MS-29 June 2003 GrowingGrowing GrapesGrapes inin MissouriMissouri State Fruit Experiment Station Missouri State University-Mountain Grove Growing Grapes in Missouri Editors: Patrick Byers, et al. State Fruit Experiment Station Missouri State University Department of Fruit Science 9740 Red Spring Road Mountain Grove, Missouri 65711-2999 http://mtngrv.missouristate.edu/ The Authors John D. Avery Patrick L. Byers Susanne F. Howard Martin L. Kaps Laszlo G. Kovacs James F. Moore, Jr. Marilyn B. Odneal Wenping Qiu José L. Saenz Suzanne R. Teghtmeyer Howard G. Townsend Daniel E. Waldstein Manuscript Preparation and Layout Pamela A. Mayer The authors thank Sonny McMurtrey and Katie Gill, Missouri grape growers, for their critical reading of the manuscript. Cover photograph cv. Norton by Patrick Byers. The viticulture advisory program at the Missouri State University, Mid-America Viticulture and Enology Center offers a wide range of services to Missouri grape growers. For further informa- tion or to arrange a consultation, contact the Viticulture Advisor at the Mid-America Viticulture and Enology Center, 9740 Red Spring Road, Mountain Grove, Missouri 65711- 2999; telephone 417.547.7508; or email the Mid-America Viticulture and Enology Center at [email protected]. Information is also available at the website http://www.mvec-usa.org Table of Contents Chapter 1 Introduction.................................................................................................. 1 Chapter 2 Considerations in Planning a Vineyard ......................................................... 3 Chapter 3 Cost of Establishing a Vineyard ..................................................................... 5 Chapter 4 Site Selection ................................................................................................ 9 Chapter 5 Cultivar Selection ....................................................................................... 13 Chapter 6 Selecting and Constructing a Trellis System ................................................. 19 Chapter 7 Planting the Vineyard and Care of Young Vines.......................................... 27 Chapter 8 Training and Pruning .................................................................................. 29 Chapter 9 Irrigation Systems ........................................................................................ 37 Chapter 10 Fertility Management in Vineyards .............................................................. 41 Chapter 11 Disease Management ................................................................................. 45 Chapter 12 Insect Pest Management ............................................................................. 57 Chapter 13 Weed Control............................................................................................. 61 Chapter 14 Bird and Deer Management........................................................................ 67 Chapter 15 Harvest Management .................................................................................. 69 Appendix A Literature Cited and Resources.................................................................... 71 Chapter 1 Introduction The Grape nineteenth centuries. Grape production in- creased tremendously in the early 1800s The grape is a woody perennial vine of the through the efforts of German settlers in the genus Vitis. Missouri has at least eight native “Little Rhine” region of central Missouri near Vitis species. The important cultivated variet- the Missouri River. By 1900 Missouri was a ies, or cultivars, of grape grown in Missouri are leading producer of grapes and award-winning divided into three general groups, the Ameri- wines. Production continued to increase can cultivarscultivars, the French hybrid cultivarscultivars, and statewide until the advent of Prohibition in the American hybrid cultivarscultivars. The American 1920 outlawed the production of wine and cultivars are derived from native North Ameri- other alcoholic beverages. Smaller scale grape can grape species and include cultivars production, primarily of the cultivar Concord derived from Vitis labrusca (Concord, Niagara, for unfermented juice, continued through Catawba, Delaware), V. aestivalis (Norton/ Prohibition and in the years following repeal Cynthiana), and other grape species. The in 1933. Missouri’s wine industry experi- French hybrid grapes were derived from native enced a rebirth in the 1960s, and growth of American species and Vitis vinifera, the classic both grape and wine production continues grape of Europe. French hybrid grapes include today. At present (2002) Missouri has 41 cultivars such as Seyval Blanc, Vidal Blanc, bonded wineries and approximately 1200 Vignoles, Chambourcin, and many others. acres