Patent ID: 8225547

Claim:
A vine plant supporting system for use with a row of vine plants supported in growing media in a vine crop, the system comprising: a track extending in a longitudinal direction so as to be arranged to be supported along the row of vine plants spaced above the growing media; a plurality of vine plant supporting devices supported on the track so as to be spaced apart from one another in series along the track, the vine plant supporting devices being associated with respective vine plants so as to be adapted to suspend the respective vine plants from the track and lay the vine plants along the row of vine plants, each vine plant supporting device comprising: a carrier body supported on the track and being linearly movable in the longitudinal direction along the track; a spool body rotatably supported on the carrier body so as to be movable together with the carrier body linearly along the track and so as to be rotatable relative to the carrier body; and a string wound onto the spool body about an axis of the spool body, the string being adapted to support the vine plant such that the vine plant extends along the string; and a tether interconnecting the carrier bodies of the plurality of vine plant supporting devices which are spaced apart from one another in series along the track; the tether and the carrier bodies connected thereto being linearly movable together along the track; wherein each spool body is coupled to the track such that the spool body is only rotatable about the spool axis relative to the carrier body upon which the spool body is supported responsive to linear displacement of the carrier bodies and the tether longitudinally along the track.