#57 Why We "Deep-Rip"

It is expensive. And you can't see it once the vines are in the ground.

We are breaking up the soil at a depth of 28 inches with multiple passes in a cross-hatch pattern. Known as “deep-ripping” this prepares the ground for planting in the spring.

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Two years in advance of planting, we place an order for vines with a grapevine nursery. In the spring, when we are ready to plant, the new vines arrive with very immature root systems. Like any young plant, they are more likely to thrive if you place them into loose, non-compacted soil.

In the Finger Lakes, we typically plant new vineyards into fields that have been farmed for decades. Year-after-year, tractors and harvesters have driven back-and-forth over the same ground. The weight of these heavy vehicles creates compacted soil right where you plan to put your grapevines.

If you want to plant the immature vines into loose, uncompacted soil, what do you do?

First, you deep-rip.

We are planting six more acres of Cab Franc next spring. Last week, the equipment and operator arrived to deep-rip these acres.

Deep-ripping is not the same as plowing. A conventional plow works only the top 12-14 inches of soil. When deep-ripping, you want to go as deep as possible and break up the ground as thoroughly as possible.

That requires special equipment that is powerful enough to pull two, 28-inch rippers through dense, compacted soil. It is slow going.

Most people starting vineyards hesitate to invest in deep-ripping. For one, it is very expensive.

And second, the benefit is below the surface where you can’t see it. And if you can’t see it, you have to wonder if it is working.

You also don’t know if the wine made from the vines planted on ground prepared this way will taste any better. Does a sommelier, swirling a glass of wine, ask “Was the field deep-ripped before these vines were planted?”

Based on our brief tenure here, we are believers. We deep-ripped in 2008, before we planted the first vines at Boundary Breaks. We are happy with the wines that we produce.

After planting next spring, we will have planted 50 acres of vines in the ground. All 50 acres were deep-ripped before they were planted. You can’t go back afterwards. You have to trust the process. Do it before you plant. Just do it.