Soils ARE Soils!
Well the harvest is done, the vines are still retaining their leaves and the weather has become very autumnal. This usually means that it is soil sampling time in the vineyard. What’s really involved?
Some may think that it is as simple as grabbing a handfull of dirt, thowing it in a bag and sending it off to the laboratory for analysis. Sure the lab can produce accurate results BUT if the samples are not gathered correctly, how can you rely on the results you get.
The sample site is decided by selecting the “average” of the block e.g. from halfway down the slope in our case, as the vineyard is on a steep slope facing north.
Once the centre sampling point is decided a further four sites are selected moving in a diamond shape up to 10 to 100 metres from the centre. This distance depends on the size of the block.
The samples are taken from the top 10 - 15cm having scaped away any organic surface material. This is the soil horizon in which most of the feeder roots are located and hence any nutrients.
The result is a single, composite sample which needs to be mixed throughly before sending off a sub-sample to the analytical laboratory.
The difference in colour and composition is obvious from these photos and it will be interesting to see if there is any difference in the analysis.
In this case I have sent the samples to Environmental Analysis Laboratory in Lismore NSW. The results will be interpreted and a report will be written by the team at The Soil Therapy service of Nutri-Tech Solutions.
Their service is very thorough and their recommendations can be mixed and matched to meet your budget.
Cheers
Vineman
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