VINEYARDS

• California Vineyard Finds Large Role for Compost, By Kirk Grace. Courtesy of Biocycle - Journal of Composting and Recycling, Originally published Jun. 2005. I came to Robert Sinskey Vineyards (RSV) with experience in both small and large-scale wine-grape farming, all of it in California's Napa Valley.
   
• Chart of Vermicast vs. Chemical Fertilizers in Soil. The chart compares many components.
   
• Compost Tea: Principles and Prospects for Plant Disease Control - a Literature Review, By Craig Coker, Council President. An increasing body of experimental evidence indicates that plant disease can be suppressed by treating plant surfaces with a variety of water-based compost preparations, known as compost extracts or compost teas.
   
• Earthworms Working with the Wine Production Industry.
  BIOTRANSFORMATION OF WINERY WASTES BY EISENIA ANDREI IN SOIL ORGANIC AMENDMENTS: A SEMIPILOT-SCALE STUDY. By Esperanza Romero, Celia Cifuentes, Emilio Benítez & Rogelio Nogales, Estación Experimental del Zaidín.CSIC, c/ Profesor Albareda, 1 18008-Granada,  Spain. Viticuture and the winery industry generate huge amounts of wastes and by-products and their disposal is regarded as a serious environmental issue in the main grape-growing regions in the word. 
   
• Guidelines for monitoring soil fertility, plant nutrient status and compost quality in organic wine grape production systems ,
  Pieter Raath & Chris Schutte, ARC Infruitec-Nietvoorbij, Stellenbosch.
  ... The fact is that any wine grape producer who wants to produce wine grapes of good quality needs to be aware of the nutritional status of his soil and vines and adapt his fertilisation practices accordingly.
   
• How the soil food web approach improves the soil, download the pdf
   
• Tea Time: A Eugene company's compost tea improves growing conditions. By Rosemary Camozzi, The Register-Guard, Eugene,Oregon. September 7, 2003 . As plant diseases continue to build resistance to chemical sprays, commercial growers and landscapers are looking for new, cost-effective ways to keep their plants healthy.