Index
New vine plantations, glass or trellis?
When designing new vine plantations, some first questions always arise, always difficult to answer: variety, stem, plantation frame, formation … vase or trellis?
Choosing the training system for new plantations is always a very difficult matter, vase or trellis?
A few years ago it was thought that the glass was synonymous with old plantations with low profitability and now depending on which area, they are the most sought after, such as Mencía del Bierzo or some Garnachas and Cariñenas from El Priorat.
Although the final choice must be decided taking into account the soil and climatology of the area, here are some ideas for the different formations.
Advantages and disadvantages of the glass training:
As for the vase, the main great advantage is that it is a more economical formation at the time of planting, since it does not need poles or wires for installation. But, nevertheless, later it does not allow us to mechanize the plot, both winter and green pruning is done manually, harvest …
Glass plantations of small plots tend to look for the quality of the grape , therefore with a lower load of grapes the quality of the bunches will increase. In addition, you have to choose whether you want a glass with three or four arms …, depending on the amount of grapes you are looking for.
Although it is true that the glass has worse aeration and insolation of the bunches , new techniques have been sought to supply these deficiencies, such as the wooden posts that are placed in each vine and that collect the shoots.
These group the plant mass in the upper part of the post, leaving the bunches more exposed to the sun and air and thus solving the problem. A technique that also allows us to reduce the planting frame between lines, since generally large machines will not be used to work.
Advantages and disadvantages of trellising training:
On the opposite side we find the trellis, a system that allows us to mechanize our plot one hundred percent whenever the orography allows it.
It is a more expensive training in the initial moment , since it is necessary to install wires with their respective metal or wooden structures to be able to tension them.
However, as the process progresses we begin to find advantages . The main one is that being able to mechanize all tasks (winter pruning, green pruning, harvesting, etc.) greatly facilitates our work.
Another of the most important advantages is the health of the vineyard and the grape. Being high, it has more ventilation and therefore fewer problems of fungal diseases. Although we are not looking for high yields, nor do we have a large surface area, what we do want will be a grape of the highest possible quality. With the trellises we have the option of being able to better control aeration, insolation, exposure … all of which are synonymous with quality grapes that will result in a quality wine.
However, it should be noted that mechanized tasks in trellised vineyards are more aggressive than manual handling of the plant, which is why a good design of the plantation and a correct choice of the machinery to be used must be carried out.
Conclusion, glass or trellis?
Therefore, if what you are looking for is a quality of the grape with a manual care of the plot and little economic investment, it would be advisable to carry out a planting in glass, mechanizing only the tillage of the soil. Always taking into account the extra cost of labor.
Glass or trellis? . If you want to increase production with the maximum mechanization possible , there is no doubt that a trellis plantation is the most advisable.
If it is intended to establish a vineyard (without entering the farm size, nor finding large mechanized production) quality , the trellises offers some advantages associated with the quality of the grapes that we have very present.
Trellis driving is always synonymous with health in the vineyard and quality in the grape, which translates into quality in the wine.
