Some Economic Aspects of Vineyard Site Preplant Soil Fumigation Under California North Coast Conditions

Abstract

A vineyard trial was conducted in Sonoma County near Glen Ellen, California, to determine whether fumigating soil before vines were planted would increase yields in economically significant amounts. The trial was carried on under replant conditions where an old vineyard infected with Armillaria mellea was removed. Preplant fumigation was with carbon bisulfide, and grafted Cabernet Sauvignon vines were planted. Four replications of the fumigation treatments were split by using two phylloxera-resistant rootstocks, Rupestris St. George and Ganzin 1. During the first three crop years, vine yield and growth on the fumigated soils were sufficiently superior that a profit was realized above the fumigation costs.

The Cabernet Sauvignon scions yielded better on rootstock Ganzin 1 than on Rupestris St. George at both fumigated and untreated sites.