Mulching Mower
Cuts Costs

Vineyard middle management is a challenge in all vineyards. Even when the middles are well controlled, it is clear that undervine weeds are competing with your grapevines for water and soil nutrients. This is especially crucial in the six weeks after bloom when your vines are setting the crop that promises to be your pay check at year's end. Those same weeds further diminish the bottom line by demanding an increased use of water, herbicides and the labor of applying them, or other mechanical means of removing them.

For the past 20 years, Chris Grow, of Chris Grow Engineering in Australia, has been pioneering a mower that works well with the new inter-row management systems that are emerging in the wine grape-growing industry. His mowers optimize cover-crop strategies by discharging unpulverised cover crop residues under your vines in a single pass, reducing weed emergence, labor costs and your water and herbicide needs.

Rainbow is especially proud of its association with Chris' visionary mowing technology, and we've helped him design models that work well in the unique terrain found in Northern California vineyards.

Now built in California, Chris Grow mowers attach to almost any tractor, and fit virtually any row width or contour. The standard range of mowers includes single-spindle, high-tub units from 54" to 76", and twin-spindle units from 54" to 108"; all single-spindle units have dual shredding blades with internally mounted shredding attachments. All dual-spindle units have the ability to be used as shredders or side-discharge mowers.

Beyond the standard offerings, Rainbow can assure delivery of a custom-built mower to accommodate the unique needs of your vineyard.

...that a thick layer of a cellulose-rich mulch will reduce weed emergence by 75%-90%?

...that colloids, the byproduct of the microbial breakdown of cellulose-rich mulches, directly improve deep soil structure?