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 2: Irrigation and fertilization
We started the new year 2021 on our vineyard with the work necessary to improve the soil. We fertilize the surface with mineral substances, the lack of which was revealed during previous soil profile probes, the so-called amelioration dose of potassium, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium and other nutrients, macro- and microelements.
We spread high-quality humus at a rate of 25t/ha onto the surface of the area intended for planting. Humus will improve the quality of the soil, aerate it and enrich it with organic components.
The most important intervention in soil preparation is proper irrigation. With irrigation, we create a suitable environment for the rhizosphere for the entire life of the vineyard (20, 30 or more years). We irrigate the soil to a depth of at least 80 cm. Irrigation at 60 cm is not enough - in this case, after 10-15 years, the planting declines significantly compared to plantings with a deeper and more robust rhizosphere. After proper irrigation at 80 cm, the roots have sufficient depth space, we provide them with a better environment for nutrient uptake, and there are smaller temperature and humidity fluctuations at depth. After irrigation at 60 cm, the rhizosphere is compressed to a narrower horizon, closer to the surface - the planting suffers from temperature and humidity fluctuations (drought), after years, soil fatigue occurs much earlier and thus the decline of the planting, susceptibility to bush dieback...
We set the furrow plow so that the top layer, i.e. the previously fertilized topsoil, reached a depth of 80 cm.
We let the soil "settle" for a few months, followed by gradual weeding and discing of the plot several times.
Besides everything, we collect stones growing out of the ground. And that they were born :D
In the spring, we planted vetch and sedge on the plot, which help retain nitrogen in the soil and the nodule-forming bacteria increase its absorbability for the vines. We occasionally roll the growth and plow it into the soil before planting the vines, where it will serve as green manure.
