Boron and salinity—in vineyards of the west side, Fresno county

When the California Aqueduct was completed, it brought high quality water from northern California to replace poor quality local well water, which usually contained high levels of boron and salts and made much of the area unsuitable for many crops.

New experimental and commercial plant-ags of a variety of crops are continuing to le made to determine whether production, locality and economics warrant more extenive plantings. Grapes are one of the crops receiving wide interest.

This study indicates that suitability of the area for grapes is strongly related to a relocation in soil boron, which accumulated in roils during irrigation or was present from natural causes. Boron can be removed by bleaching, although copious amounts of good duality water are needed to remove it. However, good irrigation practices with the new rater supply can be expected to reduce.iron to acceptable levels within a few years 3rd all crops in well-drained soils. Soil and land analysis can be used to evaluate the rogress in reclamation and to determine coil suitability for planting.