With a view to increasing biodiversity on site many vineyards are looking to establish wildflowers either in meadows or strips. It can be a difficult task to establish a successful wildflower meadow or strip but the results are well worth the effort. Vitifruit Equipment have the ability to provide all the necessary equipment to ensure the essential soil preparation is undertaken and a successful result is achieved.
The photos show successful strips on site at Godstone Vineyard where two passes produced a beautiful seedbed; the first pass to do the primary cultivation and the second with the seeder engaged. The cage roller followed by the trailed roller ensured good soil to seed contact and thanks to a shower the next day the seeds had a good start in life.
Jonathan Deeley of Godstone Vineyard said: “The key to good establishment is a fine, firm seedbed. To get that you need to break a shallow layer of topsoil down to a fine crumb all the time remembering that the smaller the seed the finer the seedbed. In my case the soil did not need subsoiling or any prior cultivation and I had also previously sprayed off the weeds in the strips so as to avoid the potential problem of them growing up into the new baby plants and smothering them. I hired the kit from Vitifruit Equipment and thanks primarily to the strength of their Sauerburger rotavator the soil preparation was easy. In other cases the same rotavator is used to level out uneven rutted lumpy alleyways even where longish grass is present.”
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