The Bezzerides Berm Rake is an apparatus for removing weeds, prunings, and trash from along row crops and between adjoining trees or vines within the row while traveling along the row.
The cultivation, harvesting, and pruning of row crops have been substancially mechanized for nearly all types of crops. The trash produced in other mechanized operations has, for the most part, simply been scattered randomly throughout the area with the greatest accumulation being around the bases of the plants. The trash falling between the rows can easily be cleaned or disced in the soil, but that falling adjacent to the trees or vines within the row has been removed using manual labor. Most mechanical devises damage the trunks of the vines and trees and penetrate the outer epidermal layer of the trunks providing access for pests and hazardous substances to the interior of the plants.

The Bezzerides Berm Rake works between the rows and also moves in and out around the vines and trees cleaning out the weeds and trash. The Berm Rake is fully adjustable and requires no auxiliary power source other than the vehicle on which it is mounted. The equipment is ground driven and the rake wheel is pulled in and out with hydraulic rams.

This is a picture of the Berm Rake with the orchard sweeping option. The difference is that this particular wheel has a chain attached to the outside rim. It is used primarily for sweeping trash out of the furrow.

The first pass through works half of each side of a row, the next pass works the other side of the row just worked, plus half of the next row. Forty to fifty acres a day may easily be worked. Some growers have reported to working 60 to 70 acres in one day. The Berm Rake may be operated up to 5 to 7 m.p.h., even in extremely hard soil conditions when used with the Bezzerides Vine and Tree Weeders, leaving a weed free area around the vines or trees.

The Bezzerides Vine and Tree Weeders are mounted on a heavy bracket that is hydraulically controlled to move them in, away from the row, or out, to make them more aggressive. By adding more leaves on the weeder assembly it makes the unit stiffer to meet more difficult soil conditions.

If you want to stop using chemicals, and avoid all of the laws restricting them, the Bezzerides Berm Rake your answer to the weed problem. The cost of the equipment is easily returned the first year by saving in chemicals alone. After the initial cost all you have is maintenance. Because of the high quality of our equipment the maintenance is very low.

Vine and Tree Weeder

The problem of weeding and cultivating between growths was always with us until the Bezzerides Vine and Tree Weeder was developed. Tilling and weeding parallel to plants or sweeps, is insufficient for full growth and nourishment. Expensive labor, manually chopping out weeds with hoes is usually necessary.

The Vine and Tree Weeder which magically loosens soils and eradicates weeds between tree, vine, or plant growth, does this needed tillage operation for you. This seemingly miraculous performance is possible because the weeder travels below the surface of the ground. The forward motion of the tool compresses and disturbs the soil while its oscillating spring action loosens and uproots all of the weeds.

You may repeat the Bezzerides weed-killing, soil-tilling operation as often as necessary from first growth until harvest. The Weeder can be readily attached to a variety of tools such as toolbar - cultivators or disc harrows. Thus, you complete several necessary tillage or furrowing operations and get between-plant, weed eradication and soil cultivation at the same time. Obviously, your Vine and Tree Weeder can cut your weeding costs lower than other tools. The Vine and Tree Weeder complete set consists of four, five blade springs with slotted holes and two brackets with necessary attaching bolts and nuts. This assembles into a complete right and left Weeder, each utilizing two, 5-spring, tempered steel blades. A specially-compounded rubber *caster wheel is mounted on the one inch wide end of the 30-inch blade. The four other spring blades are each consecutively graduated to smaller lengths. All blades have matching slotted holes punched in the attaching ends which are 4-inches wide. (*Caster wheels are optional) The full set, of five blades, is generally used when working in hard ground and with mature trees and vines and rank weeds.

When working in young orchards or vineyards where soils are mellow, you may choose to remove No. 2 and No. 4 blades to lessen the tension for efficient soil mulching and uprooting smaller weeds. The complete right and left unit makes it possible to weed and cultivate one half of both rows, at a time. Half sets are available upon request.

Five-blades springs are attached at approximately 45 degree angles to a bracket which operates parallel to the ground. It is held below the soil surface by the downward pressure or weight of the tool to which it is attached. As the tool moves forward, the 5-blade springs oscillate vigorously beneath the surface compressing and disturbing the soil and uprooting noxious weeds. The flexibility of the spring arms together with the rubber caster wheels enable the tool to pass over and around trunks of trees or vines without harming them. The Vine and Tree Weeder has proven its adaptability in a great variety of installations and almost all types of soil. They may be mounted on discs, cultivators, furrowers, toolbars and many other tillage tools.