Plastic Mulch?

[willjayc]

Putting in my first vines, about 42 of them. I was planning on clean cultivating immediately around them then cutting grass in between the rows but have been put on to the idea of using some poly mulch to keep the weeds down. I don't really like the idea of the plastic for environmental reasons but it probably saves fuel and herbicides in the long run for weed management. Anyone have any thoughts or experience?

 

[grapeman]

If you have a manageable amount of vines hand howing is a fairly efficient way of keeping the area under the vines clear. Mowing grass strips between keeps the weeds under control in those areas between rows. I have done hundreds of vines with a hoe and it is non-stop. If you look at my Vineyard from the Beginning thread you will see I laid plastic mulch for the rows. There is no way I could have kept the strips between vines clean by hand on almost 4 acres. You will need to balance need and time available to make your decision. I enjoy time spent hoeing and have done it since I was 12 years old. I find it quieting and therapeutic but now that I am almost 60 and am fighting lymphoma, I need to take a bit of a shortcut. .

http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/f25/vineyard-beginning-grapeman-30613/index14.html



That is from last September after one year of growth. The trellis will be going in to the vineyard in a few weeks.

 

[willjayc]

Thanks, once again Grapeman. I think I will sit on the idea for a few more days but I am leaning towards plastic mulch. I have a busy schedule in the summer and I inevitably end up neglecting my gardens somewhat so maybe a time saving device is probably not a bad thing. I absolutely understand the "therapeutic" benefit of some more or less mindless, manual tasks. My father builds houses and I grew up making money on weekends sweeping up all the sawdust, drywall dust and dirt on the floors from construction. Then I worked as a maintenance guy for a hotel as a teen. You'd think I would hate to pick up a broom but I still to this day enjoy sweeping and find it relaxing.

One last questions? How long does your plastic mulch last?

 

[grapeman]

I am only after a year or two of use from this cheap mulch, then you slit it in the middle and pull up and roll it up as you go. We have baling machine available around here for waste agricultural plastic products to keep it out of the general environment. We finally removed the plastic mulch from the Cornell Baker Farm last year after 7 years of use (only planned on that one for a year or two also).

 

[bigdrums2]

Use compost. Any type of mulch isn't the best idea in my opinion.

 

[grapeman]

Compost alone would not keep the weeds away unless you used it as a mulch so what do you mean you mean by this? I assume you mean that compost would make the best mulch. Compost alone will not act as a barrier against weeds because they grow right through it. Compost or any leafy mulch will help the soil in the long run, but increases fertility and can work to increase vigor. Rodents can also use it to burrow around in.

 

[willjayc]

I usually can't produce enough finished compost so I have in the past bought it from the landfill (our county has organics collection). Problem is that it usually comes with seeds so kind of defeats the purpose of a weed barrier IMHO.

 

[bigdrums2]

Right, it will require some work to keep things weeded, but to me it makes more sense because it is a soil additive. Because you are talking about using plastic mulch I am assuming your vineyard isn't too large, otherwise I would think the cost would be enormous. Wood mulches can encourage all types of fungi and disease, so therefore use compost as your mulch and add to the micro soil life. There will be weeds in anything regardless so you will still have to do labor, just help your soil out and it will repay you with healthy vines. Even though I know plastic takes many many years to decompose, I just can't see it being a good thing around the soil that feeds any plant, which feeds you.

 

[grapeman]

An acre of vines is 43560 square feet divided by 8 feet equals 5445 feet of row, so one single 6000 foot roll will do an acre allowing for a bit of waste at ends. A 6000 foot roll is between $150-200 so I hardly think the cost is enormous. Since the plastic is basically inert and will be removed before the vines bear, they aren't much of a cause of contamination of the soil.

The original poster asked about plastic for weed control. The idea of compost (while great for the soil) does nothing to address the weed problem and by your admission adds to the weed seeds.

As far as the last statement, almost anything can contaminate the soil, even compost. A member here on the forum (through no fault of his)has a small farm he bought which had a couple areas contaminated by composted manure which was from hay fed to horses from alongside the road which had been sprayed with an herbicide. Almost anything CAN hurt the sloil so we all need to be diligent about our own growing areas and keeping them clean and safe.

 

[Pat57]

I saw something in a book about using flat rocks for groundcover between and under grape vines. I plan on trying them since I have a free and unlimited source of them not far from here. They are about 3/4"-1 1/2" thick. A little work handling and putting them in place, but after that they will definitely stop the weeds. My soil is sandy loam and I get a lot of weeds in my garden. Other than that, I would probably use a 2-3" layer of untreated hardwood bark or perhaps composted bark.

Pat

 

[blumentopferde]

I saw something in a book about using flat rocks for groundcover between and under grape vines. I plan on trying them since I have a free and unlimited source of them not far from here. They are about 3/4"-1 1/2" thick. A little work handling and putting them in place, but after that they will definitely stop the weeds. My soil is sandy loam and I get a lot of weeds in my garden. Other than that, I would probably use a 2-3" layer of untreated hardwood bark or perhaps composted bark.

Pat

I've heard that bark would redraw nitrogen from the soil during its decomposition and should be combined with horn choppings to blance the nitogen loss. Don't know whether this is necessary in a vineyard though...

 

[pg55]

One thing I like to do when doing mulch in a garden is to lay down newspaper first. I need to get back to that habit again. I guess that is part of my problem is that i want to treat grape vine growing like I do my vegetable garden.

 

[bigdrums2]

One thing I like to do when doing mulch in a garden is to lay down newspaper first. I need to get back to that habit again. I guess that is part of my problem is that i want to treat grape vine growing like I do my vegetable garden.

I do that with my vegetables. It's a good idea.

 

[willjayc]

I also have used newspaper for veggies for many years. Works well.....maybe worth considering for some vines, never even thought of it. I however used to use STRAW over the paper to weigh it down and eventually add some organic matter. Problem is when you don't get good straw and it has seed in it then it can be a disaster! I have also used cardboard to get rid of sod by laying it over the grass for a season then just till it in the following season. Beats the hell out of trying to till it if you've got the time!

And as Grapeman said, plastic mulch isn't that expensive. For less than $50 I could buy a roll to do my 42 vines and have tons leftover.

Thanks for everyone's input. It's given me some things to think about.