The decision to add irrigation for the vines has proved its worth in the past week. From a month ago having rain nearly every day for 3 weeks, we are now enjoying the most wonderful summer weather. Clear blue skies and hot sun every day, with a daytime shade temperature of around 28-29 Deg C.
So the irrigation is on every day keeping the roots moist to allow the plants to transpire thereby keeping their leaves cool. The irrigation system is fitted with what are referred to round here as "dribblers" which do exactly as it says on the box, they dribble water at ground level. The actual water consumption is quite low and the advantage is that if we had normal high level sprays onto the foliage, we would be using a huge amount of water to prevent the wet plants from burning and at the same time opening them up to mould growth from the locally much increased humidity.
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