VITICULTURE NOTES ............................ Vol. 26 No. 6, December, 2011 Tony K. Wolf, Viticulture Extension Specialist, AHS Jr. Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Winchester, Virginia
[email protected] http://www.arec.vaes.vt.edu/alson-h-smith/grapes/viticulture/index.html I. Current situation a. Dormant pruning ......................................................................... 1 b. Our 2011 spray program ........................................................... 2 c. Web-based vineyard site evaluation tool ..................................... 4 d. Grapevine yellows update .......................................................... 4 II. Question from the field ....................................................................... 5 III. Upcoming meetings ........................................................................... 7 IV. Positions available in industry .......................................................... 13 I. Current situation Dormant pruning: Many vineyards commence pruning on better days of the fall including November and December. While there is some concern about the potential effects of very early (eg., November) pruning on subsequent cold hardiness of grapevines, the scant research done on this subject does not suggest a significant problem. Of course, compensation for winter injury, should it occur, has fewer options for vines that are finish-pruned before the threat of damaging low temperature injury. This has been the principal reason why operators of smaller vineyards often wait until