Vineyard Mulch

[ChuckD]

I have a small vineyard (50 going on 80 vines) in Northeast Wisconsin that I planted last year. I sprayed a two-foot wide strip in the rows and I hoed to keep it relatively weed-free last year. This year I will be putting up the trellis and I wanted to mulch.

Can I use old sawdust and shavings? I do a lot of woodworking so I have piles of the stuff sitting around outside… some of it is many years old. Do you mulch? Just around the vine or the whole row under the wires? What material do you recommend?

 

[balatonwine]

Mulch is great for your vegetable garden. Keeps the soil moist for your veggies so they can stay lush and prevent blossom end rot on your tomatoes. Even if wood mulch attracts slugs.

As for vines, ideally you want the roots to grow deep, to seek deep water. Adding mulch may increase surface moisture, which creates surface roots that may make the vines not only weak if there is any surface drought, but also exposes such roots to winter frost kill. Deep roots are fairly immune to winter frost.

Vines actually like to be tilled. Which is why there are so many specific (and expensive) tractor attachments to till under the vine rows. Personally, I till under the vines with a wheel hoe. It is actually quite fast. And I have a lot more vines than you have....

 

[Ohio Bob]

If I recall correctly, sawdust, wood chips, will suck the nitrogen out of the soil. I remember hearing it was good for laying in pathways, to keep weeds from germinating.

 

[ChuckD]

If I recall correctly, sawdust, wood chips, will suck the nitrogen out of the soil. I remember hearing it was good for laying in pathways, to keep weeds from germinating.

Yes wood is low in N so it sequesters a lot as it decays. I believe once it’s aged a little the problem isn’t too bad.

I have seen several bulletins about mulching the vines and I wasn’t sure if that is standard practice here or not. I see some commercial vineyards here that mulch and some that seem to use chemical weed control. A few just let grass grow in the trellis rows, but these seem to be
More mature vines.

@balatonwine I think the average annual rainfall in my area is about 30” and my soil is loam so moisture is seldom an issue. I was thinking of mulch mainly for weed and grass suppression. I have grass and clover growing in between the rows that I mow at least twice a month.

 

[Hazelemere]

I have a small vineyard (50 going on 80 vines) in Northeast Wisconsin that I planted last year. I sprayed a two-foot wide strip in the rows and I hoed to keep it relatively weed-free last year. This year I will be putting up the trellis and I wanted to mulch.

Can I use old sawdust and shavings? I do a lot of woodworking so I have piles of the stuff sitting around outside… some of it is many years old. Do you mulch? Just around the vine or the whole row under the wires? What material do you recommend?

Use your sawdust between plants in the row to shut down weeds but keep the rows clean so the ground can warm up which won't happen as much if you mulch everything.

I use fertilized grass clippings to mulch between plants and rototill early and hoe late to keep the rows black and clean to absorb sunlight and heat up

 

[ChuckD]

Use your sawdust between plants in the row to shut down weeds but keep the rows clean so the ground can warm up which won't happen as much if you mulch everything.

Are you saying you mulch the rows (under the trellis wires) but leave a clear area around each vine? Or that you mulch in the lanes between the rows?

 

[Rice_Guy]

your extension station on Mineral Point Rd with WGG had a workshop this afternoon (you might want to contact them/ watch for future programs). The grapes are mulched with wood chips. One of their comments is that Dane county soil is rich which promotes wild growth which translates into more work pruning. If you have sandy lake region sandy soil you probably need the nitrogen, otherwise it shouldn’t hurt using a wood product.

 

[ChuckD]

your extension station on Mineral Point Rd with WGG had a workshop this afternoon (you might want to contact them/ watch for future programs). The grapes are mulched with wood chips. One of their comments is that Dane county soil is rich which promotes wild growth which translates into more work pruning. If you have sandy lake region sandy soil you probably need the nitrogen, otherwise it shouldn’t hurt using a wood product.

Thanks. I think the ag research station in Door County also has a viniculture program. I’ve seen some of their (UW Extension) publications but haven’t seen anywhere to sign up for updates. I’ll reach out to see if there is an email list I can get on.

I try to look critically at vine management recommendations. I generally put more weight on research from the the Finger Lakes region and Midwest sources versus California.

My soils are fairly heavy (not sandy) but I never did have soil testing done. I’m going to remedy that this week.

 

[Rice_Guy]

A place to start; , , , fruit.Wisconsin.edu, ,,, then Wisconsin Grape Growers which organizes several events a year.

* I haven't hunted enough for links but there should be a “fruit news” email every two weeks which has stories on grape, apple, strawberry etc, There is a page on fungicides which should have organics like sulfurx and chemicals like mancozeb (they are running vineyard blocks testing organic vs chemical). There is a UW YouTube channel where plant pathology has posted clips as ”which chemicals tank mix/ spray together” or “Thermopsis identification” (Leslie Holland/ extension)
* Purdue has a Midwest Pest Management Guide available as hard copy or PDF
* Cornell put out an organic guide in 2022
* For this climate they expect winter damage over a ten year period so everything is pruned with two stems from ground level to make it faster to recover a lost cordon. At GB petite Pearl is hard to ripen so they prune hard as ten fruiting spots with one fruiting bud per cordon.
* I should stop twisting cordons on the wire and use a rubber band clip which someone was selling at the January WGG meeting. There also is a tool to put on something like a bag tie holding cordons
* Michigan and Minnesota have larger enology/ cold climate grape programs.
* I have seen some Door co field station data on ripening ~ variety of grape

 

[Hazelemere]

Are you saying you mulch the rows (under the trellis wires) but leave a clear area around each vine? Or that you mulch in the lanes between the rows?

