We had a beautiful Thanksgiving weekend, and a lot to give thanks for. We’ve had only a few days of showers post-harvest, just enough to turn the hills and cover crops in the vineyards a vibrant green in contrast to the few remaining yellow, brown and rust-colored leaves on the vines.
We followed a year of low rainfall with another relatively dry year. Lucky for us, we had neither a hot summer nor a heavy crop in 2007. Next spring, if the soil profile is not refilled naturally, we will irrigate. That’s where our neutron probes are very helpful, helping us to determine the extent of soil moisture and how much we need to add when the ground isn’t saturated.
Still, despite the many advantages of drip irrigation (low, precise and efficient water use, weed suppression), it’s not as if you replenish the whole soil with just two emitters per plant. So there is some flow of moisture away from the artificially replenished areas toward the dry middle of the row. We start taking readings early in the year to assess our situation.
At bloom (flowering) time, we want adequate soil moisture to prevent stress. We also watch the leaf canopy. We want it to be supportable given the season conditions we must respond to.
I hear more and more these days about wells running dry. Fortunately, we don’t irrigate very much. Water needs vary from vineyard site to site, and we have the tools to understand how it varies, so we’re very judicious in water use.
We’re also lucky in Carneros to have secondary treated water (tertiary is high quality potable water) available for irrigation. And the county is working on all the filtration to provide tertiary water in the near future. We realize what a precious resource water is. Part of our sustainable philosophy of farming is to be good stewards of water, too. It’s one way to give thanks.
POST A COMMENT
RSS Feed
February 7th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
This post caught my attention…water is a declining resource. It is great that you are effectively managing the resource and using recycled water. I presume that the recycled water has no impact on the wine quality.
February 7th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
So far we are seeing good replenishment of the ground water and in the levels of our reservoirs which is definitely a good sign. Sufficient water resources can make or break a vintage. We focus not only on capturing water in our reservoirs but also striving - to eliminate soil erosion.
We have been using water treated by the county for several years now for irrigating our vineyards in Carneros and rely on it as a key component of our water management program.