Scheid Vineyards shows off herbicide-free environment | Salinas Valley Tribune – California News Times

GREENFIELD — Scheid Vineyards hosted an Earth Day tour of the Greenfield location in late April, sharing some of its growth practices to make wine production more environmentally friendly.

Founded in 1972, Scheid Vineyards has 3,200 acres with 40 different varieties across the Salinas Valley, and recently moved 1,500 of those acres to the organic certification process.

Kurt Gornick, Chief Operating Officer of Scheid, said: “Today we are pleased to announce that we are not using 100% herbicides. Everything we do is done mechanically or with heat.”

Workers can burn waxy layers of weeds towards the ground at 900 degrees and kill plants without herbicides, or reduce mold and problematic insects towards vines at 300 degrees We have demonstrated an agricultural heat device that can be used.

Gornick explained that caring for a variety of organisms, including insects, means that predatory populations stay in place to hunt the insects in question. The same was true for larger creatures, such as encouraging eagles and coyotes to wash their crops for squirrels.

“I want to use chemistry only when I need it,” said viticulture grower Elizabeth Dixon.

Dixon discussed the process of assessing problematic creatures and seeing what they could do to encourage an increase in their natural predators. Agricultural chemicals are used in crops, but employees are taking steps to reduce them as much as possible.

With an ecological approach, Dixon said that solutions that would blow up poisons and creatures were not an option. She described what she calls “Toolbox B”: owls, birds of prey, coyotes, foxes, and cats.

“Coyotes are something that many growers don’t particularly care about because they bite the irrigation lines and cause a lot of confusion,” Dixon said. “Coyotes are what we are trying to encourage vineyards, and hopefully the big plan is to get residents. They may not be able to get a lot of squirrels, You can get enough. “

Various farms have been used to test ideas, such as raptor perches that encourage raptors and boxes for nesting and living on the premises. Owls and eagles have been successful and are looking for other animals such as Bluebirds to expand their control of problematic insects.

“For us, part of sustainability is helping with what’s around you,” Dixon said.

Pest control advisor Domingo Uribe discussed weed control with insects. He said that such common-sense practices around the vineyard maintain healthy vines and produce cleaner fruits.

“Not all insects in our vineyards oppose us or attack our crops,” Uribe said.

Uribe works on the pressure of various pests and how employees evaluate them, evaluate their lifecycles, and streamline management to avoid overusing chemicals when needed. I explained how to apply various measures and chemical substances.

He explained the use of cover crops to encourage insect predators and demonstrated the agricultural heat heating system. He said about the vineyards, the biggest problems they fight were scale insects, mites and molds.

Assistant supervisor Victor Arreola considered the use of sprinkler irrigation to stop aquatic plants as well as pests and maintain protective warmth and humidity at night when there is a risk of frost.

He described the process of maintaining airflow around and inside the vines to reduce the risk of mold, a fungus that can threaten plants.

Data scientist Jovany Cruz goes through a monitoring process at a ranch meteorological station to collect accurate local data when problems occur, whether the soil has low water absorption or is at risk of frost. We’ve seen how to use the data to address the issue. ..

According to Cruz, the nature of the shade, which stretches from near Chaarer to the southern end of the valley, can lead to different situations on different farms and may require completely different solutions, requiring hyper-local data from meteorological stations. Become.