Installing High Tunnel Insect Exclusion Screen

hi my name is Laura Ingwell and I'm a
researcher in the entomology department
at Purdue University
today I'm providing a video on how to
install insect exclusion screens on high
tunnels this is something that we've
been doing for the past three years
particularly for cucumber production we
use a mesh size that is small enough to
exclude striped cucumber beetles and the
disease that they transmit from the crop
so today we're working in a 24 foot wide
by 48 foot long traditional rounded
style high tunnel and the first step for
many of you is going to be to remove
your existing side curtain so we begin
by rolling the side curtain down so
there's not a lot of tension on it and
we're going to pull out all of these
screws along the side and then remove
the rope when we purchase the insect
exclusion screen it comes on rolls by
the foot so we purchase panels that span
the width of the tunnel about 50 feet
long pre-cut the mesh will then be
secured on the top underneath the
curtain and along the bottom we hold it
in place with a snap track to secure it
tightly so once we have the curtain and
the rope removed our next step is to
install the track so our tunnels here
have a 2x4 along the baseboard for the
structure so we can nestle this truck
directly along the top of that 2x4 and
then we just secure it in place with
some screws
once you have installed the tube lock or
snap track base we're ready to reinstall
the screen with the side wall curtains
so we like to lay out the screen and the
curtain along the length of the tunnel
and then we come over when we're ready
to install at the top edge we've learned
that it is helpful to use a furrowing
strip to relieve some of the tension
from the screws pulling on both the
screen and the curtain material so we
start at one end and we level the edge
of the curtain and the screen we pull it
over the end of the furrowing strip and
then we hold it in place with the
original screws that were used for the
curtains and we make our way down the
length of the tunnel leveling the screen
and the curtain material all the way
down until the top is in place so at
this point we have our curtain
reinstalled with our screen from the
outside and we've moved to the inside of
the tunnel as you can see here our tube
lock or snap track base is in place and
at this point we are ready to start
putting some pressure on this screen
when you install the screen you want it
to be as tight as possible so that you
can still maintain some ventilation and
air flow through the screening material
if it's loose the wind will catch it and
not move through the tunnel we also want
to make sure that we're leaving enough
on the end so that we can go back
outside and pull that screen around and
secure it to the end walls
so is simply tucking the screen past the
end wall and then we're going to use our
tube lock base to clip it in so what I'm
doing here is pulling as tight as I can
on this screen and then you put the base
in place and you simply hammer it in you
start on one end of the material and you
can work your way down and pull it taut
as you go working around the braces can
be a bit tricky that if you hammer on
one side and then move to the other the
entire piece should slip into place and
then we move on to the next and we just
want to get them as close together as
possible
we also find it very important to
install the insect exclusion screen
around the gable vents so as you can see
above we use the same snap track or snap
lock base to frame the gable vents
themselves and then we will place a
piece of screen over that and it's
secured in place with the wiggle wire so
the last point that we need to secure on
our side wall exclusion screen is the
ends so here we've installed another
piece of that tube lock base along the
distance of the side wall then we simply
pull on that screen again trying to be
taut stretching it over that base and
put in place a wiggle wire to secure it
and now the screens are taut and in
place your curtain will freely move up
and down without catching on the screen
and your crop will be protected from
insect pests the main insect pests
we are attempting to exclude in this
case is the striped cucumber beetle it's
a major threat for cucumber or
watermelon or cantaloupe production it
causes direct damage on the vegetable or
fruit crop as well as transmitting a
disease so we have found that the best
sized insect screen to eliminate this
pest is approximately 0.7 by 1.0
millimeter pore size that is a size that
is large enough to allow ventilation so
we don't see damage on the crops
themselves from increased temperatures
but also small enough to keep the
beetles off of the crop throughout the
growing season

Installing High Tunnel Insect Exclusion Screen

Latest Posts