Notaviva Vineyards Blog

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December 11, 2004

Amendments (Soil not Constitutional)

As noted a few entries ago, Doug had been out to the vineyard to take soil samples, which were sent off to the lab for analysis.

View analysis page 1
View analysis page 2

Off the top of my head I do recall that we needed to spread lime at 1.5 tons per acre, and a fertilizer mix at 415 lbs per acre. In order to properly apply the amendments, we needed to get a spreader for the back of the tractor - have a look.

The spreader has a capacity of 500 lbs, so spreading 11,000 lbs of lime and fertilzer took a few trips! The key to accurate spreading is the settings on the spreader, which similar to a small rotary yard spreader control the width of the chute opening which controls the amount of fertilizer that reaches the spinner. The first few passes were experimental to get the tractor speed and spreader settings correct. Each is dependent on the other - tractor moving too quickly or the spreader not open enough means that insufficient fertilizer is spread. Conversely, the tractor moving too slowly or the spreader open too wide means that too much fertilizer is spread.

So you make an educated guess based on the application rate matrix provided with the spreader, and the mph table on the tractor. Long story short I ended up spreading the lime in high/first gear (3.9 mph) with the spreader set on setting '8'. The spreader throws the lime a total width of 60' and I was able to make it down our 400' rows using a total of 480 lbs of lime. So since our rows are spaced at 9' I just went over 6 rows and spread the next load, then back over each section using alternate rows to ensure an even spread.

Once the lime was done the fertilzer was spread at the same speed, although at a lower spreader setting of '6' and since the lbs per acre worked out nicely with the spreader capacity, it only took three trips through the vineyard to complete the fertilizer.

Thankfully our fertilizer provider - Tri-County Farm Services - was kind enough to just park the flatbed with the pallets at our vineyard for the weekend. That was a HUGE timesaver, since it was so easy to back the tractor up to the side of the flatbed and pour the bags in (the lime came in 40-lb bags and the fertilizer in 50-lb bags.) I can't imagine having to lift that many bags up to pour into the spreader from ground-level - not fun...

So we're feeling pretty good about our first whack at soil amendments. The math worked out really well and our choice of tools proved sufficient for the scale of our current operation. I don't foresee being able to use bags of lime for any larger project - have to go bulk once we grow beyond three acres, but for now it went about as well as I could have hoped!

View the final invoice

Posted by Stephen at 6:28 PM | Comments ( 1 )

December 5, 2004

Bye Bye Connecticut

No matter how badly you want to leave somewhere, there are always some mixed feelings. Today we are leaving CT for good, and although we are so excited to get established in VA, this was Shannon's first house, and our first home together. Lot's of great memories here. It's funny how years from now when we'll go to tell a story, we'll precede it with "Back when we were living in Connecticut..."

Here is the place where we fell in love, dreamed up a vineyard, got engaged, sought and earned career advancements, travelled all around, lost a Grandma, got married, endured the frustrations of remodeling, and enjoyed the final results. Here was our first Christmas together, and the place where we hosted our first Thanksgiving dinner. Too many firsts to list!

Seems like we're caught in a whirlwind right now, and many of the memories are buried beneath the craziness of the move, but I think that in the years to come, we'll look back fondly on our time here - if for no other reason than to remember it as the place where two lives came together and were forever joined. Whatever hardships we've endured over the past two years will fade with the passage of time, and the love and laughter will live on.

So to 152 Vista Terrace we say "Thank You. Good Luck. Goodbye."

Posted by Stephen at 4:07 AM | Comments ( 1 )