Cover Crop Irrigation

[VictorV]

Hi Everyone,
I'm planning on planting a cover crop this year and I'm having a heck of a time trying to determine how to water it.
I am using drip for my vines so overhead watering of everything doesn't make sense. I've looked into drip tape
but I would need such an unbelievable amount of it to get full coverage for the 6-foot wide cover crop area between
the vineyard rows (vines spaced 8 feet apart). I've thought about micro sprinklers but I think it would be hard to prevent
watering the vines at the same time. I've even considered a big water tank on my tractor with a 5' wide piece of pipe
with holes in it that I would drive down each row every couple of weeks. There must be a better way.

Has anyone else figured this out already?

Victor

 

[srcorndog]

why do you want a cover crop under your vines the cover crop will compete with your vines

 

[VictorV]

The cover crop is not directly under the vines. The row spacing is 8 feet. There is a 1-foot buffer on either side of the row so the cover crop is
6 feet wide in the middle between the rows.

 

[Vincent Williams]

What is the purpose of your cover crop? I've always been taught that they are to help reduce vigor in the vines by competing for the water.

 

[VictorV]

Cover crop keeps weeds out (once established) and provides nitrogen and organic material to the soil. Our soil
does not have much organic material. It also prevents erosion. Our soil is considered "loamy sand" so it's
basically like a beach and therefore the dirt blows all over during the windstorms we get several times per
year.

 

[srcorndog]

All I can say for living in West Georgia USA my vineyard was my cow pasture I have grass between my rows I mow very low with my zero turn mower I winter it with clover heat hits it dies returning nitrogen to my soil. I also spread cow poop from my barn on my rows to return the soil to a rich stage you will need to do a soil test to determine the quality of your soil

 

[Dennis Griffith]

A mix of creeping red Fescue and Ladino white clover or medium red clover should work well enough, but this depends on your location.