Establishing a new vineyard is not just about planting new grafts. Proper planting requires many predetermined steps after removing the old vineyard, and you must not skip any of them. We have prepared a series of blogs for you, where we will guide you through the individual steps as we complete the planting of our new vineyard. We plan to plant the Slovak new breeder Dunaj.
Part 1: Removing the old vine and preparing the soil
In the winter of 2019/2020, our aging vineyard looked like this:
The exhausted and thinned trunks were languishing, hardly yielding any harvest. An important decision was made: we would remove the vineyard and plant a new one. In the spring of 2020, we laboriously cut out the trunks, removed the old support structures and pillars. We plowed the soil superficially, collected the uprooted roots. In the summer and autumn, we repeatedly turned the soil over and plowed the green growth. How to properly prepare the soil for a new vineyard?
The aim of establishing vineyards should not only be to achieve rapid and high fertility, but also to ensure the longevity of vine plantings. The short lifespan of many plantings is not only a consequence of a decline in the condition and a large loss of bushes due to the attack of a complex of diseases, but also of an inconsistent procedure for preparing the soil before planting and a subsequent soil treatment system that is inappropriate for the specific conditions of the site.
First of all, it is important to realize that when renovating vineyards that have been conventionally grown as a monoculture for decades, soil preparation must be very thorough and cannot be fooled. One of the biggest drawbacks is the extremely short period between the destruction of the old vineyard and the new planting. It depends on how we understand the term "soil fatigue" and, consequently, how we think we can eliminate it. The idea that it is only the application of high doses of industrial and organic fertilizers is very wrong and short-sighted.
Old vineyards are very likely to be infected with viruses, bacteria, and wood-destroying fungi that survive in the soil on root residues even after the vineyard has been uprooted. The soil contains numerous populations of pests, especially soil nematodes, which, among other things, are the main carriers of viruses. It is necessary to remove not only the above-ground part of the vines with part of the uprooted root system from the old vineyard, but also to uproot and remove as much of the root residues as possible as a possible source of infection for young vine seedlings. In the past, it was recommended to wait 5 years between new plantings after the vineyard has been uprooted. Does that seem like a long time? Bacterial infections caused by Agrobacterium tumefaciens survive in the soil for up to 5 years. Agrobacterium vitis survives in the soil for "only" 2 years. But even that is probably a lot. Therefore, some vineyards that have been neglected and untreated for many years are being restored by replanting them the year after they were uprooted. It may be true that if the newly planted vines have enough nutrients and water, and quality planting material has been used, it may not seem like a disaster at first glance. But what will happen in 10 or 20 years, if they live to see them?
Pre-planting soil preparation primarily means adjusting the content of basic macroelements, adjusting the soil pH and increasing the humus content by organic fertilization. The state of monitored nutrients in the soil is a reflection of the nutrition and fertilization of the previous vineyard or the previous crop. While until the 1980s, vineyards were over-fertilized with high doses of nutrients in inappropriate proportions, in the following period they were rather insufficiently fertilized, or even not fertilized at all. The state of nutrients in the soil can therefore be low, even very low, for some elements. The doses of basic fertilization fertilizers before planting the vines in such a case can represent a quantity of several tons per hectare. Optimal incorporation and distribution of such high doses of fertilizers requires division into two or even three stages with the possibility of alternating sowing of mixtures for green fertilization as the most available source of organic matter. This certainly cannot be done in one year.
Organic fertilization, increasing the humus content, is an integral part of pre-planting soil preparation. The idea of applying 100 to 150 tons of manure per hectare is more of an illusion than a real possibility nowadays. The solution is composts, which, depending on the quality and nutrient content, can be applied in lower doses. The goal of organic fertilization is to achieve a humus level in vineyard soils of at least 1.5% (lighter soils) - 2.5% (heavier soils). The humus content in soils managed by long-term cultivation in monoculture vine growing and neglect of organic fertilization has in many cases dropped below 1%.
On soils with low pH and a tendency to acidify, maximum attention must be paid to pH adjustment and subsequent maintenance liming. It is not enough to simply adjust the pH to a neutral reaction before planting. Calcium fertilization is not only a means of modifying the soil environment, because calcium, along with nitrogen and potassium, is the most depleted macronutrient by vines. Long-term neglect of maintenance liming not only leads to a deterioration in the nutritional and health status of the vine, but can also cause a significant drop in soil pH to critically low values.
Before preparing the soil for planting, we determined the condition of the soil profile and soil quality by digging probes to a depth of 150 cm and conducting a soil expert assessment - determining the soil type and describing individual horizons.
Soil profile typical of the Little Carpathians
This was followed by the collection of average soil samples (from a depth of 0-30 cm and 30-60 cm) and delivery to the agricultural laboratory for physical and chemical analysis, which will serve to determine the need for optimal fertilization.
In our next part you will learn how to properly fertilize and irrigate :D