I have purchased 10-acres in San Rafael Argentina and will be moving there in one year to plant my vineyard. I know about plants, fertilization ect., however, the many different ways to train the new plants has confused me. Can onyone out there give me some insite. THANKS
Training styles are specific to the varieties grown, and I'm going to guess you don't yet know which varietie(s) you will be growing. San Rafael has a great climate for grapes, similar in some ways to southern Italy or South Africa, so you have lots of choices. I would suggest you familiarize yourself with the varieties currently grown in and around your new home, and particularly any new trends in plantings as you probably won't wish to find yourself in 5 years producing the varieties that everybody else just ripped out! Find out what diseases are an issue (particularly phylloxera) and whether you should be ordering grafted vines. Have proper soil testing organized. Find out what the local wineries are buying and what they are paying (in our regional market the prices range from approximately $1000/tonne to $3000/tonne, so why plant the $1k variety?). Keep in mind that vines ordered today won't be ready for up to 2 years. One year after that you will have to have your trellis system in place. Ralph
Hello Ralph & dirtman. I have to agree with you Ralph, not putting your trellis system before you plant the grape vines, is one of the biggest mistakes grape growers make. dirman, why take a chance and plant non-grafted vines - I don't think you should even consider it. The best thing about grafted vines, is that you get protection from diseases like phylloxera (as Ralph mentioned), but there is another big advantage. If your soil is not firtile and you want to plant a grape variety that isn't a vigorous grower, you will probably never have a good crop, BUT with a grafted vine on a vigorous growing root-stock, your grape vine will grow more vigorous. Thats just a simple example as many root-stock varieties are available and can be used with the following conditions 1 vigour 2 brackish ground 3 nematode resistant 4 poor water quality 5 the amount of water available - some rootstock is more drought resistant I hope you get the idea Hava a grape (great) day Danie
