Dry Farming: Wide vs. Dense spacing in California

Cellar Rats (ITB)
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I’ve always been under the impression that if one is attempting to dry farm in California, given our relatively low rainfall, wider spacing (say 10 x 6 or wider) is more ideal, as it gives less vine competition for water. However, I’ve read a couple of pieces lately that implied the greater stress and lower vigor brought about by tight spacing can actually be more easily dry-farmed. For those of you who dry farm, what are your thoughts on this? In France, I always understood it to be that the closer spacing of vineyards in the north had to do with their greater rainfall, so the idea that tighter spacing in California would be better for dry farming doesn’t make sense to me.

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It’s a very broad question. I have a friend who owns a vineyard and it’s dry farmed due to his love of nature’s control and the need to leave a carbon foot print as close to zero as possible.

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Cam - I think the particular soil texture, structure and depth in addition to bulk and field capacities would play big roles. As would individual rootstock rooting angles. In other words, as is so often the case, “it depends”.

Perhaps there is reverse logic at work here: ie “in Burgundy, plants are tightly spaced and in Burgundy plants are dry-farmed, ergo tighter spacing is more appropriate for dry-farming”. As you seem to have grasped, rainfall is, of course, much greater there during the growing season, so the meaning of “dry farming” is relative.

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Nate is right, I believe, choosing Burgundy alone as an example of dryfarming protocols creates a false analogy. If you will be dryfarming in Santa Maria, you’ll probably have a wide range of soil choices. Hillsides with some erosion will have more calcaire, which is easily fractured by roots and capable of wicking moisture up if the vineyard is over accessible water; river benches with more sedimentary sand and gravel will have more extreme drainage, and so on. Different varieties have different cane growth properties and requirements. You’ll also want to think about how you plan to manage your soil, because in dryfarming, the vines will sprawl across the aisle. Our aisles are 10’ and the canes still spread across. We turn the annual cover crop under in late spring before the vines settle, and after that, we don’t even drive ATVs through the vineyard if we can walk.

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Mary and Nate-
Thanks for the words of advice. You’re absolutely right that many variables are involved. I’m with you that the Burgundian model doesn’t seem to apply to California, and I’ve still yet to fully understand where the perspective that tighter spacing can be more easily dry-farmed here is coming from.

To get specific on the site I’m looking at, it’s a 1 acre backyard plot on the Nipomo Mesa, 3 miles or so from the ocean, West-facing with subtle slope, and essentially pure sand. Given that soil type, I’ll be the first to admit that dry-farming it seems damn near impossible, though if there is some way to do so, for economic reasons in particular, I’d like to try. Any thoughts? It seems like some of Dehlinger’s dry-farmed portions, as an example, are mostly sand with very little clay, so I’m hoping there may be a chance?

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As others pointed out, of course there are a multitude of variables. I would personally look at soil management and cover crops as a key part of the equation.

Mary, I am not sure if I follow you - how does dry vs. non-dry farming have anything to do with canes sprawling across the aisle? I would think that would have more to do with training, and that, assuming you don’t tip your canes and don’t train them, they would be likely grow more and sprawl further when irrigated than when dry farmed. [dontknow.gif]

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Cameron - Establishment will be difficult with dry farming on that type of soil, regardless of the spacing.

With a small vineyard like 1 acre, it is conceivable to go without an irrigation infrastructure and irrigate via creative means the first few years. I would think that once the vines are established, dry farming is almost always possible. There are plenty of vineyards that are “irrigated” but whose soil structure, depth and underlying parent material make it such that only a fraction of this water is available to the plant. The rest is wicked away, as Mary described but in our area mainly occurs with tuff, or percs a little, only to show up downhill as it runs off of the bedrock, for two examples.

I would also think that anything you could do to build some structure and water-holding capacity in a sandy loam-type soil would be a benefit. A heavy compost regime, for example, or cover crops tilled in and so on. If it really is “pure sand” it may be difficult to even get some types of cover to grow without some irrigation. Again, we haven’t even addressed the cations in the soil…depending on their levels and ratios, it may be a challenging soil even with irrigation. I know in some parts of SB County, there are serpentine areas…I don’t know enough about Nipomo to surmise what that area is like.

