Under row weed management

Keeping the weeds under control under the vines is by far my least enjoyable activity.
What is the best solution not involving poisons or lots of money?
Currently hand hoeing and weed whacking and getting sore and deaf.
Thanks for any suggestions.
E

Sheep?

I have been using a weedbadger for the last ten years and loved it. They are well made and durable. Of course it does require a tractor and capable operator. Check them out at http://www.weedbadger.com/
Good luck and cheers!
Casey

Don’t worry about it so much?

Hank that is also good advice. Weeds are just plants we didn’t plant. But if your soil is low in nutrients or if you need to warm the soil some light cultivation can really help the vines. In general though most of agriculture gets to uptight about weeds.

Hey Casey,

A vineyard I am helping out with has one of these, but they did not install the right stakes for it to work right and not kill vines. If you have time to help me out, I’d really the chance to speak with someone who actually uses one of these and can help me get they system right. Shoot me a PM or email me if that works for you: Andrew@bricelandvineyards.com

Weed eating is cutting into the budget on this site and the owners need help with everything. [head-bang.gif]

It is a great site and if it can be run correctly, it could be a big help to Pinot production in our area.

Thanks!

Once you hand hoe and get a good kill/knock down you can think about seeding Sub Clover. It goes dormant during sSummer months but if established early enough in the year can help out well. It does fix Nitrogen, but I don’t know if that’s a problem for you.

Is that working on a hillside? That seems to be a problem for a lot of the mechanical cultivators.

We did have a fairly level vineyard, so I do not have experience with that. It depends on what you mean by hill. I’ve seen some vineyards on “hills” that would tip a tractor. But if the tractor will keep wheels on the ground the weedbadger should work. It is all adjustable by the operator, the depth of the tines can go up or down as quick as three point hitch moves. Their website has a lot of info on it check it out. Good Luck

I normally have a crew dig between the vines with a shovel. Not inexpensive, but I am opposed to using herbicides and have not done so for around 10 years.

This year we used an undervine cultivator - an attachment to the tractor. It was pretty horrifying to watch as the arm reached out to dig between the vines, then pulled back as it “sensed” it was about to hit the next vine. It certainly requires a very skilled operator, and there was a fair amount of adjusting going on to get it rolling.
It did not do a “complete” job, and I did have a crew follow up with shovels so that growth would be disked under with the freshly mowed cover crop. I do my best to get the nitrogen into the soil - I had quite a cover crop that was bell bean dominant in alternating rows.

I tried to get the name of the cultivator - it was something like Tarantula or something like that. It turned out to be a bit more expensive than just hand-digging, but it was accomplished much faster, and I was able to get the whole vineyard weeded, mowed/chopped, disked, and ring-rolled in one effort.

I should mention my vineyard is totally Valley floor, so no hills at all to deal with. Since I have “old-style” quadrilateral trellising, the cordons are not in alignment with the trunks - they project outward into the rows between the vines. So the operator had to be extra careful with that extra challenge - most the vines these days are trained vertically, so they were not so accustomed to that issue.

Hi Emilio,
Last year, I flailed between rows, came back with a lawn mower to get closer to the vines, then weed wacked the 3" strip left behind. It still sucked but the lawn mower step was worth it to speed up the rest. I would be interested in a “co-op” weed badger machine if you think that would work.

Anyone familiar with the Clemens Radius SL or Radius X? German auto sensing tiller attachment for your tractor.

Clemens hoe is a pretty good piece of equipment. I have had problems with weed badgers in the past spreading crown gall (through trunk damage). Probably not operated correctly, I don’t know for certain as I was just starting out at the time and I wasn’t running the machine. Properly used there are several chemical options that work well and are low impact too.

My current method is just avoid rain…always. It works very well although it can be hard on your vines after a couple of years.

Hi all, new here but thought I’d throw in my 2 cents on the subject. Our estate vineyard goes to over 30% slopes so we utilize two methods. In the winter our flock of sheep go to work, and during the growing season we use a Braun LUV. Any sort of mechanical in-row takes an experienced and very patient operator, but even on our steepest blocks the Braun works like a charm.

Anyone ever tried this?

I’ve used hand-held versions of this to some success but was curious if anyone has scaled up.

We use an older version (with blade and harrow). It works excellently as long as you keep your eyes on the beds. The best thing is that it can be used in combination with all of your plows, cultivators, seed throwers, mulchers, whatever -so bolt it on every time you drive through a row for any reason and fight weeds. They are not very expensive -silly not to have one!

Cheers,
Bill

I have a couple of friends who have tried this on a pretty large scale and have abandoned it – partly due to the expense of the propane consumed and partly due to burning down too many endposts. From what I’ve seen, this technique doesn’t seem to touch weeds that put out ground hugging rosettes.

How do you avoid rain? You must have some clout with the man up stairs. Anyways, the way I operated the weedbadger it never touched the trunks. I know they sell it with a sensor that does brush the vine but I just used the manual controller. If the sensor malfunctioned even once it means ripping out a vine. Which I did do once in the ten years of weedbadgering. That was a bad day.

I have used a large version of the flame weeder at an organic vegetable farm I managed. We would use it for stale seed bedding prior to planting spring mix and spinach. It only worked on small weeds, and any living roots in the soil like quack grass would wilt and come right back. So it has its uses but for a vineyard I think its pretty limited.

For vineyards more than hobby size the Braun LUV Perfekt and Clemens Radius XL are very similar “knife” cultivators that work well. Both offer tilt function for hillsides and 2-3 knife sizes depending on inter- and intra-row vine spacing… The more hydraulic functions you add the more control valves you need and a no-pressure return to sump is required. At least one valve must have flow control. I have just priced both out as I will pull the trigger on one of these in the next 2 weeks. The Clemens is heavier built and offers multiple toolbar choices for 3 pt hitch mount. The Braun does have similar choices with slightly lighter construction and in my price checking it prices out at a significantly lower price. Both are being used out here in the east in sandy to rocky soils with good success. These knife systems are reported to do less soil structure damage. Key for success is to get to the weeds early when small…Gary

Hi there,

what is your opinion about SPEDO in-row equipment? i like its versatility but i havent seen it working…