Trellis Engineering
Trellis Engineering. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report.
How can you grow tree fruit that allows for more versatile management and harvest. Dr. Mark De Kleine of De Kleine Machine Co. in Prosser has been working on a trellis engineering analysis project.
DE KLEINE: There was some interest in looking at ding some engineering analysis on trellis systems and as these horticultural systems move into the new day and age trellis systems are becoming more and more important. We decided that we would do the engineering analysis for certain types of systems that the stakeholders thought would be important.
Trellis' allow orchardists easy access to all the fruit.
DE KLEINE: This is going to be a way to measure their current trellis systems, where they're at and the also their future systems. You'll be able to take this tool when we get done with it and say, ok, how do I compare? Am I of sound engineering based on variables that are important. Does it work for me or as I'm planting my new orchards am I planning in the correct manner of the material that I need.
He says they are surveying current producers and asking some key questions.
DE KLEINE: What we're trying to do with this survey is pin-point some key trellis systems of interest. For instance a vertical fruiting wall and an angled fruiting wall. Those seem to be the popular ones right now. We really want to keep the focus of this very narrow, specifically to what's going to be useful to the growing community.
That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network of the West.
