GR1009797B - A system protecting wild artichokes against rats and other rodents - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a method meant to protect wild artichokes from rats and other rodents, without killing them. It is characterised by placing materials in a particular manner: a tarpaulin membrane, a soil covering membrane and gravels are placed inside a unified framework in which the wild artichoke plants will be planted in such a way that no gaps are formed permitting the rodents access. The advantage of the invention is that it protects the surface and the sides of the plant’s root to a depth of 40 cm. In addition, due to the absorbency of the soil covering membrane, the invented system allows the free entry of non-stagnant water impeding the decay of the plants. Installation costs are deducted from the first harvest and many labor hours are saved, as no crop surveillance is required.

Description

DESCRIPTION

Wild artichoke installation system protected from rats and other rodents

The invention refers to a method for protecting wild artichokes from rats and other rodents, without exterminating them, and consists of placing materials in a specific way.

Ways to deal with the rodents that destroy the wild artichoke by eating its root, exist and are limited only to the administration of chemicals, which kill them.

With this invention we protect the root of the plant because the materials we use are connected and installed in such a way that it is impossible for rodents to access it. So we don't need to kill a part of the fauna, part of which are rodents.

An advantage of this invention is that by placing the materials, according to the invention, a net is created to permanently protect the root of the wild artichoke from rats and other rodents, without the need to use chemicals and any supervision by the grower and with minimal cost (for 100 artichoke plants the cost is currently around 200 euros), which is amortized from the very first harvest, i.e. a few months after the initial planting of the plant.

The method according to the present invention is as follows:

With a tractor, which has a special attachment for opening ditches, we open two parallel ditches in the field, in which we wish to grow wild artichokes, 40 cm deep. The distance between the ditches varies between 30 and 40 cm. At their ends, the ditches join (figure 1 top view).

We then place in these trenches a roll of membrane, exactly the same as we place on tile roofs, 50 cm wide, so that 40 cm are inside the ground and the remaining 10 cm are above the ground surface. This membrane is provided with soil well and thus prevents the lateral and underground approach of the root of the plants by the rodents (figure 2 side view). Then we place inside the field, which is surrounded by the sheets of tar paper membrane placed on the ground, a ground cover membrane, which serves to limit the growth of weeds and which is absorbent, i.e. permeable to water, so that the crop is irrigated normally us and for the additional reason that stagnant water does not remain, which causes the plant to rot (figure 3 top view).

Then every 1.00 m. we cut the ground cover membrane crosswise 20 to 30 cm. We make this cut so that in the future the plant has room to grow (figure 4 top view).

Next, we plant the small wild artichoke seedlings inside the cross section we made on the membrane (figure 5 top view).

Finally, we make a coating of concrete-type gravel, without sand, all over the frame, about 6 cm thick, even around the root of the newly planted plant, which coating prevents rodents from entering the soil from the surface of the soil and they approach the root of our plant (figure 6 top view).

Figure 7 shows a side view of the section of the complete installation, which we create around the plant, a protector that is π, as can be seen from the figure.

(Explanation of numbers: 1=tar sheet, 2=ground cover sheet, 3=gravel coating.)

Claims (1)

1. The wild artichoke installation system protected from rats and other rodents consists of a tar paper membrane, which is used on tile roofs, an absorbent membrane, which is used in agricultural crops to prevent the growth of weeds, and common gravel used for concrete creation. This system is characterized by the so far unique way in which the materials are placed in the soil and subsoil, so that the rodents, without being exterminated, cannot approach the root of the wild artichoke plant, eat it and thus bringing about the partial or total destruction of the crop.