of vineyard (Anderson, 2001; Saenz, The American hybrid cultivars have a com- 2002). Wine production (2002) approaches plex parentage that includes North American, 500,000 gallons. Production of grapes is French hybrid, and V. vinifera cultivars. primarily for wine, although a small part of Examples include Cayuga White, Reliance, the crop is used for unfermented juice or Chardonel, and many others. Two groups of sold for fresh table use. grapes, vinifera and muscadine, lack suffi- cient hardiness for consistent production in Missouri’s grape and wine industry is based Missouri. on production of a number of grape cultivars of the American, French Hybrid, and Ameri- Missouri’s Grape Industry can Hybrid groups. While small plantings of vinifera cultivars are found in Missouri, ex- Missouri has a long and interesting history treme winter cold limits the potential of this of grape production. The earliest viticultural group. In addition, Missouri’s range of geogra- efforts were by French settlers in the St. Louis phies, soil types, precipitation patterns, and and St. Genevieve areas of eastern Missouri, climates can limit production at specific sites and date to the late eighteenth and early and for specific cultivars. 1 Growing Grapes in Missouri Missouri was a leader in developing the Augusta (the first viticultural area established in concept of viticultural areas. Designated the U.S.), Hermann, Ozark Mountain, and viticultural areas, which are regulated by the Ozark Highlands. Figure 1-1 illustrates these U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Fire- areas. For a detailed description of each arms (BATF), have helped Missouri wines viticultural area, consult the appropriate develop a regional identity. Portions of Missouri sections of the US Code of Federal Regulations are currently included in four viticultural areas: (CFR, 2001). Fig. 1-1. Viticultural regions of Missouri 2 Chapter 2 Considerations in Planning a Vineyard Many factors must be considered before will lose productivity. If you place them too establishing a vineyard. First of all you must be close together, you will lose quality. sure the grape cultivars you choose to plant will be marketable when they bear fruit. Plant- The row orientation depends on several ing cultivars that are marketable and adapted factors. It is better to orient rows across hillsides to your site is key. You must consider the or slope than to orient rows up and down to nature of the site you have to work with, the prevent erosion and for more efficient irriga- vineyard operations you need to perform, and tion design. Many areas of Missouri are windy the best architecture for the vines. and it is best to orient the rows so the prevail- ing winds blow down the row and not against Select cultivars. Contact wineries and other it (Patterson, 1996a). Often it is mentioned that vineyards to see what cultivars are in short rows should be oriented north and south to supply or popular at the moment. What culti- better intercept the sunlight, but this is not as vars will be popular or in short supply in the important a consideration in Missouri as slope next 5 years? 10 years? and prevailing winds. Site considerations include water availabil- The design of the vineyard should also take ity, slope, depth and fertility of the soil, and into consideration the economics of establish- prevailing winds. ment. If two designs will take into account the slope and prevailing wind, choose the one Vineyard operations include irrigation, with fewer end post assemblies. Of course the mowing, spraying, harvesting, and pruning. most economical may be one with very long The vineyard should be designed so that rows but these may be depressing to workers operations can proceed efficiently and effec- who are hand harvesting or pruning. Remem- tively. ber that you have to efficiently harvest and transport the grape to the winery when you are The architecture of the vineyard is the designing the vineyard. Rows longer than 600 training system, the between-row spacing, and feet long may be interrupted by alleys (Wolf the in-row vine spacing. You want to build a and Poling, 1995). vineyard that will best expose the canopy to sunlight. The grower needs to have an idea of Between the row spacing most often is how much vigor a given cultivar will exhibit determined by the width of the vineyard on a particular site before row and plant machinery and the training system. Narrow spacing and training system decisions are vineyard equipment is available, but the rows made. If you spread the buds too far apart, you should never be closer together than the trellis 3 Growing Grapes in Missouri is high (Smart and Robinson, 1991). In Missouri, cultivars such as Norton/Cynthiana may be the most common between row