Abstract
The density of coconut palms in a grove, and the resulting coconut yield per acre, is increased up to a factor of four by varying the heights of the leaf balls of the palms, and arranging the palms close together so that the leaf balls overlap without mutual interference. Adjacent palms can be of different varieties having differing heights, for example by combining tall, dwarf, and hybrid palms, and/or the grades at which adjacent palms are planted can be excavated and/or built up. The palms can be configured in a checkerboard arrangement where leaf ball heights alternate in aligned rows and columns, or in a hexagonal arrangement where rows of palms of alternating leaf ball height are staggered. Palm rows of uniform or staggered height can be planted on north-south terraces at successively higher grade up to an apex terrace, from which the terraces descend again in grade height.
Claims
1. A palm grove comprising a plurality of coconut palms, each of the coconut palms having a trunk and a leaf ball, said leaf ball extending in an approximately spherical pattern from the top of the trunk, the leaf balls of adjacent palms of the plurality of coconut palms being at differing heights, such that the leaf balls of adjacent palms of the plurality of coconut palms overlap each other with substantially no contact therebetween, a spacing between the trunks of the adjacent palms being less than a sum of radii of their leaf balls.
2. The palm grove of claim 1, wherein the adjacent palms of the plurality of palms are of differing palm varieties having differing heights.
3. The palm grove of claim 1, wherein underlying grades beneath the coconut palms are of different heights, thereby causing or accentuating the height differences of the leaf balls of the adjacent palms of the plurality of coconut palms.
4. The palm grove of claim 1, wherein the coconut palms are arranged in a checkerboard pattern in which the heights of the leaf balls of the adjacent coconut palms alternate in aligned rows and columns of the coconut palms, each of the coconut palms being surrounded by four nearest neighbor palms.
5. The palm grove of claim 1, wherein the coconut palms are arranged in a staggered hexagonal pattern, each of the coconut palms being surrounded by six nearest neighbor palms.
6. The palm grove of claim 1, wherein the coconut palms are arranged in a plurality of rows of the coconut palms, the palms of each of the rows all having leaf balls located at substantially equal heights, the heights of the leaf balls differing between adjacent rows of the plurality of rows.
7. The palm grove of claim 1, wherein the coconut palms are arranged in a plurality of rows of the coconut palms, each of the rows extending along a terrace having a substantially uniform grade, adjacent terraces being of successively higher grades from a first terrace to a highest second terrace, differences between the heights of said grades establishing or enhancing the differences between the heights of the leaf balls of the adjacent rows.
8. The palm grove of claim 7, wherein the terraces continue at successively lower grades from the second terrace to a third terrace.
9. The palm grove of claim 8, wherein the terraces extend substantially in a north-south direction.
10. The palm grove of claim 1, wherein the coconut palms are arranged in rows in which the heights of the leaf balls of the adjacent coconut palms alternate in the row, a grade height of the rows being successively increased from a first row to a highest row.
11. The palm grove of claim 10, wherein the rows continue at successively lower grade heights from the highest row to a final row.
12. The palm grove of claim 10, wherein the rows extend substantially in a north-south direction.
13. The palm grove of claim 1, wherein the spacing between the trunks is between 10 and 16 feet in at least one of rows and columns of the palms.
14. The palm grove of claim 1, wherein the coconut palms are spaced apart from each other in all directions by a spacing distance that is between 10 and 16 feet.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0024] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a palm grove of the prior art, in which palms are all of the same variety and height, and are spaced apart by approximately 20 feet;
[0025] FIG. 2 is a side view of a single row of palms in an embodiment of the present invention in which the variety of the palms is alternated between a tall variety and a short variety, the palms being spaced apart by approximately 10 feet;
[0026] FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a grove of palms in an embodiment of the present invention in which the variety of the palms is alternated between a tall variety and a short variety, the palms being arranged in a checkerboard pattern of rows and columns and being spaced apart by approximately 16 feet;
[0027] FIG. 4A is a top view of the grove of FIG. 3, the leaf balls being represented as circles for simplicity of illustration;
[0028] FIG. 4B is a top view of a grove in an embodiment where the palms of alternating height are arranged hexagonally and spaced apart by approximately 12 feet, the leaf balls being represented as circles for simplicity of illustration;
[0029] FIG. 5A is a perspective view of a single row of palms according to an embodiment in which the grade at which the palms are planted is alternated by building up the ground beneath every other palm;
[0030] FIG. 5B is a perspective view of a single row of palms according to an embodiment in which the grade at which the palms are planted is alternated by excavating the ground beneath every other palm;
[0031] FIG. 6 is a side view of an embodiment of the present invention in which the palms are arranged in terraced rows, the palms in each row being approximately of the same height, while the heights of successive terraces increase to a maximum, and then decrease again;
[0032] FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the embodiment of FIG. 6, illustrating the morning exposure of the palm grove to sunlight; and
[0033] FIG. 8 is a perspective view of an embodiment where the palms are configured in a combined checkerboard and terraced arrangement, where the leaf balls are represented as spheres for ease of illustration.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0034] The present invention is a method of increasing the number of coconuts that can be harvested per acre of land from the palms of a coconut farm grove. The method includes planting coconut palms more closely together than 20 feet, while avoiding interference between the leaves of adjacent palms by varying the heights of the leaf balls at the tops of the palms.
