The Bridge
We are continually testing and improving our system so that ultimately, there will be an affordable and viable solution for grape growers. Our latest research focuses on solutions for implementing the system in commercial vineyards:
• accounting for season-to-season variability
• making the system easy to maintain
• applying the system to different trellis types
Initially we used load cells free to sense tension along entire vineyard rows, dubbed the “Open” trellis monitor. For commercial vineyards, we designed a robust steel brace to isolate and immobilize a section of cordon wire between two trellis posts, dubbed the "Bridge". The section of trellis wire under the bridge is the sensing region for a load cell. We are comparing the "bridge" trellis monitor to the "open" trellis monitor in research plots and commercial vineyards. The "bridge" provides a sensing region short enough (ca. 20 to 25 feet) to: • set initial wire tensions uniformly each year |
Our goals:
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The trellis tension monitor was developed on experimental blocks of Concord juice grapes at WSU-IAREC (Washington State University-Irrigated Agriculture Research & Extension Center) in Prosser, Washington. Later we installed both "open" and "bridge" trellis monitors in 10 commercial Concord grape vineyards.
Experiments in the commercial vineyards are designed to:
- allow us to compare juice processors' yield estimates via hand sampling to ours via the trellis tension monitor
- test the practicality of the "bridge" version of the trellis monitor
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