Rainy spring in Valais
In spring 2023, it rained an unusually large amount in Valais – but this was not a disadvantage for our vineyards due to the winter with little snow. Find out more about water reserves and mushroom weather in this video.
Salgesch, May 2023
Good news first: we had no frost damage until the end of May and the vines are sprouting as they should. But what does a lot of precipitation mean for the winegrowers? The winter had very little snow and there was little precipitation, which is not normally ideal – because enough water reserves should accumulate in winter and spring. However, the exceptionally rainy spring has balanced this out and the reserves in the soil are available. We are therefore not expecting a water shortage this year.
Nevertheless, a lot of moisture also leads to so-called “fungal weather”. Above all, this means that powdery mildew and downy mildew must be combated so that the fungi do not cause any damage to the plants. We used copper to combat powdery mildew and sulphur to combat downy mildew – both of which are absolutely biological control methods.
You can compare the growth of vines with humans: In order to grow, we need a lot of food when we are young and then less as we get older or, in the case of vines, in late summer.
So far everything is going well and we are looking forward to a great summer!
