Mistakes made when planting new vineyards are generally too expensive to fix later and may result in vines never performing as well and requiring replacement earlier than vineyards treated correctly from the start.
Various factors influence the potential of a vineyard at the planting stage, ranging from vineyard design to planting choice and market demand.
At the Vine Workers’ Development Course, held in May at Eenzaamheid near Paarl in the Western Cape, Reinier Louw, Vititec's client liaison manager, highlighted the importance of using certified plant material and managing the vines correctly before and during planting.
DISEASE-FREE
Why certified plant material? Louw explained that this was a safeguard, ensuring that plant material was as close to virus-free as possible, true-totype, and complied with industry standards.
Another advantage was that farmers who used certified plant material could count on assistance from the supplier if something was wrong with the plant material, whereas they planted at their own risk when using uncertified plant
