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In two 4-year studies, `Concord' (Vitis labruscana, Bailey) cane pruning weight, yield, and soluble solids content were similar for vines growing under herbicide and cultivation treatments. In a vineyard with shallow soil, vines grown under mulch had a significantly greater increase in cane pruning weight than did vines grown with sod middles. Growth suppression of sod-managed vines occurred only in relatively dry years. While there was annual variation in vine response to herbicide and cultivation treatments, the cumulative responses over the 4-year study were similar for these treatments. A second vineyard where soil was less restrictive for root growth did not respond to the replacement of clean cultivation with herbicide treatments. In both experiments, there was no apparent advantage of two instead of a single herbicide application, and there was no difference between the budbreak, as opposed to bloom timing, of herbicide application.
One- and 2-year-old 'Concord' (Vitis labruscana L.) grapevines were used to study the effect of soil pH on vegetative growth and nutrition. Ninety-eight, own-rooted, 'Concord' grapevines were planted in 94.6-L pots containing vineyard soil adjusted to seven soil pH levels ranging from 3.5 to 7.5. After the first growing season, seven vines from each soil pH treatment were randomly selected, destructively harvested, and measured for root and shoot growth. The remaining 49 vines over-wintered in the pots, were defruited in year two, and were destructively harvested at the end of the second growing season. There was a reduction in root biomass below soil pH of 4.5 and a greater reduction in shoot biomass leading to a higher root: shoot ratio. There were no significant differences in vegetative growth of young 'Concord' vines from a soil pH of 5.0-7.5. However, there was a trend toward lower shoot biomass and higher root: shoot ratio at the highest soil pH level. Phylloxera nodosities on roots were present in equal densities at all soil pH values. However, the negative impact of phylloxera on vine dry mass was greater on vines under nutrient stress at the highest and lowest pH treatments than on those with adequate nutrition at the mid-range soil pH values.
Three-year-old field-grown 'Concord' (Vitis labruscana Bailey) grapevines were destructively harvested at eight growth stages during 1998 to quantify growth, carbohydrate distribution, and nutrient concentrations of different organs. The roots were the major storage organ for carbohydrates and nutrients, accounting for 84% of the starch and 75% of nitrogen stored in the vines at the beginning of the season. About 78% of the reserve starch in the vine was used for prebloom root and shoot growth. Early-season fine-root growth was a sink for stored vine nitrogen; however, the fine roots quickly became a nitrogen uptake source, providing at least 84% of the spring growth nitrogen. Total root biomass increased from bloom to leaf fall, but reserve carbohydrates and nutrients lost in the prebloom period did not begin to recover in roots until the end of rapid shoot development in late July. Crop removal at harvest, and a late-season root flush, further increased vegetative carbohydrate and nutrient reserves in the short postharvest period.