I mulch a strip about 1 foot east and 1 foot west of a vines planted north south on a wired canopy i.e. 1 wire at trunk height and pairs of wires about every foot above trunk height. On 7 foot spacing between rows leaves about 5 feet bare between the rows for rototilling early season and hoeing late season e.g. rototilling fertilizer into the soil. The mulch breaks down and is replaced every year. I use slow release lawn fertilizer so the grass clippings mulch contains some nutrients. This works really well on young vines because they don't dry out as much in a hot summer.

 

[balatonwine]

If I recall correctly, sawdust, wood chips, will suck the nitrogen out of the soil.

Actually, the wood does no such thing. Rather the micro organisms that decay the wood as they grow and reproduce to decay the wood take up local Nitrogen so they can grow. But eventually a balance is found and the decomposition actually starts to add Nitrogen to the soil as Nitrogen from the wood gets released. So blame the funga, not the flora (i.e. dead wood)

I remember hearing it was good for laying in pathways, to keep weeds from germinating.

Any mulch, even wood, mostly prevents weeds by suppressing sunlight. Which is why you need to add a thick layer. You can also mulch with fully decomposed compost only to suppress weeds (the "No Dig" garden method). Wood for pathways simply looks nice and lasts a long time before needing updates. Some also use it under a lot of shrubs for the same reason.

Hope this helps

 

[balatonwine]

Are you saying you mulch the rows (under the trellis wires) but leave a clear area around each vine? Or that you mulch in the lanes between the rows?

I personally read "between plants in the row" as mulching the aisle as he later stated the benefit of keeping the row clean, which was the next part I also agree with. Bare soil under the vines also can often store and reflect daytime sun heat at night. Helping grapes ripen.

 

[balatonwine]

A few just let grass grow in the trellis rows, but these seem to be More mature vines.

I tried this for awhile. It greatly reduced vine vigor. Which, for me, was bad. Went back to tilling the rows.

But... For those with very vigorous vines, it may be actually an asset.

 

[ChuckD]

I tried this for awhile. It greatly reduced vine vigor. Which, for me, was bad. Went back to tilling the rows.

But... For those with very vigorous vines, it may be actually an asset.

I’ll probably keep the strip under the trellis bare for now, at least until the vines mature. I’ve never seen a vineyard in the Midwest U.S. till the lanes. They all maintain grass cover. For me, water is plentiful. The problem will be accumulating enough growing degree days and avoiding early frost.

 

[balatonwine]

@balatonwine I think the average annual rainfall in my area is about 30” and my soil is loam so moisture is seldom an issue. I was thinking of mulch mainly for weed and grass suppression. I have grass and clover growing in between the rows that I mow at least twice a month.

Physical weed control is mostly by light suppression. Cheapest weed suppression is cardboard. You can often get large amounts free. If you want to toss some wood chips or sawdust on top to keep the wind from blowing it away and making it look nice that would be your best option and you would need far far fewer wood waste simply with a first layer of cardboard. If you have crab grass, bind weed, or similar deep running invasive plants (and who does not) you will need to edge your mulched area and then probably hand weed from time to time. As no mulch will prevent them completely.

And you loose my above mentioned possible benefits of tilling the vines (or gain if you want to suppress vigor).

Hope this helps.

 

[ChuckD]

Physical weed control is mostly by light suppression. Cheapest weed suppression is cardboard. You can often get large amounts free. If you want to toss some wood chips or sawdust on top to keep the wind from blowing it away and making it look nice that would be your best option and you would need far far fewer wood waste simply with a first layer of cardboard. If you have crab grass, bind weed, or similar deep running invasive plants (and who does not) you will need to edge your mulched area and then probably hand weed from time to time. As no mulch will prevent them completely.

And you loose my above mentioned possible benefits of tilling the vines (or gain if you want to suppress vigor).

Hope this helps.

This has been helpful.

I have used cardboard in the garden with good results. Four or five layers of newspaper is just as good.

With the number of vines I have, I think I’ll just continue to hoe the weeds around the vines but I may mulch with wood waste over newspaper between the vines under the trellis ( I have 7’ vine spacing. I do have crabgrass but quack grass is a bigger problem here.

This year I have to install the posts and trellis wires. Build a small addition to the house, and finish the new shed. It’s going to be a busy summer.

 

[wood1954]

Find a mega dairy farm that has a digester, they usually sell the dried remains really cheap and there is no nutrients left, I used some seven years ago and it is still there, there’s nothing left for fungi to eat so it lasts a long time. I recently transplanted two vines and was surprised there were a lot of roots very close to the main stem, you might want to use a more permeable weed barrier