# Vineyard purchase



## Fergy57 (Apr 4, 2013)

All, I'm looking at some property in southern Indiana that I would like to grow grapes on and have a question about soil depth. The area is hilly with small bluffs and you can see bedrock in the bluffs coming up pretty close to the surface. When I walked the property one area had exposed rock at the surface. How concerned should I be about soil depth? Anyone have experience with this situation? Thks, ~Fergy


----------



## Fergy57 (Apr 4, 2013)

Here are some photos. One of the property and the other of the exposed rock. I only found three locations where the rock reached the surface and it was at the highest level of the property.


----------



## Pat57 (Apr 5, 2013)

I would be very concerned. If you only have a foot or two of soil you could have problems with the ground drying out very quickly in summer. I would take some random measurements and try to figure out how much soil depth you have. The fact that you do have grass might be an indication that you have adequate soil depth.

Pat


----------



## Brew and Wine Supply (Apr 5, 2013)

grape roots will find their way through any cracks in the rocks. Look at some of the vineyards in Europe where it looks like they are grown in nothing but rock. 
The hard part is setting posts.


----------



## Fergy57 (Apr 7, 2013)

Thanks Pat and Doug, I found out the soil types are Crider Silt Loam and Haggatt Silty Clay. Any geologist out there?? I think the only way I'm going to know about the soil depth is to see if the current owner would mind if I dig a couple of holes...


----------



## grapeman (Apr 7, 2013)

You can use the US Web Soil Survey tool from here http://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov/app/WebSoilSurvey.aspx to select the exact site. It will give you the soil type along with depth, etc. A bit slow but very useful tool for soil surveys. Good luck with it.

P.S.- No geologist here, just a soil science degree.


----------



## saddlebronze (Apr 16, 2013)

Strangely enough I am a geologist as well as a winemaker. Looks like you have limestone bedrock there with red clay oveburden. You should dig a few test pits, backhoe is best but you can dig by hand along a grid to a few feet down. If your bedrock is more than a few feet down, you are probably ok, but test the soils at your local university for grape growing to see if the clay content is too high. Even if you have some bedrock, you can have a dozer with a ripper tooth cut the rows since limestone is usually brittle.


----------

