The day before I leave for a week, the vines are on the border of needing their first PM prevention spray of organic stylet oil. So, I mixed up a 1% solution (a bit lower than my usual 1.5% mix) and sprayed vines with at least some shoots over the 6" guideline. Vacation is when terrible things happen in vineyards, so we'll hope my week off doesn't lead deer breaking in and gobbling up the new growth.
Our cover crop, which started as some vetch, poppies, periennial grasses, and things that aren't helpful, has year-by-year been taken over by vetch. Vetch is a great bonus to the soil, as it adds nitrogen without the use of chemical fertilizer or other sources (steer manure anyone?).
The speed at which it's spreading is alarming however, and it's so happy this year it decided to take on the vines. So, I've decided to pull near the vines themselves, but let it do its thing in between the rows. It's pretty easy to pull, especially since we apparently want to leave the roots in the soil, as they have nodules that will add a slow, steady stream of nitrogen to the vines. That said, I probably hauled 50 or so bundles into a giant compost pile.
As far as the invasiveness, hmm well I may have my CNPS (Native Plant Society) membership revoked. Makes me wonder how many times native plant people have gotten into fights with organic gardeners.
