Professional Documents
Culture Documents
FOR GRAPEVINES
Andrew Teubes
Viticultural Consultant
Nutrient requirements
Five (5) critical aspects of importance for
grapevine nutrition
Which elements are required by the vine
What the function of each element is
Physiological stage when the element is
mostly required
When to fertilize
How much fertilizer should be applied
Nitrogen (N)
Phosphates (P)
Potassium (K)
Calcium (Ca)
Magnesium (Mg)
Sulfur (S)
Iron (Fe)
Boron (B)
Manganese (Mn)
Zink (Zn)
Copper (Cu)
Boron, Zink
Important for cell division, especially at fruit set
Development of pollon, very important
Deficiencies cause poor fruit set
Element
Organ
Grapes
Roots
Stem
Leaves
Shoots
Total
35.8
14
4.7
31.1
14.4
100 (3.89)
34.2
11.4
2.7
39.8
11.9
100 (0.72)
64.8
2.5
3.7
15.4
13.6
100 (3.05)
Ca
8.4
1.2
5.7
69.8
14.9
100 (2.01)
Mg
14.9
7.6
4.9
53.9
18.7
100 (0.60)
Deficiency symptoms of
nutrients
Every nutrient has symptom of deficiency
Very important to know symptoms of
deficiency, because you need to apply the
correct fertilizer to solve the problem
Nitrogen deficiency
General yellow coloration
of leaves, weak growth
Dark green colour
Phosphorus deficiency
General weak growth,
leaves curl downwards
Phosphorus deficiency
Yellow color with red spots in late season
Magnesium deficiency
White cultivars
Red cultivars
Magnesium deficiency
Potassium deficiency
Iron
deficiency
Yellow coloration of
leaf with green veins
Boron
deficiency
Symptoms on young leaves
Zinc deficiency
Irregular growth of young leaves
Manganese deficiency
Yellowish coloration
between veins
Salinity
Foliar application (chlorine)
Growth stage
Nitrogen
(N)
%
Phosphorus
(P)
%
Potassium
(K)
%
Calcium
(Ca)
%
Magnesium
(Mg)
%
24.2
30.8
41.4
33.3
36.4
37.5
26.8
30.1
55.5
36.1
7.4
12.8
After harvest
33.3
40.4
19.5
3.8
14.7
Total
100
100
100
100
100
40% P
71% K
7% K
20% K
89% Ca
9% Ca
4% Ca
72% Mg
13 Mg
15% Mg
GROWING SEASON
Harvest
2% P
Berry softening
58% P
Pea size
33% N
Fruit set
5% N
Leaf fall
30-50 days
62% N
Flowering
Bud break
70-90 days
Fertilizer applications
After bud break
Only if vineyard has poor growth or no irrigation was
available during the after harvest period
Risk of too much vigour can result in poor fruit set
(low yield)
After harvest
Building of reserves
Extremely important period for growth of next spring
Fertilizer applications
Do not apply fertilizer after berry softening or
during harvest period
Requirement low by the vine
Cluster is the most important concentration point,
therefore do not want to encourage active growth
Risk of increased disease if too much nitrogen
applied (rot)
Sour rot
Botrytis rot
Analysis results
Typical soil analysis will give the following
information
Electrical Conductivity (EC)
Indication of salts in the soil (salinity)
pH
Contents of Calcium (Ca), Magnesium (Mg),
Potassium (K), Sodium (Na) most important metal
elements
Content of Phosphorus
Contents of micro elements Copper (Cu), Zinc (Zn),
Manganese (Mn), Boron (B)
Organic matter content
EC
(mS/m)
pH
P
(ppm)
Acceptable
Levels
<400
5.5-8.0
S=sand
L=loam
C=clay
Ca
(ppm)
Mg
(ppm)
K
(ppm)
Na
(ppm)
20
(S)
300
(S)
40
(S)
80
(S)
<200
(S)
25
(L)
500
(L)
70
(L)
100
(L)
<250
(L)
30
(C)
1000
(C)
100
(C)
120
(C)
<300
(C)
Cu
(ppm)
Zn
(ppm)
Mn
(ppm)
B
(ppm)
OM
%
5-25
>0.5
>5
1-3
2-3
Acceptable levels
1.6-2.7 %
Phosphorus (P)
0.14-0.55 %
Potassium (K)
0.65-1.30 %
Calcium (Ca)
1.20-2.20 %
Magnesium (Mg)
0.16-0.55 %
Sodium (Na)
0-2500 ppm
Manganese (Mn)
10-250 ppm
Iron (Fe)
60-200 ppm
Copper (Cu)
3-20 ppm
Zinc (Zn)
15-50 ppm
Boron (B)
15-80 ppm
Nitrogen
(kg/ha/season)
POOR VIGOUR
-Shoot length 50-80 cm
-Shoot diameter pencil thickness on average
-Shoot ends show poor maturation (browning)
-Short internodes (less than 5 cm)
-Leaf colour yellow-green
->50% sun spots below trellis
-No active growing tips at berry softening
IDEAL VIGOUR
-Shoot length 110-150 cm
-10-12 leaves per cluster
-Shoot ends mature completely (browning)
-Inter node length 5-9 cm; single tip action required
-Leaf colour bright green
-20% sun spots below trellis
-20-30% active growing tips at berry softening
EXCESSIVE VIGOUR
-Shoot length 150-200 cm+
-Long, thick, flat shoots common (up to 5 m long)
-Regular topping of shoots for sunlight penetration
-Large, dark green colour of basal leaves; becomes yellow
-Poor fruit set (loose clusters)
-High risk of rot
-Lateral shoot development very strong
Bud break
After
harvest
Total N
40
40
40
120
30
30
30
90
No
application
Application suggestion
Bud break: Depending on vigour
After fruit set: Inorganic source
After bud break: Inorganic source + Organic
before winter
Sources
Super phosphate (11.3%), Double supers DSP, TSP (19.6%)
DAP (18% N, 19.8% P)
Phosphoric acid (26%) for applications through irrigation
Application suggestion
At bud break or after harvest, depending on availability of
irrigation water
Sources:
Potassium chloride(50%), K-sulfate(40%)-saline
situations, K-nitrate (13%N, 37%K)
Application suggestions
50% after bud break
50% after harvest
Other elements
Sulfur: Enough applied as fungicide
Boron: As foliar spray pre-flowering on
cultivars with poor fruit set (Na-borate)
Zinc: As foliar spray only when deficiency
symptoms are seen (Zn-sulfate)
Iron: As foliar spray 3-4 times in season
on high pH soils (Fe-EDTA)