winter injury — Plant & Pest Advisory

October 21, 2022 Hemant Gohil and Daniel Ward

Hill-Up your Grapevines to Prevent Winter Injury

Freeze injury on grape flower buds and canes can cause crop loss and increased disease problems, but freeze damage at the graft union can kill the entire vine! The most effective technique for limiting freeze injury to the graft union is hilling up soil around the vines high enough to cover the graft union with 3 to 4 inches of soil. This practice is especially important for vines less than 5 years old. Now, before temperatures drop and the ground freezes is the time to get out there and hill up your vines. Factsheet 1264 https://njaes.rutgers.edu/fs1264/ details the following important aspects of hilling-up to protect the graft union from cold damage.

The principle of Hilling-up – How the soil works, both as a thermal mass that holds the heat and an insulator that slows heat loss.
How to perform effective hilling-up using available and specialized implements.
Cost benefits of using the implements.
Challenges such as timing, preventing damage to the drip lines and trunks during hilling-up; and how to address those challenges.
The process of hilling down in the spring to prevent root formation above the graft union and proper weed management.

Filed Under: Fruit, Tree Fruit, Wine Grape Tagged With: Crown Gall, graft union, Hilling Up, winter injury

April 27, 2015 Richard Buckley

Winter’s Continuing Legacy

Despite a winter we all want to forget, it never ends if you are a pathologist. Everywhere I look there is plant damage due to the extreme winter. Broad-leaved evergreens seemed to take it hard again this year, particularly some of the hybrid hollies. Frozen roots and heavy winds, along with the need to transpire on sunny winter days, left them in shambles. The injury was visible early and often.

Holly suffering from severe winter dessication. Photo: Richard Buckley, Rutgers PDL

Holly suffering from severe winter wind desiccation. Photo: Richard Buckley, Rutgers PDL

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Filed Under: Landscape, Nursery, & Turf, Plant Diagnostic Lab Tagged With: cherry laurel, winter injury

March 30, 2014 Richard Buckley

Frosty Finally Melted Part 2

Despite a winter that tormented us, most plants did pretty well in the snow. While there was plenty of mechanical damage from several heavy snow storms, the snow accumulation actually protected many plants. Snow cover helped to prevent winter desiccation, particularly in plants lucky enough to have been buried, like turfgrass. It also kept the ground in many locations from a hard freeze, which helped provide much needed moisture to the landscape. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Landscape, Nursery, & Turf, Plant Diagnostic Lab Tagged With: winter injury

February 24, 2014 Richard Buckley

Spring Fever?

Hold your horses, the Spring Equinox is not until March 20^th and if the 10-day forecasts hold true, then we are in for another visit from old man winter before the seasons change.