Grape Notes

Vineyards and orchards have long used winter cover crops to help reduce erosion, improve soil structure and prevent nutrient leaching.

Satellites have been measuring NDVI over the entire planet for many years, but only recently has the data become accessible to the non-expert with the development of very user-friendly websites.

The following charts are updates of similar ones first presented here in 2015; they now include values through the 2019 harvest. They are helpful to appreciate the divergent paths that the wine grape industries in each county have been experiencing in recent years.

This new project is bringing some unique and very useful weather data to San Luis Obispo County. Twenty weather stations are planned for the County; at this writing 12 are installed and operating.

Irrigation frequency and volume One fundamental decision that a grower needs to make is how frequently to irrigate a vineyard; either applying small amounts of water frequently, or larger amounts of water less frequently.