[clint.taylor91]

Hey guys,

Loving the advanced course so far.

My question is, can anything be done to stimulate a young rootling plant that hasn’t thrown any green shoots or that has lost all of its leaves. We still have 2 months of growing season left here in AUS with the recent rains and incredible growth. The plant is Muscat thats grafted onto a shiraz root stock. Some of the buds have fired beautifully whilst others have not gone at all, or lost all leaf. The root system may still be ok but i’m interesting in everyones thoughts.

Warm regards,

Clint

[TEAM VMP ACADEMY]

Hi Clint, sorry I can’t understand : is your plant muscat grafted on Shiraz that was grafted on the American rootstock? So it is not a recent planted bare rooted plant.

When was it planted? When was it grafted? Which rootstock ?

The plant(s) has actually growing shoots ?

[clint.taylor91]

Hi, sorry I’ll try to explain better.

So the plant is E3v8 – muscat Hamburg on 101-14 root stock. These where in small jiffy pots, planted around 3 months ago. I do not know the grafting date but I believe the plants would be 2 years old at least, I’m not 100% sure of this though.

The plants had 1 green shoot with several leaves at time of planting. We also planted bare rooted Shiraz on the 101-14 root stock and we had mixed results with these as well. These were dormant plants that some of the buds has burst and others have produced nothing.

I hope I have explained my question better

Thank you

[TEAM VMP ACADEMY]

Hello Clint,

so there are small plants in pots (Muscatx101-14) and bare rooted plants (Shirazx101-14), planted the last austral spring (november). In both cases you had low growth of the shoots or not-homogeneous shoots growth.

Is that right?

Some questions:

Do you use irrigation? Do you work the soil with which system and how many times?

I dont’ know where your plants are planted and how much water stress did you experienced, but, as you probably know, 101-14 is a low-vigour-rootstock very sensible to the lack of water. Did you assured them enough water supply ?

How much is the frequency and the distribution of this problem, is it concentrated in a part of the field or spread all over the field with punctual developement differences from one plant to another?

The reasons can be many…

Could you post picture(s) ?

[clint.taylor91]

Hello,

So sorry for the delay in replying to your message.

To your first point, yes that is correct.

We do use irrigation from our bore. From the start of our growing season in September to November when the plants arrived and were planted we had a total of 325mm of rainfall which is above average. We were a little cautious on irrigation to much at first planting.

We do not work the soil at all, there is so weed and grass competition that gets taken care of with under vine herbicide sprays.

With the bare rooted shiraz i would say its 65 – 70% failure rate and with the muscat theres just groups of maybe 7 – 10 plants that have seem to leaf drop or gone into shock. The muscat was also bagged very quickly to help protect from the elements.

I have some photos to share but i can’t work out how to past them sorry!!

As you will see, the plants are not in great shape at all, so i guess the big question im asking here is there anything we could do to intervene or do you think we have lost our chance. Would the root system still survive until next spring to perhaps create new buds?

Thank you so much for all your help and information.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 1 month ago by  clint.taylor91.

[TEAM VMP ACADEMY]

Dear Clint,

sorry for delayed answer.

Many factors interfere on new plantantions. Rootstock, soil preparation and soil working during the seasion, way of plantation, amount of water are probably the main ones.

1- Soil preparation : Did you worked well your soil so that the roots can develope ? (you should assure at least 80 cm of soil worked the summer before the year of the plantation). Then you should preparate the soil before the plantation that should be enough soft (not too much fine)

2 – Way of plantation : Usually the long root plantation, (20 cm) is better in order to have a good drought resistance. But you need to use a machine. The short-root plantation with a special plantation fork it’s an easy way but you remove a big part of rooting sistem to do it.

3 – Rootstock : As I said 101-14 MGT is a low vigor-early maturation rootstock but it is very sensible for lacking of water. As I can understand by what you wrote cumulated rain in summer is not so much. Your region should be arount 750 mm per year. That it’s not so much. Probably a rootstock more drought resistance should be more suitable.

4 – Amount of water : you should assure at least 8-10 litres per plant every 7-10 days that is very important during the summer.

5- Soil management : you shoud reduce the weed water competition using the soil working more than the herbicides. If you work the soil trying to accost the soil to the plants roots could help. And also: you should open the soil quite deeply in the springtime (to get as much water it is possible) and work the soil in the surface in summer so you can reduce the capillary rise and the loss of water.

What you can do now:

– work the soil so you can get the water at the end of the summer

– check the plants at the end of the season, if they couldnt grow well but they are still alive there are possibilities

– prune them late in the end of the next winter

– Work the soil starting from the next end-of-winter with the target to conservate the water and reduce the competition

-help them with the irrigation (your rootstock is very sensible)

[clint.taylor91]

Hello,

Im sorry for the delayed reply. Im really appreciative of the fantastic information provided.

1. The soil couldn’t be prepared because it was an existing vineyard with wires and posts in place.

2. We used a makita drill with an auger bit to drill the holes. Other blocks in our vineyard had the same technique used and they were very successful in growing. They were small jiffy pots, or coco peat.

3. I cant comment on the selection of rootstock as this was dealt with our viticulturist consultant and nursery. We are very drought prone in australia.

4. I am new to the industry but i would say we water less as we are hesitant of root rot. I must ask though, is the rate you mentioned for a mature vine or newly planted?

5. We currently only apply herbicides to our undervine. Its never worked mechanically. Its on our future plans to use the mechanical option over herbicides though. We have are 60/40 clay loam soil.

Thanks again for the wealth of information.

Cheers, Clint.

[TEAM VMP ACADEMY]

1 – so you should work the soil in order to get close the soil to the plants roots, eliminate the weed and assure the drainage and recostitution of soil water suppply before the raining season (especially end of winter). You should use a rigid teeth tiller. Than use vibrocult or some other soil tiller to refine the soil before the dry/hot season starts. In this way you can reduce the evaporation in the soil (for interruption of capillarity).

Get rid of the weeds competition in spring-summer season. Keep a good soil coverage in winter using specific cover crops (it will increase organic matter).

2 – If the soil is clay using a drill the reason could be the hole-borders compaction. This could be noticed expecially if you prepared this holes in humid or too dry soil. Are the plants failed bare rooted vines? If so the jiffy pots give you more chances. If you want to replace them with the same technique you should use again the plants in pots. You shouldn’t judge only by the way of planting, climate and rainfall it’s a big variable and can affect success\unsuccess in plantation.

3 – The nursery and viticulturist might have precise reasons for their choice, I don’t mean to discuss them. Just for your information – Do you know french language? take a look here… paraghaph “Adaptation au milieu” :

https://plantgrape.plantnet-project.org/fr/porte-greffe/101-14%20Millardet%20et%20de%20Grasset

4 – It is just a simple indication, nothing more, irrigation must be very well organized. This rates are of course for the young plants, for old plants can be not necessary, but it depends on your climate and rainfall (in australia maybe irrigation is a frequent practice). Also, in old plants the right amount of water affects the fruit quality. For sure you shouldn’t be concerned on roots rot in young plants except in very moist and clay soils.

5- You mean you have 40% clay? it’s a lot. That can explain the nursery choices. Maybe your area suffer for waterlogging. Your soil is very clay, and of course you might have problems in drainage as well as in drought. You should increase organic matter using cover crops and composted manure.

Anyway… I’m afraid the reason for this unsuccessful plantation could be resumed in:

– soil management in order to reduce competition\loss for water.

– irrigation management in young bare rooted plants.

– rootstock sensibility.