The severity of the current winter weather has growers and ag agents questioning how to accurately assess vineyard damage and develop a plan for coping with the damage through cultural management.
Fruit Specialist Dan Ward supplies comprehensive answers.
Cross sections of grapevine compound buds showing the location of primary (P), secondary (S), and tertiary (T) buds.
P bud is dead, while S and T buds are alive.
Photo courtesy WSU Extension
The hardiness of grape buds and wood ranges widely among cultivars and different antecedent weather and physiological conditions. Any estimate of cold hardiness needs to be considered as specific to either the buds or the wood, given the cultivar, under the previous Fall’s conditions for the development of hardiness, given the weather conditions preceding the cold event in question. [Read more…]
Accurate self-assessment of bud viability and fruitfulness is sound vineyard management when dealing with the effects of the unusually cold temperatures experienced this winter.