[0035] With reference to FIGS. 2-3, in embodiments the heights of adjacent palms are varied, at least in part, by alternating the varieties of the coconut palms that are planted. For example, with reference to FIG. 2, the leaf balls of dwarf varieties 200, such as Malaysian or Fiji dwarf palms, will generally be entirely beneath the leaves of adjacent tall varieties 202, such as Solomon Islands, Rennell, or Malaysian tall palms, thereby allowing them to be alternated in rows of palms 200, 202 with a spacing of less than 20 feet. FIG. 2 illustrates a single row of palms 200, 202 according to the illustrated embodiment, while FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an entire grove of the palms 200, 202 in a checkerboard configuration where the heights of the leaf balls are alternated in both the rows and columns of the grove, with each of the palms being surrounded by four nearest neighbor palms. FIG. 4A us a view from above of the grove of FIG. 3, where the upper portions of the palms 200, 202 are indicated as circles for clarity of illustration. In the illustrated embodiment, the spacing between palms 200, 202 is reduced from 20 feet to approximately 16 feet, allowing the leaf balls of the shorter palms 200 to nearly touch the trunks of the neighboring taller palms 202. This approach can increase the yield per acre by approximately 50%.
[0036] FIG. 4B is a top view similar to FIG. 4A of an embodiment in which the palms are arranged in staggered rows, forming a hexagonal pattern of palms, with each of the palms being surrounded by six nearest neighbor palms. It can be seen in FIG. 4B that the leaf balls of the adjacent palms 200, 202 overlap sufficiently for the leaf balls of the shorter palms 200 to nearly touch the trunks of the taller palms 202.
[0037] With reference to FIGS. 5A and 5B, in embodiments the heights of the leaf balls of the palms 202 are varied, at least in part, by grading the land on which at least some of the palms 202 are planted. This approach can be applied to a grove that includes only one variety of palm, or it can be used to further enhance the height differences between the leaf balls of adjacent palms 202, 500 of different varieties. For example, in the embodiment of FIG. 5A, interference between adjacent palms 202 of the same height is avoided by raising the grade 502 of the ground beneath every other palm 202 by about 10 feet.
[0038] With reference to FIG. 5B, grading the land on which the palms are planted can enable the leaf balls of palms of a tall variety 202 to fully overlap the leaf balls of adjacent hybrid palms 500 having an intermediate height between the tall 202 and dwarf 200 palm varieties. Interference between palms of the same height can be avoided by providing sufficient changes to the grade heights beneath adjacent palms. Varying or alternating the grade of adjacent palms can also have the benefit of avoiding interference between their roots. For example, with continuing reference to FIG. 5B, if every other palm 500 in a row is a hybrid palm planted in a recessed location 502 that has been excavated to a level that is about five feet below the planting grade 504 of adjacent tall varieties 202, interference between the leaves of adjacent palms 202, 500 can be avoided, while at the same time causing the roots of the hybrid palms 500 to extend at a depth that is well below the roots of the tall palms 202.
[0039] Coconut palms are generally grown in areas of intense sunlight. Accordingly, with reference again to FIGS. 4A and 4B, in some embodiments where the palms are planted in a checkerboard or hexagonal pattern, with the heights of the palms 200, 202 being alternated in each row and also between adjacent rows, the palms having their leaf balls at the lower elevation 200 receive sufficient sunlight to meet their needs, even though they receive direct sunlight only during a limited duration near the middle of each day when the sun is approximately overhead, while receiving less light at other times of day due to being in the partial shadow of the adjacent, higher palms 202. If the taller palms 202 are of a variety that is more resistant to intense light and heat, this may even help to protect the shorter palms 200 from over exposure to the sun.
[0040] With reference to FIGS. 6 and 7, in other embodiments coconut palms 202 of the same variety, or of varieties having approximately the same heights, are planted on terraced land 600, such that each row of palms 202 is elevated above the next. According to this approach, the palms 202 within a row are planted at a uniform grade about 20 feet from each other. However, the terraced rows can be within 10 to 12 feet of each other, thereby nearly doubling the coconut yield per acre. In these embodiments, the roots of each palm 202 will grow outward to the edge 602 of its terrace 600 in one direction, while spreading unrestricted to the sides and inward in the other direction, while the terracing ensures that the roots from adjacent terraces do not interfere with each other. The approach of FIG. 4 has the advantages of nearly doubling the yield per acre, while allowing the planting of only one variety of palm 202, and causing all of the palms 202 to receive approximately the same amount of direct sunlight 700 per day, especially when the terraces extend approximately in a north-south direction.
[0041] The effect of terracing the palms, as illustrated in FIG. 6, is essentially to arrange the leaf balls in a tilted plane 604. In the example of FIG. 6, the leaf balls are separated from each other in the tilted plane 604 by approximately 20 feet. However, due to the tilt of the plane 604, the horizontal spacing between the trunks in the terraced direction is much less than 20 feet.
[0042] With reference to FIG. 8, embodiments combine the checkerboard or hexagonal approach with the terraced approach by alternating the heights of the leaf balls along each row 800, while successively raising the grade height of each row in the terraced direction 802, thereby tilting the plane 604 of the checkerboard or staggered hexagon pattern, and enabling the spacing between the trunks of the palms 202 to be reduced. In some embodiments, for example by terracing a hexagonal pattern of palms, the horizontal spacing between the trunks can be reduced to less than 10 feet in the terraced direction 802.
[0043] The foregoing description of the embodiments of the invention has been presented for the purposes of illustration and description. Each and every page of this submission, and all contents thereon, however characterized, identified, or numbered, is considered a substantive part of this application for all purposes, irrespective of form or placement within the application. This specification is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in light of this disclosure.
[0044] Although the present application is shown in a limited number of forms, the scope of the disclosure is not limited to just these forms, but is amenable to various changes and modifications. The present application does not explicitly recite all possible combinations of features that fall within the scope of the disclosure. The features disclosed herein for the various embodiments can generally be interchanged and combined into any combinations that are not self-contradictory without departing from the scope of the disclosure. In particular, the limitations presented in dependent claims below can be combined with their corresponding independent claims in any number and in any order without departing from the scope of this disclosure, unless the dependent claims are logically incompatible with each other.
