Plant husbandry – Process
Reexamination Certificate
2000-08-11
2003-06-17
Poon, Peter M. (Department: 3643)
Plant husbandry
Process
Reexamination Certificate
active
06578318
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for raising plants that facilitates increased and healthier production. The method and apparatus are uniquely situated for the commercial production of crops that have certain botanical characteristics of growth, such as vine plants. This method will allow for fully automated harvest, having had minimal manual labor expended on maintenance.
B. Description of the Prior Art
Botanical characteristics have long plagued the growing process. Many plants inhibit fully automated harvest and continue to be susceptible to attack. These adverse consequences have forced the development of remedies. The remedies associated with the prior art have been minimally successful in accomplishing the long-term goals that were desired.
To reduce the cost associated with harvesting grapes, raisins and other vine crops, growers have developed various new methods of growing the crops that reduce labor costs while providing an improved product. The conventional method of raising grapes or raisins is to grow the vines in separate parallel rows utilizing a trellis system that runs along the row producing rows of vines approximately four to six feet high. Typically, the raisin grapes are cut from the vine and placed on paper trays laying along the rows of vines. One improvement in growing raisins and other dried fruit is referred to as the dried-on-the-vine (“DOV”) methods. The DOV methods of growing raisins leave the grape clusters on the vines during the drying process, as opposed to laying them on the paper trays in the dried-on-the-ground method. To dry the fruit on the vine, labor crews go through the vineyard and cut the canes having fruit so that the grapes on those canes will dry to produce raisins.
The successful production of grapes and dried-on-the-vine raisins relies upon the patterns of growth of the plants and their training for improved functionality. In its natural state, the grapevine has a random and haphazard growth pattern. The trunk produces cordons, which then produces canes that extend, producing the fruit and foliage of the vine. The foliage surrounds the fruit and the density of the two elements decreases the air circulation necessary to ward off certain problems. The density of the vine also prevents the sun from penetrating to the fruit and allowing for its further development. Although direct sunlight can be harmful, causing burns on the fruit, it is important to the process of dried-on-the-vine raisins for sunlight to reach the fruit.
Training the flexible portions of the grapevines in the horizontal method does allow for the density of the plant to be spread over a greater area. This type of separation, typically the north-south division practiced today, does make the fruit more accessible to the sunlight, however the growth of the plant on the trellis system continues to shade the fruit, not allowing sufficient light to it for proper maturation.
It is the density of the grapevine that continues to plague the plant with disease, fungi, and molds. These problems flourish in dark, damp environments. The growth pattern of the grapevine creates an immense trapping device and a protection from the sun for these and other problems. These damaging factors can be devastating to crops. Allowing the sunlight to the fruit reduces the moisture that remains on and around the fruit as well as assisting in the process of drying the fruit. In areas that typically receive a late season rain, the current trellising systems do not allow for the invaluable drying effects of the sun to be used efficiently.
Vineyards can be sprayed for increased resistance to molds and parasites, however there is an advantage in marketing fruit that has not been subjected to constant spraying of pesticides. Fruit grown without pesticides have a better value. Increased air circulation is one method to improve the effectiveness of spraying done to a vineyard, allowing less spraying to be done. Decreasing the density of the plants allows for the pesticide to be more effective with fewer applications because it moves freely in the plants to cover a greater area. Unfortunately, the typical trellis system creates a dense canopy raised above the fruit, which hangs below, to simplify harvesting. The low air circulation of this method retains trapped moisture that creates the molds, fungi, and parasites which are problematic and must be addressed by spraying. As a result, it is known that increasing air circulation is advantageous to increased production, decreased loss of product and reduced spraying.
Methods of raising crops for the prevention of these problems has been faced a number of times. For instance, Sun Maid has developed a system called the South Side or Sun Maid System. The rotation of sides, north to south, has allowed for the increased growth of canes and a maturity to be attained that allows for increased production of fruit and decreased the time in which the raisins are dried. This was all accomplished by increased circulation within the plant and greater exposure of the fruit to the drying sun. The above-referenced South Side System is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,411,561 to Conley and U.S. Pat. No. 5,557,883 to Walker. This system, which utilizes a modified conventional trellis structure, trains the canes into a divided canopy with the fruiting canes primarily on one side (the south side) of the rows and renewal canes on the opposite side. Another DOV system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,144,768 to Hiyama, et al. In the Hiyama system, a modified trellis system is utilized to horizontally segregate the canes that will produce fruit in one year from the canes which are to produce fruit in the following year. Control wires are used to move the renewal canes from the current year's growing row to the next year's growing row. A non-DOV system is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 3,585,756 to Johnson, which describes a method of growing grapevines where cordons are bent in a semi-circular portions and attached to an upper wire to grow fruit therefrom (i.e., spur pruning). The bending of the cordons is to facilitate shaking so as to dislodge the fruit. Replacement cordons can be grown on the lower wire to replace the fruiting canes as they become too stiff for effective shaking.
There are a number of other methods of growing grapes and raisins that take advantage of the DOV principles. Some of these methods utilize the conventional trellis system while others utilize less commonly employed trellis systems, such as an overhead trellis system. The overhead trellis systems allow the vines to be trained such that the canes grow over the trellis wires disposed between rows of upright posts that are placed along the rows of vines. The posts have one or more cross-arms that are connected to the trellis wires. One method of growing grapes and raisins on an overhead trellis system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,711,109 to Pitts. In the Pitts method, the vine plants are separated to form four cordons and trained such that two pairs of cordons grow along parallel courses but opposite each other. Canes produced by the cordons grow substantially perpendicular to the cordons toward the canes produced by an adjacent row of vines over an overhead trellis structure. This method utilizes an alternate bearing system wherein during each growing season one row is a fruiting row and the adjacent row is a renewal row. During the following season, the rows are reversed. This method of growing grapes and raisins is referred to as the quadrilateral, alternate bearing method and has been found to substantially increase production of grapes and raisins. In another method developed by Lee Simpson of Madera, Calif., the canes grow from the head of the vine and are placed across the wires such that the crop will grow in a generally vertical downward direction from the canes between the rows. This method also utilizes the alternate bearing system.
Prior trellis systems have allowed for the separation of producing and non-produ
Nguyen Son T.
Pitts Carbonic & Ag Services, Inc.
Poon Peter M.
Ryan Richard A.
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