VINEYARD DRAINAGE BENEFITS

Improve Your Roots

Root health is critical. Drainage installation improves the quality of your roots by increasing the intake of both carbohydrates and amino acids. Cytokinin and gibberellin are also produced in the roots, both critical to the metabolic functions of the entire vine.

Increase Your Vine Growth

Too much water restricts the growth of roots.  Poor soil drainage will both restrict vine growth and limit vine size because the excess water drowns the roots and limits their potential.

Although vines are relatively tolerant of standing water during dormancy, low temperatures combined with minimal respiration rates causes anaerobic breakdown leading to rotting.

This is especially the case when the vine is in full leaf as the vines will rapidly wilt and tissue death follows quickly. A vine is most healthy when the root system is large and actively growing.

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WHY DRAINAGE WORKS

Drainage Tile Installations Done Right

Ideally, every vineyard would be planted on soils that drain well all on their own. Unfortunately, this is often not the case and at least a portion of a vineyard site would benefit from having some sub-surface drainage installed.

The idea behind installing subsurface drainage, or “drain tile”, is that the perforated plastic pipe will help to remove excess water in the soil profile and bring it down to field capacity, which is the amount of water the soil can hold on its own, without the air space between soil particles being filled with water as well. If excess water is not drained from the soil and away from the vines’ roots, root growth and function will be impaired, which will hurt the long-term productivity of the vineyard.

In heavier soils, sub-surface drainage tiles may prevent soils from being saturated with water in the winter, and mitigate trunk injury caused by expansion of water during the freezing process. Damage from low temperatures in early spring when grapevines are initiating their growth is a risk to sustainable/profitable wine grape production in the Eastern US. Well drained soils will minimize freeze injury.

 

EQUIPMENT TO GET THE JOB DONE

We are constantly updating our fleet of equipment to accommodate the installation needs of all growers. From full size tile plows for new vineyards to smaller plows that fit in between the rows of existing fruits, we have the necessary equipment for the job.