One of the most popular crops in La Mancha is vineyard. Besides, it is a crop which needs absolute dedication so winegrowers have to work everyday in a great amount of different tasks. One of these tasks in summer is pruning the grape vines when vine shoots are green.
Main goals of this job are mentioned below:
- Winegrowers need to reduce vegetation of grape vines because sometimes they can't go into vineyard using a narrow tractor, e. g., in order to carry out phytosanitary treatments. Another few times, winegrowers can do this task and phytosanitary treatments at the same time.
- They have to avoid problems with windy weather. If vine shoots are very long, they can be broken or fallen from trellis.
- If vine shoots are short, vintages are cleaner and more comfortable.
We visited our great friend Isidro, who is one of the biggest winegrowers of our village. There, we spend a very funny morning seeing his vineyards (they are magnificent) we could see how he worked pruning. When we spoke with him, we could feel he loves his vineyard... we think it is really common among winegrowers.
Isidro was working using a pruning machine manufactured by Jumar Agrícola S.L. (S618 -85 model). It is a pruning machine with dual saw (other models are using rotary blandes) that can carry out works of 1.8m long vertical cuts and 85cm long horizontal cuts (at this time, the horizontal cut was not done). All movements can be controlled hydraulically (the cutting elements can turn to adapt to the working position for each winegrower). Finally, it incorporates an automatic safety system in the event of an obstacle.
Versión en español.
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