Again, I don’t know what the proper spacing would be. I might be more inclined to decide that based on row direction, exposure, etc. In addition, it could be said that, with only 1 acre, it might behoove you to go to tighter spacing to bump up the yield a bit. Farming may need to be done without the aid of machinery, but with such a small vineyard, that is entirely conceivable.

FYI, I am not a VM or Viticulturist, so take my ideas with a grain of salt. Someone with experience in vineyard establishment might be more useful.

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Here is some firsthand data on this: There are some incredibly dry sites that are dry farmed, all over the Mediterranean. It might be a bit harder to establish the vines and yields are low, but there are dry farmed vineyards all over. The two places I’ve visited that most immediately come to mind are:

I visited Toro (Spain) 2 years ago and I can’t say that I saw a single vineyard that WASN’T dry farmed. Toro gets about 12" of rain a year, is very hot in the summer and quite cold in the winter. The soil is clay/sand with a fair amount of lime and rockier in the hillier locations that get out of the alluvial river areas. While there is variety probably the most common thing we saw was 3m x 3m spacing (1000 vines/ha!), head pruned bushvines with probably only about 12-18" head heights. I didn’t see much evidence of composting / intentional cover crops / etc. Slopes were generally moderate. Yields are very low, as can be imagined. From the very old vines (80-120 years) I heard numbers of around or under 1kg/vine. That gives you yields of under 1 ton / ha, so it’s a good thing land and viticulture are cheap, as those numbers won’t work in CA :slight_smile: I don’t know what the yields off younger plantings were, unfortunately.

We were also in Montsant / Priorat. What we saw there was also (with the exception of one planting of young vines) all dry farmed. Primarily 3mx3m goblet pruned on steep (sometimes very steep) slopes of licorella (schist I believe). I believe Priorat gets about 15" of rain a year. I saw a bit more but not a lot of evidence of composting and cover cropping. Organic/biodynamic viticulture is fairly prevalent in Priorat. A few vineyards are terraced but vine density is roughly the same. Yields were reported to be about the same, in the 1 ton / ha range for the very old vineyards. I also don’t know what yields off younger plantings were… the marquee wines in most of these DO/DOC regions are made from old (sometimes very old) vines.

We were there in May/June so not a great time to witness vigor but we were told that vigor is not a problem. When we asked about pruning at one producer, they pointed to a 120 yr old vine that (on June 5th I think it was) had 3 shoots each about 6-12" long with maybe 4 total inflorensences. The quote was “what the hell are you going to prune?” So while I’m sure the labor is backbreaking given the very low vines, there didn’t appear to be a whole lot of vineyard work going on (in either Toro or Priorat).

In Rioja there is both a lot more rain and a lot more variety of viticulture, as perhaps could be expected, so not as much useful information to be inferred there. Ditto Ribera del Duero, though to a somewhat lesser degree (both rainfall and modernization of vineyards/viticulture) than in Rioja.

I’m also not a viticulturist, just thought the above might be relevant.

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Sorry. I have this brain meld that dryfarming and head pruning always go hand in hand. Which of course they do not. Although … I have never personally seen a head pruned vineyard that was drip irrigated … there would be too many difficulties installing and maintaining a dripline. One can, of course, trellis the vines and still dryfarm, so what I should have said is, if one plans to dryfarm and headprune, it might be a factor in planning one’s spacing.

One can also trellis and install a dripline for “stress irrigation.” After a few years if the vines seem to be thriving on dryfarming, it easy to remove the lines (although the main plumbing would still be there–maybe utilize it for fire ponds?) Also, Cameron, if the vines do need say, a gallon of water before each heat spike, it probably works out to less water usage per sqftage/month than that of a suburban home. And a heckuva heckuva lot less than farming lettuce or celery. (Less dust, impaction, fuel and transient labor as well.) So the net result of your caretaking decisions would still have a positive impact.

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I wish I had something cogent to contribute, this thread is a fascinating read nonetheless.

