What is the correct orientation for row direction?

Coincidentally in the past month I have had two customers ask me about row direction.  My initial response, for hedgerow crops such as high wire greenhouse crops is that you should orientate the rows to run as close as possible from North to South.

Often the orientation of the greenhouse is dictated by the property’s physical layout and often greenhouses are positioned so that rows do not run true North/South.  For example, A customer in Australia sent me an image with the direction of their rows 49 degrees NE.

The big question is does this have an effect on production and/or fungal pressure?  My view is that due to the sun’s continually changing angle it could be detrimental to have hedgerows running East/West. Since this question was raised, I have read subsequent articles debating and seeking different opinions.

I have a preference that rows should run as close as possible North/South but I am always open to different opinions and research to prove or disprove.  Any feedback on this subject would be most welcome as it is very important.

Shading:

For me, shading is also a big issue when building a greenhouse.  It is easy when building a large greenhouse to have central paths that will generally run East to West.  It then makes it much more likely that a packing shed, lunchrooms etc will be built on either the west or east wall to make it easier for workflow.  However, this will no doubt cause shading issues.  Just this week I witnessed two properties with shading on the west walls due to their packing sheds.  It is not always easy to place the packing sheds on the south side as you may require extra glass to have to provide a service path.

Article written and compiled by Stefan Vogrincic

All Article’s checked and edited by Marie Vogrincic

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