投稿の詳細: グロースガン　Growth Gun.

一月ほど前までこんな機械が
あるなんて事すら知らなかった。

先シーズンメルローの畑に
異変が起きて（どうも縮果だと
思われる）、さて今シーズンどう
対応しようかと思い悩んでいて、
小布施の山岸さんに「実はこんな
ことが起きて…」と話したら、
即答で、床（とこ）が壊れていないんだな
床を壊す機械があるよ、と直ぐに
知り合い二人ほどに連絡を取って
くれた。

いよいよその機械と今日ご対面。
圧縮空気を、工事現場の破砕機
の原理で地中に差し込んだ
鉄製の槍の先から噴出して
地中に穴をあける。そのショックで
床が壊れると同時に、その穴から
肥料なり土壌改良剤も注入
できるというしろものだ。
根の成長を阻む物理的
要因を除去・改善し、また
そのできた穴に根が伸びて
根域が広がり、丈夫な樹と充実した
収穫が期待できるという
触れ込み。

圧縮空気を噴出する度に
槍の周囲の地面が、地中で
爆発が起こったかのように膨らむ。
オペレーターの若者によると、
通気性のよい土地なら地面が
盛り上がるような事は無いという。
また、その杭を差し込む時に
大きな抵抗を感じるので、
確かに床は存在するらしい。
というか土壌がともかく固いという。

床と、SS等による表面からの土壌
の圧縮が葡萄の根域を狭め、
旱魃に耐えられなかったのだろう。
その為に縮果が起きた可能性が高い。

りんごと葡萄を作っているという
彼とは、肥料と晩腐病の関係、
樹の成長等色々な面での情報交換
をした。実家や周囲の果樹農家の
経験から確たる栽培方針を
持っている。若干26歳。
後世畏るべし。

I have had no idea about such
a machine just one month ago.

I had unusual occurrence in Merlot
vineyard last season which seemed
heavy shrivelling and just when
I was wondering what to do this
new season, I met Mr. Yamagishi
in Obuse about the occurrence
and discuss about it with him.
He spent no time to respond me
about the possible floor layer
left behind in the ground in the
field once used for rice paddy.
He said there was a machine to
break such layers in the ground.
He called his friends at once
and asked them if they
would arrange a machine for me.

Thanks to him, I got that machine
in my Merlot vineyard today.
That machine is called Growth Gun.
Like a road breaker, it has a spear
with a hole and the compressed air
is blown into the ground of which shock
the floor layer is broken and what is more
fertilizers and soil improvement materials
are sent into the hole.

Because of this process, the physical
impediment for root growth is removed
and the root environment improves which
helps healthy growth of the roots and
the vines and leads to better harvest
in quality and in quantity.

Every time the compressed air
is blown under ground, the surface
humps like a little burst underground.
According to the young operator, if the
ground was permeable, such humps would
not be seen. He also mentioned that
he felt resistance when he poked the
spear into the ground which was the sign
of the floor layer undergroud.　
Or, in any case the soil is hard.

This underground floor layer and the
compaction of the ground by heavy sprayer
must have made the ground very tight for
root growth and caused the shrivelling
under drought weather last July.

I discussed a lot with the young
opertor who grows apples and grapes
with his father about the relationship
between the fertilizer and the
bunch rot disease, vine growth and
so on. He has surprisingly very certain aim and
process regarding the fruit growing at
the age of 26. Young age is always
more brilliant than older ages.