The Role of Geotextiles in Orchard Planting

Although geotextile is called geotextile and is a commonly used fabric in civil engineering, it is not only applied in geotechnical engineering but also widely used in landscape engineering, agriculture, flood control and other projects.

The Application of Geotextiles in Orchards

In the fields of agriculture and orchards, due to excessive nutrients, weeds grow very vigorously. If herbicides are used, they may affect the seedlings and pollute the environment. Manual weeding is also very time-consuming. Faced with the ever-growing weeds, people have to think of new ways, and thus the weed control fabric made of geotextile has emerged.

Geotextile weed control is a physical method of weeding. If used properly, it can not only protect the fruit seedlings from the influence of weeds but also will not pollute the environment. Moreover, geotextile has good water permeability and air permeability, and has good moisture retention and cold protection effects. It has achieved very good results in inhibiting the growth of weeds and is now widely used in many planting bases to control weeds.

However, since the geotextile is exposed to the soil surface during use, it is necessary to choose geotextile with certain sun resistance and anti-aging ability when selecting.

The influence of ultraviolet rays on geotextiles

Whether during storage or construction, we often require avoiding the exposure of geotextiles to direct sunlight, because the ultraviolet rays in the sunlight cause significant damage to the performance of geotextiles.

We should be aware that the energy contained in ultraviolet rays is considerable. Even if humans have the self-repairing function and are exposed to the sun for a long time, we can still get sunburned. Moreover, compared to geotextiles that can self-repair, like them, they cannot repair themselves. Although the chemical properties of geotextiles are very stable and do not react with more than eighty kinds of acid and alkali solvents, if exposed to ultraviolet rays for a long time, their polymer chains will gradually break, then undergo degradation reactions and photo-oxidation reactions, and subsequently, their performance will gradually weaken until it is completely lost.

Therefore, whether the performance of geotextiles is good or not, to a large extent, it depends on their performance. In this regard, avoiding the influence of ultraviolet rays on geotextiles is very important, because except for this, the influence of other factors on geotextiles is relatively small.

In agriculture and landscaping, sometimes due to the need to cover the land, there were various covering materials in the past, such as straw, plastic film, and geotextiles. However, sometimes due to climate and environmental reasons, the coverage effect was different, and sometimes it even failed to achieve the desired effect. Therefore, people later began to use geotextiles to replace those products.

In recent years, geotextiles have derived a kind of garden fabric based on the characteristics of orchards, which has been widely used in orchard management and achieved good results. So, what are the benefits of using geotextiles in orchards?

1. For the geotextile covering the land in orchards, in cold weather, it can prevent the loss of soil temperature: for fruit trees, within a certain temperature range, the higher the temperature, the more conducive it is to the growth of fruit trees, and even the underground activities of fruit trees may be advanced. However, it should be noted that excessive coverage is not allowed, otherwise it will cause root rot of the fruit trees.

2. For the geotextile covering the land in orchards, it can promote the growth of new shoots of fruit trees: this may be because the black fabric has a better effect in blocking sunlight, blocking a lot of solar radiation to the ground and reducing the heat damage to the ground. In hot weather, it provides suitable temperature and humidity soil for the roots of fruit trees.

3. For the geotextile covering the land in orchards, it can reduce competition for fruit trees: after the geotextile covering, for some plants, it is no longer suitable for growth. Thus, the reduction of weeds and other plants, and the water and nutrients in the soil are mainly provided to fruit trees, which is more conducive to the growth of fruit trees.

Generally, the geotextiles used in orchards are black because black geotextiles have a better ability to absorb sunlight. In addition, there are many thicknesses of geotextiles, and when applied to orchards, it is necessary to select according to the local climate conditions and the nature of the soil. If it is too thin, it will not achieve the desired effect. If it is too thick, it will be too tightly covered, affecting the nature of the soil and thereby affecting the growth of fruit trees.