The weather finally cooperated, and our first vineyard block is planted. The Viognier and Chardonnay babies are nestled inside their grow tubes, settling into their new environment. Bred in France, born in CA, and raised in PA—hope this works.
For now, we are using steel pencil stakes and milk carton-type grow tubes. Sure looks nice and tidy.
We decided that a row spacing of 7 feet and a vine spacing of 4 feet will work best with our proposed trellis and Guyot training systems. Our vine density, approximately 1400 vines/acre, is less than commonly used in Europe but more than typically found on the east coat.
We will need to plant some ground cover in the rows to control erosion.