▷ Introduction to the cultivation of the vineyard. Growing Grapes

What should you know?

Initiation to vine growing step by step

Clean the ground
both of plant remains, weeds, stones ...

Prepare the soil:
A deep work is ideal (40 to 80 cm) that decompacts the soil.

Select the variety
or varieties that you want to plant. Interesting to put a line for each variety.

Make a small plan on the paper
to know approximately where and how many plants you need.

Mark with tutors
in the field the final location of each plant, be sure to leave sufficient spaces for the machinery and service roads.

Request your plants
and once received, make the planting holes. Introduce the plants, cover them well with fresh soil and give them water. Apply water weekly if necessary.

At the arrival of spring
apply a fertilizer such as 15-15-15 at a rate of 10 grams per plant diluted in 10 liters of water. Repeat the irrigation + fertilized operation every 15 days during the summer months.

Keep the plot clean of weeds.
In the case of rainfed crops, tillage helps keep the plot clean and hydrated.

Observe the plants so they are healthy.
Detect spots on leaves, leaves eaten .... and perform some phytosanitary treatment during the summer if necessary.

Guide for planting a vineyard

We put at your disposal the guide "Introduction to viticulture step by step" in PDF format that you can download for FREE.

Download here

How many plants can fit in my field?

Plantation density is the number of vine plants that are planted in one hectare (1Ha = 10,000 square meters). A suitable average density varies between 2,500 and 4,000 strains per Ha, being a widely used medium frame that of 3,000 strains / Ha.

The machinery that we use, tractors, implements is the one that will mark the widths of the streets of our vineyard, which can vary between 1.5 m to 4 m. It is recommended to measure the implement or cultivator that we are going to use and add about 40 cm, 20 cm on each side to facilitate tillage work and have a small margin of error.

Once the width of our streets has been defined, we must calculate the distance from vine to vine, to reach a density of 3,000 vines per Ha, in this specific case.

Table of densities in the plantation of a vineyard

Number of plants depending on the width of the street (horizontal axis) and the distance between vines (vertical axis)

Once the street width and the distance between vines are defined, we can apply the following mathematical formula to calculate the number of plants we need:

nº plants needed = S / (C x D)

where

C: Broad
D: Distance between vine plants
S: square meters that we have to plant

...or what is the same

the number of plants required is the area to be planted in square meters divided by the product of the frame (street width multiplied by distance between vines).

Example

We have 250 square meters of land.
The selected street width is 2.80 m.
The distance from vine to vine is 1.20 m
nº plants needed = 250 / (2.80 x 1.20)

Carrying out the mathematical operation we obtain the result of:

74.40, and we will ask the nursery 75 vine plants

Two examples of widely used planting densities are:

3m x 1m: Three meters of lane width by 1 m from vine to vine.
2.5m x 1.20m: two and a half meters of street for 1.20 m from vine to vine.

To choose a suitable planting density, we should also take into account other factors that can condition us, such as fertility and soil structure, vigor of the rootstock and of the selected variety, existence or not of an irrigation system ...

What is the best time to plant the vineyard?

When is the vineyard planted?

The planting season is always in vegetative stop, when the plant is at rest.

It can be planted from December (beginning of the vegetative stop) until the months of May and June.

The planting season of the vineyard is limited by the climatic conditions of the destination plot.
In warmer climates we can make an earlier plantation, and in colder climates or with risks of frost taridías, we must plant later.

The preparation of the soil for the planting of a vineyard

A deep work for the preparation of the land:

It is convenient to decompact the earth in order to favor the development of the roots of young vine plants.

Good soil preparation is an essential factor of longevity, resistance to drought and exploitation of "soil" quality.

It is done once in the life of the vineyard, so no expense should be spared in this operation.
Depending on the nature of the soil, it is preferable to turn the soil (moldboard in clay-silt soils) or subsoil (under stony and sandy soil).

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Initiation to vine growing Step by step