GRAPE – CULTURE.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume VI, Issue 6, 16 June 1913, Page 654

GRAPE - CULTURE.

S. F. Anderson.

Vine-house Notes for July. All pruning of vines in. the cool-house should be completed this month. Where vine-borders have been mulched with stable manure or other material during the past summer it should now be forked in, provided the weather is suitable. ..If the vines require further manuring a light dressing of bonedust may be first spread over it, and the forking-in proceeded with. In applying artificial manure to vinebordersthat is, those manures other than stable or farmyard manures —the custom has been in most cases to apply them in excess of what the plants can really take up. When this is done, the excess of plant-food they contain is washed away by rain or it sinks down into the lower soil, and, so far as the vine-roots are concerned, is lost. The quantity applied to farm crops is the best guide. With soils of medium quality the usual dressing given of bonedust is from 2 cwt. to 3 cwt.' per acre. Reduce the application from acres to square yards, and adjust it to suit the borders of a vine-house 51 ft. by 16 ft. The borders of a house this, size should extend 10 ft. all round it. This would be a piece of ground 71 ft. by 36 ft., or 284 square yards. At the rate of 3 cwt. to the acre, this is a little over IJ_ oz. to the square yard, and would take 20 lb. only of bonedust. If the house is situated on high land, and the soil be below medium quality, increase the fertility by addition of stable manure or a top-dressing of an inch or more of rich soil, in preference to artificial manure.

In vine-houses • where the laterals or • fruit-bearing shoots have become weak and spindly this must not in all cases ' be put down to a want of forcing by manure. The cause of it is nearly always overcrowding and depriving the vines of their foliage during the growing season. Where this practice has been continued for a number of years the inevitable result is weak growth. Provided good pruning and cultivation have been given a vine, it takes many years before a falling-off is shown in the vigour and fruit-bearing quality for want of manure. It is then quickly restored by a top-dressing of bonedust or of good soil.

Considerable loss of fruit -has been noticed during the past season from shanking. One of the chief causes of this is insufficient draining. When vine-borders are being made, the drainage from them in some instances is not deep enough to carry off. the soakage from the bottom of the border. The vine-roots getting, into a cold clayey subsoil inevitably results in their becoming .weakened and subject to disease. - There is no plant in horticulture more ■ easy. to. grow than the vine, or one that responds more generously to common-sense treatment. Vineyard Notes for July. If not already done, the pruning should be pushed forward. July is the worst month of the year for outdoor work usually, especially where working the soil is concerned. The beginning of June is the best time to commence pruning, because it can rapidly be followed by the gathering-up of the primings and -the ploughing. In nearly all the vineyards in .'the Dominion . vines are grown on espalier fences, and to cover up weeds, and manure where applied, a winter ploughing is done. Only one ploughing in the year is recommended. All other working of the soil should be done with the cultivator. The springtooth cultivator is a fine implement for this. - ■ In ploughing vines that are grown on espalier fences it is necessary to have headlands of ample width for turning out of one row into another with two horses.- The vineyard should be divided off by the ploughman into lands of so-many rows each. Eight is a convenient number. Strike out down No. 1 and up No. 5, down No. 2 and up No. 6, down No. 3 and up No. 7, down No. 4 and up No. 8. This completes the first round. This , allows of easy turning into the rows. Having done this, reverse the order, commencing at No. 8 and finishing at No. 1. This throws the two furrows (which should be 6 in. deep) up against each other. Care must be taken that, no core is left between the two. It may not make a pretty job, but .it breaks up the centre completely. The next two furrows on either side should be 5 in. deep, the next two 4 in., and the finishing ones next the vines 2 in. Throwing the soil into the centre a little does not matter, and it helps to aerate the whole better ; when the cultivator gets to work in the spring it is soon levelled down. Graduating the depth of the ploughing from the vines •to centre of the row drains the water to that place, to soak away after rain. Hence a warmer condition for the vines, and less' chance of mildew in the summer. The work should be done by an experienced ploughman with a singlefurrow plough.