Good vineyard management starts with the soil

1/12/2005 12:00:00 AM

When Ben Pridham takes on a new vineyard, the first thing he does is have the soil assessed.It’s what he describes as a crucial step towards producing an economically viable and sustainable vineyard.

Ben (pictured right) runs a viticultural management company and operates in the Kuitpo, Kangarilla, McLaren Vale and Currency Creek regions of South Australia.

His team of people, including viticulturist wife, Louise, are highly experienced at restoring and managing vineyards for corporate and individual clients.

“If it’s a new development or existing one, the first thing we do is a soil survey. This involves digging backhoe pits and getting a soil scientist to look at the physical and geological characteristics of the soil and that way you start to form a soil map,” says Ben.

“After that, we go through and do the agronomy side and look at soil nutrition with Australian Perry Agricultural Laboratory. Putting these two together gives you a much better understanding of short and long-term problems that may arise due to geology, soil structure or nutrition.”

Ben knows that a good understanding of vineyard soils means you only have to add exactly what is required, rather than using a blanket approach with fertilisers and wasting resources.

“The reason why we look to use APAL is they’re independent; they’re not attached to any fertiliser companies so that gives them autonomy. They’ve also developed a pictorial system with their reports so you can see at a glance what the results of the test are and ask questions from there,” he says.

Equal emphasis to all soil nutrients

Independent agronomist Bryan McLeod of APAL says many people would say they follow the same approach with their vineyard but continue to have problems.

“The advantage we have is the way we interpret the data from the soil tests. We don’t have any preconceived ideas about soil types from certain regions and we give equal emphasis to all soil nutrients—it’s a completely objective assessment of what is needed to feed and balance the soil and not driven by fertiliser sales,” says Bryan.

Ben recommends having soil tests done in early Spring. In his business, it gives his team enough planning time to get everything together for application in autumn, post-harvest.

Pridham Viticulture opts for soil testing in all its vineyards every year in order to track vine performance and determine exact nutrient requirements.

When it comes to cover crops, Ben explains that decisions about plant type and whether you go for a permanent or annual crop, largely depend on soil type, region, rainfall, and vineyard management style.

“We favour permanent swards where possible because you get grass coming up each year with the first rains. This produces a soil that is well structured, held together because of the root system and that controls erosion and creates a better biological system because you have more microorganisms,” he says.

“If you don’t have plants between rows you will destroy the soil structure and create problems such as erosion, compaction and reduced water permeability.”

He says there were advantages to putting in annual cover crops with some soil types, such as black cracking clays.

The annual crops Pridham Viticulture uses include: cereal grasses (triticale and oats) and legumes (fava beans, field peas and vetches). Fescue, ryegrass, sub-clovers and cocksfoot are among the permanent swards.