FR2742022A1 - PROTECTION SYSTEM OF ORCHARDS, ESPECIALLY FRUIT TREES AGAINST WEATHER AND EQUIPMENT FOR IMPLEMENTING THE SAID PROCESS - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system for protecting orchards of trees, in particular fruit trees, against bad weather, in particular hail. The system makes use of a protective net 4 in one or more sections. According to the invention a net is used for each row of trees, said net resting on the foliage 5 of the trees and being either linked to the adjacent rows of trees or lining a row of trees, said nets in the first case possibly being interconnected from row to row.

Description

 The present invention relates to a system for protecting orchards of trees, in particular fruit trees, against bad weather such as hail for example and the equipment for implementing said system.

 He agreed to protect the orchards with nets. In known manner, posts must be installed at regular distance, for example every twelve meters in each row of trees. The posts at the end of each row are anchored to the ground.

 A sharing cable connects the posts of each of the rows of trees and transverse cables connect the posts together preferably at a height less than that of the rows of posts.

The nets are then stretched over the sharing cable and fixed on the transverse cables. The realization of such protection systems is particularly long but it is also very expensive, the cost being of the order of one hundred and twenty thousand francs inclusive of tax per hectare covered.

The present invention aims to achieve a system
for protecting orchards of fruit trees against bad weather by means of nets and the equipment for implementing said system which is just as effective as the prior art and which is simpler and above all less costly to implement since the studies carried out by the inventor made it possible to calculate the cost between twenty to twenty five thousand francs inclusive of tax per hectare covered; for this purpose, said system uses nets which rest on the foliage of the trees, each of the nets of a row being linked to branches of rows of trees adjacent to those supporting the net.

 According to yet another characteristic of the invention, the section or sections of successive threads of each of the rows of trees has a slope on each side of the row facilitating the flow, the slopes of two rows of threads being able to be joined.

 According to yet another characteristic of the invention, the net of each row of shafts rests on a sharing wire stretched above the shafts axially to a row of shafts and the thread sleeves each row of shafts by resting on its branches.

 Other advantages and characteristics of the invention will appear on reading the following description of an embodiment of the invention given by way of non-limiting example and illustrated by the accompanying drawings in which - Figure 1 is a sectional view of the protection system according to a first embodiment, - Figure 2 is a sectional view of the protection system according to another embodiment, - Figure 3 shows a net unwinding machine according to the form of embodiment of the invention shown in Figure 1, - Figure 4 shows schematically the implementation of the system according to Figure 2, - Figure 5 shows a partial view of the device according to Figure 4.

 In FIG. 1 are diagrammatically represented two rows of trees 1-2, the foliage, branches and leaves of which are indicated by reference 3.

 The spacing of each row is of the order of four meters.

 According to the invention, on each row of trees, a net 4 is arranged which rests on the top 5 of said trees.

 According to the invention, each of the nets has a slope on each side of the axis of the row to facilitate the space requirement and the evacuation in particular of the hail.

 Each of the nets is connected by links 6 of quality suitable for carpenter branches of rows of adjacent trees of lower level to spare said slope.

 This protection system makes the trees play the role of support structure for the nets, which avoids the mounting of stakes and tensioned wires or cables of the prior art. I1 is intended to be applied to old trees and therefore sufficiently structured to support the weight of hail.

 The implementation of this embodiment is carried out as shown diagrammatically in FIG. 3.

 A tractor vehicle of any known type is provided with an arrow or arm 7, front or rear with an offset horizontal axis on which is stacked a roller 8 formed by the net 4. The roller due to the offset of the horizontal axis is transverse to the longitudinal axis of the row of trees.

 The end of the net is fixed to the end of the row of trees, for example on the first head tree.

 The tension of the net is obtained by the regularly spaced strings 6 connecting the edges of the net with the carpenter branches of the adjacent rows of trees.

 The parallel nets are connected to each other at a regular distance, for example every 1.20 meters by means of hooks of suitable shape.

 At the end of the row, the net is attached by all known means to the last tree.

 The embodiment of the invention shown in Figure 2 is suitable for orchards whose trees, still young, are each associated with a stake stake and are too weak structures to be able to directly support the weight of hail retained by the net 4.

 In this embodiment, a sharing wire or cable 9 is stretched above and along the row of trees along its longitudinal axis. On this sharing wire or cable 9 is disposed the net 4 which rests on the sides of the trees by lining the row of trees.

In this embodiment, the sharing wire or cable is advantageously fixed to the stake stakes.

 The width of the net is calculated so that all the branches and leaves are lined. The net is fixed by means of a rod, not shown to simplify the drawing, wound horizontally in the lower end of the net, from place to place and connected by one or more links to the trunks of the trees of the corresponding row .

 In this exemplary embodiment, it is possible to use a thread of lower mechanical strength than in the case of FIG. 1, this thread being able to be of the extruded type. This embodiment requires nets of greater width than in the case of FIG. 1.

 In FIG. 4 is shown the installation of the protection system according to FIG. 2. In this embodiment, use is made for each row of shafts of two vehicles each provided with a vertical reel 10. The net is wound on the two rollers and stretched between them, each of the vehicles and corresponding rollers coming from either side of the row.

 By advancing the vehicle, the net is unwound.

It is also conceivable that, as shown, two vehicles are used with each a vertical roller in the rows of banks of the orchard and in the intermediate rows one or more vehicles with vertical rollers.

 It is also conceivable without departing from the scope of the invention that the threads of each of the rollers 10 are in a single strip independent of the other strips of the other rollers, the said strips being connected together by any known means at the top of the row of trees.

Claims (7)

 1. System for protecting orchards of trees, especially fruit trees against bad weather, using protective nets (4) characterized in that the nets rest on the foliage (5) of the trees.  2. A system for protecting orchards of trees, particularly fruit trees against bad weather, according to claim 1, characterized in that each row of trees in the orchard corresponds to a protective net (4) which is deposited directly on the foliage (5) of trees each of the nets of a row being linked to branches of the adjacent rows of trees.  3. A system for protecting orchards of trees, in particular fruit trees, according to claim 1 and claim 2, characterized in that the nets have a slope on each side of the row of trees, the slope of the adjoining nets joining.  4. A system for protecting orchards of trees, in particular fruit trees, according to claim 1, characterized in that the net (4) rests on a sharing wire (9) stretched between stakes, said wire being axial to a row of trees and that the net (4) lines each row of trees.  5. A system for protecting orchards of trees, in particular fruit orchards according to claim 4, characterized in that the sharing wire (9) is fixed to the stake stakes of the trees.  6. Device for implementing the protection system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that it comprises at least one roll of net (4) horizontal carried above the trees by a suitable vehicle.  7. Device for implementing the protection system according to claim 1 and claim 4 characterized in that it comprises at least two vertical rollers (10) unwinding the net above and on either side of each row of trees.