Tendone

The tendone is a cultivation system native to Southern Italy and mainly used in warm temperate climates, where it is widely employed for table grape production. Its main features are high productivity and protection of the grapes from sunburn thanks to the foliage arranged horizontally on the support wires.

The main limitation of this system is the high management cost due to the difficulty of mechanizing cultural operations. Therefore, the height of the posts above ground should be kept low, so that workers can operate comfortably from the ground.

The structure is built with prestressed concrete or closed-section steel poles, on which plastic caps are installed to fix the wires of the carrying trellis. High-performance vegetation wires are not necessary; Comavit recommends triple zinc-coated wire class A with 10–20% elongation.

The structure is often covered with an anti-rain plastic film to prevent phytosanitary problems on the grape clusters and anticipate fruit ripening.