Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/172581
S M A R T V I T I C U L T U R E by Dr. Richard Smart Vineyard irrigation, the Smart way I easy for an irrigation manager to apply water to a vineyard, to keep it looking healthy and to produce reasonable crops. But this is not to say that the vine's physiology is being manipulated in the most water-efficient way, to have a desired grape yield/grape composition/wine quality outcome. When we irrigate wine grapes we should have a very specific goal in mind. In my opinion this is to create a desired level of vine water stress at appropriate points in the growth cycle. I recognize that these strategies may differ between red and white wine grape varieties, and that water stress might be greater for red than white varieties. I want to applaud the excellent research and extension efforts of Dr. Larry Williams of the University of California, Davis. His studies have provided a basis Photos by dr. richard smart have been traveling around wine grape vineyards for more than 40 years. It is my considered opinion that irrigation of wine grapes, although widely practiced, is typically poorly done. I want to propose some reasons for this. Typically the vines are over-irrigated due to irrigation starting too early in the season, especially in winter-rainfall areas and where soils are deep. Further, irrigation tends to be applied using a "cookiecutter" approach. That is, so many hours of irrigation per week, at fixed intervals, and applying the same over the majority of the growing season. In my opinion we can do much better than this. The reader may wonder why I am critical of much commercial irrigation. How can so many people be performing irrigation in a not-so-efficient manner? I think the answer to this is that it is relatively for this column. I can hopefully provide a "smart twist" as to how this approach may be tweaked to better irrigate wine grapes, with quality outcomes paramount. At best this will be a suggested procedure rather than an outcome supported by research. Actively growing shoot tips: Note that the shoot tip is well in advance of young leaves, due to rapidly growing internodes. 3556 Sankey Rd Pleasant Grove CA 95668 | www.calspl.com pr actica l win ery & vin eya r d O CTO B ER 20 13 77