A switch away from manually removing suckers to a much quicker herbicide option has paid dividends for Gundagai Vineyard.

Located in the Riverina district of New South Wales, the vineyard has 240 hectares of vines with 40 hectares of Chardonnay and the remainder a balance of Shiraz, Merlot, Durif, and Cabernet grape varieties. 

Blocks were first planted back in 1998 and developed through until 2007.  

Manager Barrick Parker said labour was a constant challenge for the area and was highlighted further during the COVID period. 

He said while they currently had a good crew it was important to continually review tasks around the vineyard that needed to be done manually and identify other tools that could be utilised to will improve efficiencies. 

One job that has traditionally been done manually is the removal of suckers, which occurs in late spring. 

Suckers are unproductive shoots that grow at ground level, drawing water and nutrients away from the main plant, while potentially harbouring pests and diseases. 

“The suckers are pulling out nutrient just prior to flowering,” Mr Parker said. 

 “If we get rid of them at the right time, this ensures all the water, and nutrients are going into producing more productive vines. 

“In the past it's all been labour intensive.

“the pruning crew would be using a sharp blade and there would be 10 to 15 of them coming through -it’s very intensive work.

“There’s always an issue sourcing the right people and keeping them on as well as the sorting out their accommodation and all the rest." 

This year, on advice of their viticulturalist, they used Spotlight Plus Herbicide on some blocks in preference to manual removal. 

“We were going through the options for the blocks and decided to try Spotlight Plus in the cabernet and shiraz varieties,” Mr Parker said.  

“Spotlight Plus was the most economical choice for us, and it fitted right into the program, so we dropped it straight in.  This was my first year using it and we had excellent results.  

“It was just more effective to come in with Spotlight Plus and clean up the suckers, and it was also very easy to incorporate into our weed spray program. 

“It's done the job perfectly and is miles in front of the other option.” 

"Economically it made sense.  

“It fitted in with our program, and there's no issue with damage to the vines, it is a really targeted spray and safe to use. " 

He said we will continue down that route if we can - it's an easy, logical solution for us." 

A three-row herbicide unit was used for the application of Spotlight Plus Herbicide with covers across the nozzles directing the herbicide below the drip tube height. 

“There's a lot of shoots in around that foot,” Mr Parker said.  

“Spotlight Plus is a contact spray so anything in the target range was controlled nicely. It's done a really good job and cleaned up everything else underneath as well. We probably cleaned up more than 90 per cent of the suckers this year." 

Spotlight Plus Herbicide also has activity on broadleaf weeds and the addition of an appropriate knockdown herbicide, also cleaned up the area underneath the row. 

Sheep graze the vineyard during the wintertime, so the control of certain weeds that might otherwise contaminate the wool is particularly important.