Comment
Updated Friday 23/4/2010: The grape harvest is nearing its end and this will be the last Friday comment for this season. We have had an exceptionally dry autumn and we would advise several longer irrigation sets post harvest where soil moisture levels are in the bottom third of RAW and particularly if at Refill or below. These sets should be 2 to 4 mm and ideally every other or every third day to aid leaf activity and carbohydrate storage.
Once three or four such post harvest irrigations have been applied we would suggest that you continue with this mode of irrigation all the time there is some active green leaf still present. If you would like to discuss these points please do not hesitate to contact me.
If you are interested in new sites or Sentek continual monitoring probes or wish to discuss any aspect of our services please do not hesitate to contact myself or Greg at any time.
A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL OUR CUSTOMERS AND WE LOOK FORWARD TO WORKING WITH YOU NEXT SEASON
Jim Mercer
Soil Type
|
Deficit (mm)
|
% Irrigating
|
Irrigation (mm)
|
Rainfall (mm)
|
Crop Use (mm)
|
| Light |
34 |
76 |
8 |
4 |
9 |
| Medium |
64 |
67 |
7 |
2 |
8 |
| Heavy |
98 |
68 |
6 |
1 |
7 |
This data is based on all sites following the standard irrigation strategy for grapes in Marlborough. The standard irrigation strategy for grapes involves good soil moisture at flowering and then slowly drying out to be at REFILL near veraison and maintain soil moisture around the REFILL line until harvest.
Contacts:
Jim Mercer (027) 484 0151 Ho Scorgie (027) 602 7456
Viv Patchett (027) 530 9529 Helen Woodward (027) 211 1154