ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 30 -- United States Patent no. 12,426,551, issued on Sept. 30.
"In-ground clustering for plants" was invented by David L. Cohn (Ojai, Calif.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A method and system for managing bearing plants so that their in-ground portions (e.g., root-zones) are clustered together to improve water-use effectiveness; and training their above-ground structures such that their above-ground structures have the wider spacing they require. It is applicable to plants (e.g., vine-like plants including wine grapes) whose trunks can be oriented at an angle other than vertical or which can be otherwise shaped so that their distal ends are not centered above their in-g...