Crossbow's eKo system was prominently featured in the Press Democrat this week. The article highlights the importance of irrigation management and water conservation as well as the use of stress irrigation to grow higher quality grapes. Several systems were installed in Napa's Alexander Valley to highlight the benefits of using water monitoring systems. Crossbow's eKo system was one of these solutions.
To view the entire article, click here.
Six different irrigation systems are being installed side by side in an Alexander Valley vineyard in a demonstration of water conservation.
“We are looking at deep irrigation versus shallow, night versus day, one emitter per vine versus two,” said Mark Greenspan of Advanced Viticulture of Santa Rosa, a grower’s consulting firm.
The concept is to reduce water use by 10 to 20 percent, a conservation goal that is increasingly important this year as the North Coast suffers through another drier-than-normal year.
“I think it’s very valuable, potentially,” said Nick Frey, president of the Sonoma County Wine Grape Commission. “People change farming practices when they are convinced they can do it and it is not risky. If you can show that they can reduce water and produce a good grape crop, it is very valuable.”
The project at Hoot Owl Creek Vineyard is being financed by the Sonoma County Water Agency. The agency this year is under a proposed state order to reduce summertime flows in the Russian River and cut the amount of water it takes from the river by 25 percent to conserve water in Lake Mendocino for the fall salmon run. The state Water Resources Control Board is also proposing that conservation goals of 50 percent be set for Mendocino County and 25 percent for Sonoma County, and irrigating commercial turf be banned.
Grape growers farm about 60,000 acres in Mendocino County and in Alexander and Russian River valleys in Sonoma County. They use a third of the water in the Russian River watershed, according to water agency officials.
Greenspan believes that growers routinely over-irrigate vineyards, irrigating once a week for eight hours, using about eight gallons per vine. But that water goes too deep, soaking the soil past the root system. Roots go down as much as three feet in the soils that are common in the Russian River watershed, Greenspan said.
“You will lose a lot of water below the root system,” Greenspan said. “We want to stress the vines to produce good grapes, but not over-stress. We want less water and more often.”
Greenspan said his irrigation method has been used in a Beaulieu Vineyard ranch in Napa County for the past year, and saves 10 to 20 percent in water use. At Hoot Owl Creek Vineyard, the different irrigating systems are being installed on a half-acre plot of eight-year-old cabernet sauvignon vines. Moisture and temperature sensors will be used to monitor the soil and grapes in real time. The measurements will be sent by solar-powered transmitters from the vineyard to an Internet site, where they will be available for anyone to see.
By BOB NORBERG
To truly understand the return on investment (ROI) growers can expect to receive from using a water system management tool like the eKo platform, growers can use the eKo ROI calculator to determine how much they would need to spend to outfit their vineyard with the eKo solution and the time period during which their payback would be realized. For more information on the eKo system, visit Crossbow's site. To input your data and determine your return on investment click on the calculator below:
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