Ask yourself the question “Do I buy and drink wines that were irrigated?” Of course you do. Why wouldn’t your customers do the same thing? Managing moderate plant stress is the key to increasing yields, color, quality and PROFIT.

By providing the optimal amount of water and spoon feeding fertilizer, through the drip system, your tons per acre could double. (Check Google Again) Nothing you have control over will reduce the unit costs more than substantially increasing your yields. Negotiating for a bottle or a post that is a nickel cheaper will not drastically change your bottom line. Keep in mind the increase in yields is every year. Spending a couple of thousand dollars per acre for a drip system makes a lot of sense. I have never seen a year in the 25 years I have been in the irrigation business that there was not some time during the season, when watering would not help reduce plant stress. Sure certain times during the year you will get too much rain. Gully washers can flush your heavy spring fertilizer application into the Chesapeake Bay water shed. I see year after year with average precipitation that had serious damaging spring or summer droughts. Unfortunately for the grower, the majority of the rain came in October or November, not during the growing season. Of course, the amount of water needed will vary from vineyard to vineyard and season to season.

I would question the logic of investing tremendous amount of capital in land, posts, wire, vines, fertilizer and labor only to “hope” that it rains. I cannot tell you the number of times that I have toured vineyards only to see every third or fourth newly planted vine dead and the remainder withered and stunted. Or the grower is franticly hauling water to every vine in the vineyard. Possibly saving the vine but losing a growing year. Sure the grower lost plants and money. Plants can be replaced, maybe not the ones you wanted, but they can be replaced.

What cannot be replaced is “TIME”! How many years do we have to enjoy our dreams?

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