Vicky Rantz
The habitat I have choosen is cover crops which is a 6-12 foot space between
grape vine rows. The vineyard manager plants a cover crop to help in the control
of erosion and soil loss during the winter rains. We get most of your rain
between Jan-March in central California. The cover crop is planted in Nov-Dec to
give it a chance to get a good start prior to the rains. Many of the vineyard
soils are high is sand content and erosion is a problem on the slope areas and
the cover crop works well to control this problem. Since the cover crop is
plants prior to the rainy season and allowed to grow with little maintanance as
you want to leave it alone to get a good cover the weed problem can in turn get
a bit out of control. Many people use a barley or vetch mixture for a cover
crop. Once the cover crop is up and the rain has started the ability to get
equipment into the vineyard for weed control is difficult until the rainy season
if over in early April. By this time the weeds in the cover crop are thrieving
and spreading at will. We see many varieties of weeds in the cover crops, wild
mustard, moringglory, crabgrass, and any number of other weeds enjoy the
cover crop enviroment. The cover crop is not mowed until about mid April or May
because of the soil saturation and occassionally plowed prior to harvest in mid
Aug.or not at all. Many manager try to avoid replanting a cover crop each year
to cut costs so they try to extend the life of the crop for 2 years if possible.
In many cases the weed problem may force the manager to replant when discing is
the only way to get a handle on the weed population. The cover crop also
provides a habitat for insects and in many cases helps keep the insects out of
the vines and in the cover crop which helps with pesticide reduction. The key is
to keep the vine row burms weed free, so the need to spray along the vine row
prior to bud break if possible is needes to keep this area weed free, as the
weed compete for soil nutrients and water with the vines. Most grape vines are
drip irrigated so it is important to allow the vine to get the most water
possible from the irrigation. Since the water is applied to such a small area
near the vines weeds tend to come up near the water source easily. We are using
a flame torch method of weed control as we are trying to go organic with our
vineyard. The key is to try to mow early prior to the weed seeds developing and
to avoid burning young vines or melting the drip lines when using the torch for
burm weed control.
