Hello and Welcome
back!!
After a long,
seemingly endless winter’s respite, we are back in the vineyard business. We
know this because we saw bud break in the vineyard on April 16th! This is about
6 days earlier than last year. The key point about bud break is to check the
tender new growth for winter freeze injury or mite damage. Fortunately, we are
free of both of these blights. The real key vineyard date is flowering, usually
in mid-June. Stay tuned.
The vineyard has
wintered over well. The fall cover crop of Oats and Peas took nicely. This
combination helps us in many ways including holding the soil on the hill in
spite of the 35.87 inches of rain we received from October 2009 through March
2010. For those of you new to this report, each inch of rain represents about
27,500 gallons of water per acre.
This fall we
received about 986,425 gallons of rainfall per acre and a stunning 29.35
million gallons of water for the entire vineyard. This turns out to be
about 680 gallons of water per vine. These winter rains also leach the nitrogen
from the soil. Read on to learn how we replenish this vital nutrient.
The Oats and
Peas cover crop combination also helps us feed the vines by fixing nitrogen in
the soil. Peas are a legume and are the primary source of nitrogen. They "fix"
nitrogen right out of the air and it is seen as small nodules on the roots.
However, Peas will only fix nitrogen in the soil where there is a deficiency.
Here is where the Oats come into play. The Oats take up nitrogen from the soil
as they grow, creating a deficit for the Peas to replenish. This cycle is
similar to a solar panel and a battery. The solar panel can create energy, but
needs a battery to store it. And of course, nicely drilled vineyard cover crop
looks nice. Who knew agronomy could be so exciting?!
But alas, all good
things must come to an end. The winter cover crop has been turned into the soil.
Now the real work begins. All of the nitrogen rich plant material and fibrous
roots will be composted "in situ" between the vine rows. As many of you know,
Ernie thinks of the soil as the plant’s stomach, and this is his way of feeding
our vines.
But wait, there's
more! If you take a closer look, you will see a new Spring cover crop beginning
to emerge. It is the summer special of Buckwheat and Vetch. This combination is
also a helpful blend to help the vines uptake of phosphorus (a macronutrient
along with nitrogen and potassium), as well as nitrogen from the Vetch. Check
for new photos in the May report.
Now, onto the
details of the first period of the growing season. April 1st is the start of the
growing season and this is day 91 for the Julian calendar year 2010. We have
accumulated 5.32 inches of rain since the 1st of April and that is
4.01 inches more than the 1.31 inches during the same period in 2009. Q1 2010
rainfall was 17.55 inches and was 4.14 inches more than the 13.41 inches of rain
for Q1 2009. The historical 30 year average for Q1 is 19.72 inches of rain, or
536,384 gallons per acre.
We
have recorded 2.72 degree days for April 2010. Our highest high was 73.9
and our lowest high was 70.4. Our lowest low was 29.3 and our highest low was
30.9 degrees Fahrenheit. For comparison, we did record 10 degree days in 2009,
but no degree days for April 2008 or April 2007; about 25 degree days for April
2006 and 49 degree days for April 2005.
Well, that pretty
much puts a wrap around April, 2010. In what is seeming to be a year of change
and uncertainty, (this describes every year if you farm the land), we are
reminded of the immortal words (and illustrations by Norman Mingo) of Alfred E.
Neuwman: "What, me worry?"
You may not know,
Mr. Neuwman has also run for the office of the President several times under
write-in candidate status (with his name misspelled) with the slogan "You could
do worse... and you always have!" http://madcoversite.com/mad218.html
For more
inspiration, and a tip on how to remove gum from a shag carpet, you can follow
this link: http://www.dccomics.com/mad/?action=faq
Kindest Regards,
Ernie
