Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/172581
s m a r t v i t i c u lt u r e Dr. Larry Williams' studies I have long been a fan of Dr. Williams' irrigation studies in California. He developed his ideas from initial research at the Kearney Ag Center with Thompson Seedless. He was able to use a weighing lysimeter to estimate accurately the amount of water lost by vineyard evapotranspiration. Williams took his studies of irrigation back to first principles, relating vine water use to the current environment in addition to characteristics of the vineyard. He was able to manipulate vines, for example, to show the effect of exposed leaf area on the amount of water lost by vines. He extended his studies to wine grapes in the coastal valleys of California, from the North Coast down to Santa Maria. He has been able to develop irrigation methods for this range of viticultural environments, and for vineyards of different vine-row spacing and trellis systems. I am particularly impressed that he was not content with only scientific publication of his results but brought them together in a very comprehensive extension article published in the November/ December 2001 issue of PWV, which is 78 p racti c al w i ne ry & v i n e yard O CTO BER 20 13 available at practicalwinery.com/ novdec01p42.htm. This extension article is one of the finest I have ever read and should be compulsory reading for vineyard irrigators. Summary of the Williams' approach Williams' studies have recognized the difference between Californian wine grape growing regions in the evaporative This shoot tip is stopping growth. Note that internodes behind tip are shorter, and that young leaves can reach in front of shoot tip.