Billy wrote:
....
We do a lot of burning locally in the spring. For vineyards it is mostly
burning pruned grape canes. Again, it is probably easier to burn the
canes than to chip them and return them to the vineyards. The assistant
wine-maker where I work is a "Bio" type, I'll ask him "why not?"
tomorrow. I haven't a clue as to what other agriculturalists are
burning, but it isn't complete fields, that's for sure.

i'll be interested in what he says, but i
would not be surprised if it isn't aimed at
reducing fungal diseases (if you don't have
organic material on the surface of the soil
then the spores have fewer places to hide
from the sun's uv rays).

my own recent experiences has told me that
this is a false approach. instead i had very
good results from using leaves and wood chips
to help greatly reduce a spotted disease that
has been getting at the lillies in the spring.
the past few years it was pretty bad on almost
every leave, and then this year it was just
one or two spots here or there for the entire
plant. if next spring is similar then i'll be
very happy with the result.


songbird