Post-emergence herbicides are cost effective for vineyard floor management on the Central Coast

• Main Authors: Laura Tourte, Richard Smith, Larry Bettiga, Tiffany Bensen, Jason Smith, Daryl Salm
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources 2008-01-01
• Series: California Agriculture
• Online Access: http://calag.ucanr.edu/archive/?article=ca.v062n01p19

Central Coast growers are under increasing scrutiny and regulatory pressure to manage herbicide use because of their farmland's proximity to the Monterey Bay and National Marine Sanctuary. Vineyard floor management practices typically consist of a combination of weed control strategies, including herbicide use and cover crops. We evaluated nine combinations of vineyard floor management practices for their impacts on fruit yield, quality and costs. We found that compared to the grower standard, post-emergence herbicide treatments generally used smaller amounts of chemicals and were less costly, with similar yields and quality.