Patent Application
20190183072
This invention relates generally to the field of viticulture, in particular to the design and manufacture of grapevine support systems and to methods for grapevine cane support and crop management, and more particularly, to a cane support pedestal employing a positioning shaft and suspension arm.
Vineyard management for both wine and table grapes has varied over many generations of farmers. With modern viticulture techniques consistency in crop yields and character particularly in wine grapes is being established. Such consistency is imperative for creation of high quality wines. European and American viticulturalists have developed several predominant infrastructures (“trellises”) with accompanying canopy manipulation techniques for managing wine producing vines. A prior art trellising approach for grape vines, Vertical Shoot Positioning (“VSP”), employs support wires extending between posts and with cordons or fruiting canes (“canes”) extending from the vine's trunks, supported horizontally by said wires approximately 24 inches above ground. Trunks are pruned to maintain this height. If cordons are established they are maintained yearly in this position. If fruiting canes are established, they are replaced by new canes yearly in this position. A series of upper wires are then used to vertically support the new seasonal shoots (“shoots”) extending from the cordons (or fruiting canes) with leaves forming the canopy of the vine above the cordons.
This requires that the yearly growth of shoots, grapes and leaves be supported above the cordons or fruiting canes which are basically in an unstable position relying solely on the support of the trellis wires both vertically and laterally.
This technique does not provide optimum conditions for machine harvesting, nor does it provide optimum spring frost protection, nor does it provide optimum human ergonomic conditions for canopy management in the vine's fruiting zone, nor does it provide conditions for the layering of fruiting canes in a cane pruned system, and requires significant infrastructure in the form of support wires and other devices to support the crop above the cordons or fruiting canes, along with the overall requirement of significant labor in order to place the vines each year up into the trellis, as well the significant labor that is necessary to prune the vines out of the structure at the end of each season.
It is therefore desirable to provide a novel infrastructure that supports the vines in a way that reduces the currently employed support structures as well as the costs required to operate them.
The embodiments disclosed herein overcome the shortcomings of the prior art by providing a cane support system which includes a positioning shaft supported by wires extending between vine stakes. The positioning shaft extends upwardly above a top wire. A suspension arm is located proximate an upper end of the positioning shaft and extends from the positioning shaft with a bight angularly oriented respective to a vertical axis of the positioning shaft. The suspension arm, in combination with the positioning shaft, provide a cane receptacle, configured to receive and support grape vine canes.
These and other features and advantages of the present invention will be better understood by reference to the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:
Embodiments shown in the drawings and described herein provide a viticultural method and system for alternative positioning of fruiting canes in individual grape vines at a higher level than normal prior art practice, nominally 48 to 60 inches with the trunk extending to that height. The canes are then laterally positioned outward from the vine's trunks and held by the pedestals which support the canes horizontally, but allow for rotation, or the significant pronation, of the canes within the supporting cane receptacles. At this higher level, as new shoot growth appears from the canes, instead of being supported above the cane, the canes pronate within the cane receptacles to allow the new growth to hang downward into natural positioning, which allows the weight of the vine's canopy and fruit to be borne by the pedestal, as opposed to being suspended on support wires. Positioning of the vineyard rows relative to a prevailing breeze additionally allows the force of the wind against the shoots and leaves to enhance the pronation of the canes, thereby delivering shoots and leaves to more natural hanging positions.
For descriptive purposes herein, early in a season, new growth is typically referred to as a “shoot”. A “cane” typically describes a mature shoot, one that has undergone a significant amount of lignification and has become pliable and/or woody. Canes produced in any given season are considered to be “first-year canes”. Canes held over into a second year to be employed as the source for the subsequent year's growth are considered to be “second-year wood, fruiting canes, or fruiting wood”. During winter pruning subsequent to a growing season, the first-year canes desired for the next year's growth are retained, as will be described subsequently, and the present system may be defined as “layered cane pruning”. The retained canes are laid out horizontally in an overlapping fashion between the vines. At each bud on the canes, a new shoot emerges the next spring. On the new shoots resides the new crop.
As shown in
As will be shown in greater detail subsequently, the support wires 22 suspend the positioning shafts 12a and 12b from below with the positioning shafts extending upwardly from the top wire. No wires are present in the zone of the fruiting canes or in the zone of the crop enhancing the fruiting canes' ability to pronate, thereby releasing most of the vine's new shoots to easily grow, with gravity, in a downward direction. With less congestion in the fruiting zone, and with the crop in a more shakable position higher off the ground, mechanical harvesting is greatly enhanced, as are the ergonomic conditions of vine canopy management in the fruiting zone, as is the overall symmetry and placement of the crop, which leads to a much higher degree of individuated cluster architecture, which helps to minimize late season bunch rot, which has the overall effect of preserving more crop while producing better wine.
To establish vines in the support system as described for the embodiments above, vine trunks are allowed to grow to approximately 48 to 60 inches. Selected fruiting canes are horizontally entrained in the cane receptacles 16 at the top ends 15 of the pedestals 10, successfully capturing and suspending the canes at their pronatable portions. Use of two opposing suspension arms 14a, 14b for releasable support of the canes (shown in the
As seen in
For stability and support in the support wires 22, the positioning shaft 12 has a minimum length of 12 inches. However, the shaft may extend from a top end 15 to a lower end 34 (seen in
In exemplary embodiments, the positioning shafts 12 may be circular or rectangular in cross section with a diameter or lateral length of between ⅜″ and ½″. The suspension arms 14 may similarly be circular or rectangular in cross section with a diameter or lateral dimension of between 3/32″ and ½″. While the bight 32 is shown as a semicircular planform connected to extending base 24 and tip 28 in the exemplary embodiments, the bight may be elliptical or rectangular in planform. As seen in
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Additionally, as seen in
The embodiments shown in
The suspension of the pedestals is provided by single wire supports 22′ as shown in
A multisection view of a trellis employing the exemplary embodiments is shown in
As represented in
Having now described various embodiments of the invention in detail as required by the patent statutes, those skilled in the art will recognize modifications and substitutions to the specific embodiments disclosed herein. Such modifications are within the scope and intent of the present invention as defined in the following claims.
