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- Author or Editor: Thomas W. Dittmer x
Three vine management systems were evaluated on `Chardonnay' grapevines under Michigan growing conditions for five growing seasons to determine their influence on yield, fruit quality, cluster compactness, and the incidence and severity of fruit rot. These systems used mid-wire cordon (MWC) vine training, Umbrella Kniffin (UK) vine training, and a combination of those (UK/MWC). Over four growing seasons the UK and UK/MWC treatments had higher fruit soluble solids and higher yields than the MWC treatment. These higher yields were attributed to higher yields per node and the ability to retain more live nodes per vine than was possible with the MWC treatment. The UK and UK/MWC treatments also had less fruit rot than the MWC treatment in some years, which was related to reduced compactness of clusters. The UK and UK/MWC treatments produced greater numbers of mature canes per vine than the MWC treatment, and the locations of the canes allowed full cropping the season following an extremely cold winter.
Sunlight-exposed clusters of Vitis vinifera L. cv. Chardonnay at twelve positions on a N-S oriented, single curtain trellis were monitored for temperature to determine their patterns of heat summation and diurnal temperature.
Diurnal patterns of temperature differed greatly among these clusters. These differences reflected the solar insolation on individual clusters. Point-in-time measurements among clusters during mid-day varied as much as 12°C. 24-hour heat summation for these clusters revealed little difference among them. Heat summations for periods of daylight or solar insolation indicate more heat accumulation for clusters on the top of the trellis, at ground level and on the west side of the trellis than on the east side of the trellis. These differences might be usefully exploited when training vines to maximize aspects of fruit maturation in relatively cool climates.
Varying amounts of vegetation-free area (VFA) were established around newly planted `Niagara' (Vitis labrusca L. × Vitis vinifera L.) grapevines to determine their influence on vine growth during the first growing season. VFAs were either circular with radii from 0 to 5 ft (0 to 152 cm) in one experiment or in bands from 0 to 8 ft (0 to 244 cm) in width in a second experiment. VFAs were maintained with biweekly manual weeding for the entire growing season. Leaf, shoot and root dry weights as well as the number of primary shoots and the length of the longest root were measured at the end of their first growing season. The thresholds for maximum vine dry weight biomass accumulation occurred with a circular VFA of 4 ft (122 cm). When banded VFAs were used, total vine dry weight biomass continued to increase up to the widest treatment of 8 ft (244 cm). Therefore, no threshold was attained. These are greater VFAs than typically established around vines in commercial plantings. Therefore, growers who desire to maximize vine growth of newly planted vines, should consider larger VFAs around vines than has been traditional unless such a practice is likely to cause surface soil erosion.
Cluster compactness can affect fruit quality by influencing pesticide spray penetration into clusters and by predisposing berries to cracking and subsequent decay. Compactness of clusters can be altered through gibberellic acid sprays, flower cluster thinning and pruning severity. Assessment of cluster compactness has often been performed using a visual rating system which may not provide adequate quantitative measurement. Evaluation of cluster compactness by insertion of wedges between randomly chosen pairs of berries on a cluster revealed a high correlation with a visual rating system and a more sensitive measure of cluster compactness than the visual rating system. Several pruning severity treatments were applied to table grape cultivars to determine their influence on cluster compactness. It was possible to measure statistically significant differences in cluster compactness among these treatment using this wedge measurement technique.
Growing conditions in Michigan can threaten the yield and acceptable fruit quality of `Chardonnay' grapevines. Three grapevine training systems, mid-wire cordon (MWC), umbrella kniffin (UK), and a combination of the two (MWC-UK) were evaluated under Michigan growing conditions to determine their influence on yield, fruit quality, cluster compactness, incidence and severity of Botrytis bunch rot, and trellis fill. Vines were grown on C3309 rootstock and pruned to 44 nodes per kilogram of cane prunings. The MWC-UK treatment had an additional 30 nodes per vine retained, and the crop level on these nodes was removed after fruitset. Over a 2-year period, UK and MWC-UK trained vines had fruit soluble solids about 1 °Brix higher and yields were 48% and 63% higher than MWC trained vines, respectively. MWC-UK trained vines consistently out-performed MWC trained vines for all variables measured, while UK-trained vines provided an intermediate response.
Functional leaf area is the basis for vineyard productivity. Therefore, the leaf area displayed on a trellis will determine the productive potential of a vineyard. A device that uses a series of infrared sensors was constructed to quantify vineyard trellis fill. A vertical row of sensors on a moving over-the-row vineyard trailer recorded the interception of infrared light beams through the trellis. These values were related to the total time of measurement to calculate a percentage of trellis fill. Our device was used to quantify differences among training systems applied to `Chardonnay' grapevines. This system is quick, easy, and at least as accurate as currently used visual methods. This technique should be useful for determining the influence of various cultural practices on the development of grapevine canopies.