Successfully Adjusting Interceps Tools
To properly adjust your intercep tool, there are several parameters to consider. The two main ones are the depth and the working width.
Five Tips for Successfully Adjusting Your Intercep
Reasoning the Working Depth
A working depth between 5 and 10 cm is often sufficient for work with a hoe blade. It is important that the lifted soil strip is not too large for better soil fragmentation. This optimizes the destruction of weeds. To perform subsoiling, you can work a little deeper, ensuring to level the soil without digging below its normal level, which implies having formed a subsoil ridge beforehand. Working very deep is not always necessary. A tool that goes too deep will have more difficulty retracting due to the volume of soil to move and may cause damage to the vine.
Limiting the Working and Overlapping Width
Do not seek tools that will significantly exceed the vine row line. Ideally, do not exceed (overlap) more than 2.5 cm. In other words, for a row spacing of 2 m, ideally, you want a tool with a width of 2.05 m. This small overlap width allows the tool to retract more easily. It gains in responsiveness, reduces the risk of vine injuries and allows the viticulturist to work at a higher speed. The downside of a very tight adjustment, with little overlap, is that the operator must maintain perfect alignment on the row to avoid uneven work on one side or the other.
Adapting the Working Speed to the Tool
The working speed will depend on the soil type, intervention conditions, and the type of tool used.
- Subsoiling plow: between 2 and 3 km/h. Due to the aggressive profile of the tool, the operator must take more precautions and work at a reduced speed.
- Rotary tools: between 2.5 and 3.5 km/h.
- Hoe or weeding blades: between 4 and 5 km/h. The higher speed allows soil to be loosened, fragmented, and consequently improves weed control.
- Clod-breaking discs: between 6 and 7 km/h. To be effective with this type of tool, it is better to adopt a high speed.
Adjusting the Tool's Inclination
It is possible to adjust the angle of an intercep tool to improve weed control effectiveness. By "angle," we mean the inclination that allows the tool to penetrate well into the soil.
A Low and Close Sensor?
The sensor adjustment involves two parameters: height and clearance distance.
- Regarding the sensor height: it must follow the soil level. Once the working part is in the soil, position the sensor as low as possible to cope with twisted or forward-leaning vines. If the sensor is very low, it will quickly detect a fallen vine, triggering the tool's retraction. However, there is a drawback to placing the sensor very low: in case of very developed weeds or presence of clods or stones, the sensor may trigger the tool's retraction.
- Second parameter to adjust: the clearance, which corresponds to the safety space around the vine foot. It is the space left between the sensor and the tool when the sensor triggers the tool's retraction. Clearance can be adjusted outside the vineyard manually. You need to look at the tool from above while operating it and decide the minimum clearance space you allow yourself. On most tools, adjustments are easily accessible. The goal is to be as close as possible to the vine foot but the closer you are, the higher the risk of damaging the vines. Once clearance is adjusted outside the vineyard, you can do a short test in the vineyard and increase the clearance distance if you notice the tool touching the vines too much. If the tool has a vine cleaner, the clearance distance (between the sensor and the tool) can be quite large because the vine cleaner's job is to fragment the soil strip left around the vine foot.
Sources and References
CUMA Occitanie, 2018, Mechanical weed control in the vineyard: choosing your intercep tools. Available at: https://opera-connaissances.chambres-agriculture.fr/doc_num.php?explnum_id=208768
