United States of America, As Represented by the Secretary of Agriculture

Washington State University

Trimble Inc.

Robert Wample

Daniel James Rooney

David Fitzpatrick

Andre L Baritelle

Francis J Pierce

John C Ferguson

Marvin J Pitts

Julie M Tarara

Gary M Hyde

Prescribing a drip line for use in a field includes: accessing soil conditions data that includes vertical transect data relating to at least one vertical transect of soil in a field; based on a plant type and a length of time between a first watering and a second watering of a plant via the drip line, determining, a desired plant available water content of a portion of the soil within the at least one vertical transect to be substantially achieved as a result of the first watering; and based on the vertical transect data, the determined desired plant available water content, climate conditions data and geographical conditions data, determining perforation spacing and flow rate for a set of emitters for the drip line such that the desired plant available water is substantially achieved in the portion of the soil.

Prescribing a drip line for use in a field

The present disclosure concerns apparatus and methods useful in estimating crop yields of plants that are supported on a trellis. According to one aspect, a method for measuring the mass of trellised plant structures includes measuring the tension of a support wire of the trellis structure on which the plant structures are supported, such as with a load cell placed in-line with the support wire. The tension of the support wire is converted into the mass of new plant growth supported on the support wire, using, for example, an empirically derived algorithm specific to the trellis structure.

Apparatus and method for measuring the mass of vegetation or fruit supported on a trellis

Growing community of inventors

Clovis, CA, United States of America

Robert Wample