Drip Irrigation and Vine Management For The Small Vineyard

Soil texture has a direct influence on how quickly water will infiltrate and be held for use by the vines.  Slope also plays an important role - the steeper the slope the slower the inches-per-hour infiltration rate.  Finally a soils analysis tells us what nutrients are required for healthy growth and in what amounts.  Resources for this Lecture  include an infiltration chart showing infiltration rates for 14 soil texture classes on various degrees of slope and the Soil Triangle diagram - all in PDF format for you to download.

Water quality, available gallons per minute and working pressure are all necessary components of designing a successful irrigation system meant to be as reliable as possible.  This Lecture will show what we had to work with in this vineyard.  We'll start by finding out what our available working pressure is at the house - our point of connection for the irrigation system.

Knowing the dynamic pressure and the gpm flow gives us a better idea of the capability of the system - how much water is available for our vineyard irrigation.

In this Section we learned the importance of knowing the texture of your soils and how to measure your working psi and gallons per minute available.  A quick Summary of what we covered.

When it comes to hydraulics, elevation plays a key role.  As your gain elevation from your water source you will lose pressure.  Travel downhill from the source and you will gain pressure.  In this lecture Marc will cover how elevation affected the design and installation of the drip system and I'll explain how I measured the percent of slope and calculated the elevation change within the vineyard.

In this lesson Marc will cover the benefits of having a plan, drawn to scale, for your project.  Regardless of the size, a scaled drawing will aid in creating a materials list, calculating lengths of piping for hydraulic purposes and ultimately, managing the vineyard.

Drip irrigation is one of the most efficient means of irrigation - if it is managed properly.  Irrigation scheduling refers to when to irrigate and how much water to apply at any given run cycle.  In this lesson, I'm  going to cover the basics of how to start creating an irrigation schedule.  There's some simple multiplication involved and both imperial and metric values (gallons and liters) will be covered.

In Lecture 11 we learned how an irrigation schedule can be created using a simple mathematical formula.  Now, in Scheduling Part Two, we'll take this information and create the actual watering schedule for Lisa's vineyard.

Be aware, an irrigation schedule is simply a starting point - to manage irrigation properly it takes time and field observation of the plants and system.  So, while we'll have developed a schedule, it will need to be monitored and adjusted based on real-world application and the health of the vines over time.  The bottom line is - you have to start somewhere, and having an irrigation schedule is that starting point.

The formulas for creating a schedule are available in Resources on the Assignment sheet.  Check out the homework assignment in Resources as well and create an irrigation schedule using the values I provide.  Some of the information you'll have to look up in the material provided.  The exercise is offered using either gallons or liters - your choice on which one to select, you don't have to do both.  Good luck!  Solution provided.

This lecture will show how I programmed Lisa's controller based on the irrigation schedule we created in the previous lecture.

We've covered a lot of ground in this Section.  Let's review what we've learned....

In this lecture we'll look at the components we used in the new installation.  While each vineyard will have its own challenges the pieces of the puzzle will remain constant.

In this lecture I have a brief conversation with Tom on why and how he and Marc are installing the drip tubing.

Marc and Tom have finished installing the new system.  In this lecture we'll take a brief our of the installation.

Designing on paper is one thing, testing your design in the field brings you full circle and insures your design and installation will function properly.  This lecture will show the results of the field testing of the emitters working pressure.  If you're interested in the pressure gauge I use in this lecture, I have provided a link to the site where I purchased mine.

Let's review what we learned in this Section.

There are many ways to grow and cultivate wine grapes and different varieties will have different requirements.  While some grapes grow well with little or no irrigation (depending on where they are grown) most wine grapes benefit from having adequate moisture through the growing season.  The link in Resources is a good source for you to review if you're just getting started with your vineyard.

A soils analysis tells us what nutrients are required for healthy growth and in what amounts.  Resources for this Lecture will include the soil test results from a local soils lab .  I have also included a scan of the book cover for The Ideal Soil should you care to go shopping for a copy.  It really is an interesting book - tons of knowledge!

As the wine grapes grow they will need tending to produce a healthy crop.  In this Lecture Lisa will demonstrate the initial pruning or "cleaning" of the vines.  I have included a link for the book "From Vines to Wines" Lisa references below.

The summer of 2022 brought record, extreme heat to the Sierra foothills, with temperatures reaching 112 F. in Auburn!  Sadly, the grape crop suffered from this unusual weather event and many of the clusters shriveled up on the vines.  This Lecture was filmed in October of 2022 showing the extent of the loss.

Agriculture is subject to the weather, but grape vines have endured hardships before and will again.

In this lecture we'll see what lessons there are to be learned and look forward to next seasons crop.

We've covered a lot of information throughout this course.  This final lecture will review the key points we've discussed