Total maintenance area -- i.e. the buffer around a tree row within which management activities such as mowing occur -- can be estimated by:
First creating a grid section.
Selecting your tree template then setting between row spacing to equal the desired maintenance area.
Inserting a placeholder template between every other rows of trees.
Navigating to Inspect: The corresponding area value for the tree crop is equal to the maintenance area.
Let's walk through an example.
Say you are alley cropping chestnuts and another crop, with chestnuts spaced 40 ft between rows with a 20 ft maintenance area (10 ft on either side of the tree row), and the remaining 20 ft of alleyway planted in another crop.
1. First create your grid of chestnuts.
2. Next, adjust between-row spacing to equal the maintenance area -- in this case 20ft.
3. Select every other row and assign a placeholder crop template.
4. Total maintenance area is equal to the acreage of chestnuts (see Inspect panel). In this example, your maintenance area is 1.55 acres.
