New Vine Drought Watering

[CTDrew]

Here in my part of Connecticut we have been without rain for almost 30 days and as a result the soil is getting very dry, almost powder! Normally we have about an inch a week here through July, so irrigation has never been something I've thought too much about.

Anyway, my question is how far around the base of new vines should I be watering? You can see in the photo I've been watering deeply about 3 feet around the base of the vines.

My logic is that the vines haven't spread their roots very far to the sides yet so there is no need to water in between. I only have 15 new vines so I can put more water in the row if folks think that would be smart.

I'd like to hear what others think.

 

[RedSun]

That is already plenty water for now. I'd want to get rid of the grass near the plant.

The other way to know how moist the soil is, stick a finger down in the soil; or use a weed wacker to get some soil out. Then you can assess the moist level.

 

[mjrisenhoover]

Someone told me that the roots will go to where the water is, that is why I put my drip irrigation emitters off to one side so the roots would be encouraged to grow more. But that was when there was water in California.

 

[CTDrew]

Thanks much for the input.

To RedSun I burned off a 5 foot wide strip with Roundup last year so that is the dead grass area. I left it undisturbed as we have very deep sandy soil here so there was no need to loosen. I think my phone camera distorted the scale a bit.

To mjrisenhoover I have a whole new appreciation for water after this spring. I wish you the best with the west coast drought!

To redirect a bit from my initial question, watering deeply less often should make the roots go deeper down in the soil. By only watering the three foot diameter am I causing the roots not to spread side to side as much as they should? Or does it not really matter and the side roots will fill in next year?

 

[ibglowin]

You water deeply so you can water less often. The roots will do their own thing in between waterings. The vines should struggle a bit after they get established in order to make a better grape.

 

[CTDrew]

We had 4 inches of rain over the last two days so we seem to be back on track rain wise. It made up for the month with no rain. Thanks again for the answers.