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GRAPE GRO WING Calculate soil saturation percentage quick and useful soil test to gauge vine vigor potential is saturation per- centage, or what percent of water by weight a soil holds at saturation. The pro- cedure is quite simple and can be done in a home laboratory. You need a 10 mesh soil sieve, a spatula for mixing soil and water, a 250 beaker (glass or plastic), an accurate metric scale that can weigh about 500 grams of soil, a graduated cylinder to add water and a calculator. Place 200 grams of air-dried soil that has been passed through the sieve into the beaker (be sure to either pre-weigh the beaker or tare the scale with the beaker on it so that it reads zero before you add the soil.) Add water gradually until the soil is shiny on the surface but doesn't A Soil Saturation Relative to Potential Grapevine Vigor SATURATION PERCENT Below 20 20-35 35-50 50-65 65+ SOIL TEXTURE CEC (MEQ/ 100G OF SOIL) Sandy or sandy loam 2-7 Sandy loam Loam or silt loam Clay loam Clay or peat 7-15 15-30 30-40 >40 AVAIL. WATER (INCHES/FOOT) <0.6 0.6-1.0 1.1-1.4 1.5-2.0 >2.0 *Based on 4 feet of rooting depth with no chemical or physical rooting limitations. Mori_Nov05.qxt 9/19/05 3:29 PM Page 1 HoytShepston_Monthly09 10/31/08 4:44 PM have free water above the soil. The soil should slip off the spatula when you scoop up a sample and tilt the spatula sideways. Let the sample sit for about 5 minutes and recheck. Add more water if necessary. Then either re-weigh or note the amount of water that you added. Calculate saturation percentage by taking the difference by dry weight divided by saturated weight, then subtract from 1 and multiply times 100. The resulting number is the saturation per- centage, a quick test to determine what the relative vigor of the vineyard is likely to be.2 G.M. Agfast Aglok Sept01 7/31/01 8:03 AM Page 1 POTENTIAL VINE VIGOR* Very low Low-moderate Moderate to high High to very high Very high to extremely high SUPPLIERS OF QUALITY VIRUS CERTIFIED GRAFTED GRAPEVINES Deadline for Custom Grafted Order For Spring Planting is January of Previous Year For Further Information & Pricing Please Call or Write 1912 Concession 4 R.R. #2 Niagara-on-the-Lake Ontario, Canada LOS 1J0 Phone: 905-468-0822 Fax: 905-468-0344 98 WINES & VINES NOVEMBER 2012 AGLOK™ • UV stabilized with carbon black additive • Strong, durable and flexible • Versatile – used in tree and vine crops and in nursery and irrigation applications • Easy to use – and reuse • Now available in 11-1/2, 150' dispenser cartons & 500' foot spools For your nearest dealer, contact: Toll-Free: 877.552-4828 909.451.2299 • Fax: 909.593-8309