Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/112023
COVER STORY should improve in time. ���It certainly is the future; there���s no question of that,��� he said. ing mechanism also resulted in less ���J��� rooting. ���Since labor will be getting more expensive in the future, California needs to adjust to more mechanization���and just like we are now harvesting more and more grapes by machine, it will only be a matter of time when these planting machines will be very common in California,��� he said.�����It will take some forwardthinking individuals to start with the machine, but once people recognize the benefits this will change the way we plant in California.��� One drawback, however is that the machines can only be used on bare soil without any existing trellis or irrigation system. On the development side, Duarte said one of the ���coolest��� new technologies he���s seen is the Vibrosoiler machine used by California Ag Soilworks to rip land for planting. (See ���From the Ground Up��� in the May 2009 issue of Wines & Vines.) The company uses a patented system that was first studied by Sonoma County soil scientist Dr. Alf Cass, a former professor with the University of Adelaide, and then developed in Australia by Randal Tomich. Tomich brought the technology to the United States in 2008 and partnered with John Crossland. As the owner of the Manual labor still costs less The Clemens machine costs around $200,000 and requires a 120hp tractor to pull it. Planting by hand is still cheaper, and it likely will stay that way until labor grows even more difficult to secure and more expensive. ���Planting just hasn���t been that great of a cost that there���s not much to save with it being mechanized,��� said John Duarte, president of Duarte Nursery in Hughson, Calif. He said growers of some orchard crops such as almonds have turned to mechanized planting, but it has not been adopted on the vineyard side. Culturally, Duarte said he knows the custom in California has been to install stakes and drip lines first, test them to make sure the irrigation system works and then go through with a crew to dig holes and plant vines at each stake. Benjamin Kaesekamp, the production manager at Guillaume Grapevine Nursery in Knights Landing, Calif., said he���s watched planting machines operate in Germany, where he was struck by their accuracy. He said the machines��� plant- Advocates of planting machines argue their gentle planting mechanism results in less ���J��� rooting. said a grower could plant young vines and lay drip line the first year and then come back the next year to install trellising. ���You can plant with three people what 30 could do by hand,��� he said. Hosmer watched a demonstration of Wagner���s GPS-guided machine and said it has great potential, but he found the vine spacing was not as accurate as he would expect. He added that the technology P ro s p e ro E q u i p m e n t C o r p. h a s t h e s o l u t i o n s yo u n e e d fo r t h i s ye a r s b o t t l i n g a n d h a r ve s t s e a s o n s . C a l l t o d ay t o s p e a k t o a s a l e s re p re s e n t a t i ve . BOTTLING & PACKAGING CRUSHERS PRESSES TANKS PUMPS REFRIGERATIONS Th e W i n e r y S o l u t i o n FILTERS West Coast AWS/Prospero 7787 Bell Road Windsor, CA 95492 Phone: (707) 838-2812 Fax: (707) 838-3164 westcoast@prosperocorp.biz Finger Lakes P.E.C. Geneva 1902 Route 14N Geneva, NY 14456 Phone: (315) 719-0480 Fax: (315) 719-0481 geneva@prosperocorp.biz Main Office Prospero Equipment Corp. 123 Castleton Street Pleasantville, NY10570 Phone: (914) 769-6252 Fax: (914) 769-6786 info@prosperocorp.biz Win es & Vin es M A RC H 20 13 27