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Right, that’s the primary reason we dry farm here. Though obviously in the Willamette Valley we don’t face the same issues as our friends down south.

Jacki
ITB


Barbara Thomas Wines
Yamhill-Carlton

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Welcome, Jacki! It’s good to see some more OR folk here. [berserker.gif]

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Why thank you, m’am!

(I would have called you m’am even if I hadn’t read the traffic stop thread.)

1 Like
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Welcome, Jacki. Every time I think I’ve got a handle on all the wineries in the valley another three or four pop up. Where are you located (besides Y-C, of course)?

Never mind. I did “research”. You’re right up the hill from Brian and Jill at Belle Pente. I can see your vineyard from Rowland Rd.

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Hi, Bob!

Nice to see you over here. I always read (is that past tense?) your posts on ebob. Quite a goodwill ambassador for Oregon.[notworthy.gif]

Yup, we’re up Blackburn surrounded by Wahle. Come see us sometime when you’re out in the hood. We’ve got a little tasting room down in Carlton. I’d love you pour for you on the house.

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Thanks for the compliment, Jacki. And yes, it’s past tense.

What’s up with Betty Wahle? First she stopped selling fruit to Brian and launched her own label. Now her website is down and the message says the account been suspended.

When is your tasting room open?

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Well that is very unfortunate.

Hmm. Well, they’ve been pulling back from selling fruit for quite a few years now, with Mark (Betty’s son) keeping more and more of it for his (their) label. I think he’s still crushing at the Studio, though, or he was last I heard.

We’re typically open Friday and Saturday afternoons through February, adding Sunday in March, but I’d be happen to meet you there any time we can arrange it.

Contact me privately and we’ll work it out. I’ve been wanting to meet you for years anyway. Little did I know I should have been haunting OWOB and looking for the hawaiian shirt. [cheers.gif]

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Actually, it’s purposeful (though for a while I thought I’d been given a lethal injection ) and somewhat serendipitous that I have WB to make castles in.

All you had to do was send me a PM. I need very little excuse to zip over Bald Peak. As for OWOB, did someone take a picture of me I don’t know about or did I wear a Hawaiian shirt when I met Rich and Joanne Trimpi - and the rat outed me? I’ve only been in the place twice in the last five years.

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P. Robert-
Dumb and Dumber was my favorite movie as a kid. I’m not sure what that says about me.

Nate, John, and Mary-
Thanks for all the continued advice. I was planning to water it as needed to develop the vineyard the first few years, then hopefully go dry after that, so it sounds like that may still be a viable plan. Any cover crops you’d all suggest? Mary, on your site, it sounds like you’re using rye, barley, clover, and mustard. Any overall characters they share, or is it specific traits of each you’re seeking?

Mary, your statement that you associate dry-farming with head training is one that I share. However, I recently read in Coombe & Dry’s “Viticulture Vol. 2” that head-trained vines actually deprive the soil of more moisture than other training systems “because of increased airflow over the exposed canopies and increased soil evaporation.” Have you seen conflicting research on this?

The info on Spanish vineyards is helpful/encouraging. The most fascinating area to me is in Greece, where they get only about 4 inches of rain a year! They’ve developed a unique goblet/basket training system, plus their volcanic soil wicks moisture quite well.

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A mixed annual cover crop provides tilth, habitat for beneficials, early season growth, shallow root penetration, and nitrogen replenishment. Full growth is just 12"-20", so easy to mow in the early season, and easy to till under. Mustards, particularly, have fast-decomposing roots, which contribute rich humus to the topsoil. The grasses provide biomass and fiber, the clover nitrogen.

Research? Who has time for research? [d_training.gif]
Head trained vines of which variety?
Whose soil?
In what climate?
Headpruned vines crown a few feet above the ground, and throw out a 360-degree veil of vines. How could there be more “increased airflow” on headpruned vines, when trellised vines are 2-3’ taller and therefore more exposed to wind? Is there possibly more transpiration on headpruners because of their rounder, more complete leaf canopy? But then, if that is so, how could there also be increased soil evaporation–when the vine roots and underlying soils are thickly shaded 360 degrees?