis­rupt nat­ur­al bio­log­i­cal process­es, such as gas exchange and micro­bial activ­i­ty, which are key to soil health. This in turn can lead to soil degra­da­tion and reduced fer­til­i­ty. Thus, the answer to the ques­tion, does agro-tex­tile harm plantsIt depends on its cor­rect appli­ca­tion and reg­u­lar mon­i­tor­ing of the con­di­tion of the crop and the soil. It is impor­tant to use the agro-tex­tile as rec­om­mend­ed and to adapt its type to the spe­cif­ic needs of the plants and the cli­mat­ic con­di­tions.