TY - JOUR T1 - Yield and Quality Response of Some Respaced North Coast Vineyards JF - American Journal of Enology and Viticulture JO - Am J Enol Vitic. SP - 44 LP - 47 DO - 10.5344/ajev.1959.10.1.44 VL - 10 IS - 1 AU - Robert L. Sisson Y1 - 1959/01/01 UR - http://www.ajevonline.org/content/10/1/44.abstract N2 - Many problems, both physical and physiological, are inherent in narrowly spaced North Coast vineyards. Most of these vineyards restrict mechanical accessibility and limit the application of improved cultural practices.Three respacing trials were conducted where blocks of established vines have been thinned by as much as fifty percent by alternate-diagonal-row removals.The resulting spacing distances have been widened to approximately 10 x 10 feet and 11 x 11 feet from 7 x 7 and 8 x 8 feet, respectively.The resulting wider rows have:1. Improved mechanical accessibility at all seasons and stages of growth.2. Relieved the necessity of too early cultivation, which has often led to soil compaction problems.3. Made possible the more effective use of cover crops.4. Made it possible to employ power spraying and dusting equipment for pest and disease control.5. Facilitaed the employmnet of summer weed-control techniques by other than hand methods.6. Reduced the need for special narrowgauge vineyard power equiment.7. Made mechanical brush disposal more economically feasible.8. Reduced the number of vines per acre, with a subsequent reduction in production costs.Present data indicate that established closely spaced vineyards may be thinned by removing as many as fifty percent of their vines without experiencing a severe reduction in yield. In at least one unirrigated trial the respaced section exceeded the production of the control after the third year. ER -