Current Events in the Vineyard

 

This page will focus on what's happening in the Long Island Horticultural Research and Extension Center vineyard in Riverhead, NY. We will try to update photos and brief commentary as frequently as possible.

Dr. Greg Loeb  Insect Management 2012

Dr. Wayne Wilcox  Disease Management 2011

 

 On May 10, 2012, the CCE-SC Grape Program hosted an Adobe Connect meeting ‘Innovative Under Vine Management Strategies.’ For those unfamiliar with this format, it is the latest way to broadcast presentations to a wide audience for minimal cost. The speaker’s powerpoint presentations are posted to a website. We, as the hosts of the meeting, design and organize the meeting website. Then registrants log onto the website at the designated time. The technology allows the speakers to be heard clearly by all – we had registrants in 21 states and 3 countries. Our speakers and their topics:

 
Dr. Tony Wolf, Virginia Tech
Intrarow cover crops and other practices to favorably alter vine growth and canopy architecture
The presentation will focus on research and grower experience using intrarow or under-trellis cover crops to (a) reduce soil erosion and to (b) suppress vegetative growth of vigorous grapevines under conditions of excess soil moisture. The discussion will also describe how canopy architecture is favorably altered by such treatments which can have a bearing on fruit composition and wine quality attributes such as color density, but also on pest management.
 
Dr. Ian Merwin, Cornell University
Vineyard Floor Management and Soil Health
Different systems for managing vineyard soils and ground-cover vegetation influence soil fertility and functionality, soil water retention and release, soil biological activity, vine nutrition, vigor and berry composition, and the natural environment around vineyards and wineries. This presentation will describe some long-term effects of mulches, legume ground-covers, mechanical tillage, and different herbicides on important soil attributes that are often called ‘soil health’. In addition, research on pesticide contamination of soils and surface water around vineyards will be reviewed, and suggestions will be made on ground-cover management systems that promote vine and soil health.
To view a recording of the speakers click on this link -
http://breeze.cce.cornell.edu/p23i2w5lx87

We are continuing our work on under vine covers this year with a grant from SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education). This enables us to continue the trial at LIHREC with mowing vs herbicide as well as in the industry looking at seeded covers. Here are a few photos from our industry trial. We seeded dutch white clover and a proprietary blend of grasses called "low mow". Which, as the name implies, should need less mowing. This site was seeded in the spring of 2011 and as you can see from the photos we have a good stand of clover and low mow. The first photo is of just clover.
This photo is a shot of the clover next to low mow.
Here is just the low mow.

 For more pictures and descriptions of the trials go to our blog at http://iutmforvineyards.blogspot.com/. The blog will have more photos and more frequent updates about this project.