First Equipment for Existing 3 ac Mountain Vineyard

[Norcal M5]

Hi All,
We just purchased a 3 acre vineyard in the Santa Cruz mountains of California. I know we'll need to spray in the growing season and mow or disc the weeds. Your advice is welcome on what we should have to start.

Norcal

 

[Muhammad]

Welcome to TBN.

 

[CompactTractorFan]

Welcome to TBN!!! I don't really know about vineyard equipment...

 

[Wacky]

:welcome:

 

[Norcal M5]

Hi All,
We just purchased a 3 acre vineyard in the Santa Cruz mountains of California. I know we'll need to spray in the growing season and mow or disc the weeds. Your advice is welcome on what we should have to start.

Norcal

Maybe I should add that we're looking for a TRACTOR:laughing: Fairly steep terain. We're open to advice/help. Maybe you have something we need that you want to find a home for?

 

[flusher]

Hi All,
We just purchased a 3 acre vineyard in the Santa Cruz mountains of California. I know we'll need to spray in the growing season and mow or disc the weeds. Your advice is welcome on what we should have to start.

Norcal

New or used tractor?
What's the separation between the trellises?
What's the lay of the land? Mostly flat? Pretty steep?

 

[Norcal M5]

Hi Flusher, thanks for stepping in. The new tractors are sweet, but the cost is pretty high and we want to make sure we survive the farming experience; thus "used" is going to have to be the way to go.

The rows are 9' so it's a double pass on virtually any setup. The land is steep. The guy who mowed it for us recently used 4wd and had about 35 HP and had no trouble.

Norcal

 

[flusher]

Hi Flusher, thanks for stepping in. The new tractors are sweet, but the cost is pretty high and we want to make sure we survive the farming experience; thus "used" is going to have to be the way to go.

The rows are 9' so it's a double pass on virtually any setup. The land is steep. The guy who mowed it for us recently used 4wd and had about 35 HP and had no trouble.

Norcal

4WD is generally a plus when mowing steep land. I'd look for a B-series Kubota. My first tractor was a 2005 Kubota B7510HST (21 hp engine, 17 hp pto, 4WD, power steering, hydrostatic tranny) with the LA302 FEL (4-ft wide bucket, 800 lb lift to about 7 ft height). Cost: $12,600 plus tax new. This tractor today would go for $8K or so. In March of this year a B7510 with FEL and a gear tranny sold for $7600 on eBay. I used the B7510 with a 4-ft King Kutter brush hog to mow my 6 acre hayfield.

To use these small compact utility tractors to mow steep hills, you have to move the rear tires to their outermost setting to increase track width to improve stability and reduce the possibility of roll over. I've seen some guys install dually rear wheels to maximize track width.

Good luck.

 

[Briana03]

Hello & WELCOME to TBN!

I moved your thread to the Ag Tractors & Machinery Forum.

 

[Haoleguy]

Hi All,
We just purchased a 3 acre vineyard in the Santa Cruz mountains of California. I know we'll need to spray in the growing season and mow or disc the weeds. Your advice is welcome on what we should have to start.

Norcal

Welcome Norcal ! A question about your rows as it will determine what you need on tractor....do the rows go across the hill or do they go with the grade up and down? The reason I ask is that many tractors go up and down hills with little issue. Have friends in Santa Ynez that use a small JD on their hilly 7 acre vineyard but the rows are up and down. The tricky part is going across hills. If the later is the case then I think you need to consider a vineyard specific tractor that can articulate(like Antonio Carraro and other Italian tractors) and has a lower center of gravity. Good news is that in California there should be significant numbers used compared to other parts of the country. If you plan to keep the in-row area free of weeds by mechanical cultivation then double check hydraulic flow and placement for the grape hoe or similar attachment. With 3 acres your spray volume needs are not high and thus 3pt hitch style should work easily for you. Consider flail mower for row alleys if you have small rocks/stones as they tend not to fling them like rotary mowers which can injure trunks and graft unions. If you have vigorous vines you will most likely need to hedge. Look at hedging options for an idea on hydraulic needs and placement. The following link will give you an idea on vineyard attachments.... http://www.bdimachinery.net/resources/BDiCatalogVineyard2010.pdf . The good news for you is that many resources and sources are near you. Have you taken the small vineyard management course given at UC Davis? Nice intro to vineyard needs......Cheers , Gary