48 Wines&Vines January 2015
grapegrowing
A broader perspective
During the growing season, Decker gathers
information from nearly 125 vineyard blocks.
His decisions help create a vision for a much
larger landscape.
Every year, he evaluates the health of the
vines through NDVI (Normalized Difference
Vegetation Index) imagery. "I use NDVI aerial
images to identify areas of high or low vigor,
which helps to refine data collection and man-
agement," Decker says.
The technology senses small differences in
plant growth based on changes in soil, leaf
area and irrigation patterns. It's a first step
toward modeling the relationships between
water-holding capacity of the soil, the evapo-
transpiration rate, crop coefficient, quality
and yield.
"Technology is giving us new insights into
which vines in a vineyard are too vigorous, or
too stressed," says UC farm advisor Glenn Mc-
Gourty. "The end game is to harvest fruit that
is uniform in ripeness and flavor."
Changes in climate, elevation, soil type,
rootstock and variety can accelerate or slow
down the pace of ripening, and cause excessive
vigor or stress.
"Being able to detect problems as they hap-
pen, and then reacting with more or less water
to balance the vineyard," McGourty says, "will
lead to higher quality wine."
cLimATE-moniToRing SySTEmS SUppLiERS
Company Phone Website
Flow
Meters
Moisture
Sensors
Weather
Monitoring
Systems
Adcon International Inc.
(530) 753-1458 adcon.com
4
Advanced Viticulture Inc.
(707) 838-3805 advancedvit.com
4
Aqua da Vinci
(559) 853-1767 aquapro-sensors.com
4
Burkert Fluid Control Systems
(800) 325-1405 burkert-usa.com
4
Central Valley Builders Supply
(707) 963-3622 cvbsupply.com
4
Davis Instruments
(510) 732-9229 davisnet.com
4 4
Decagon Devices Inc.
(801) 866-1760 morph2o.com
4 4
Finger Lakes Trellis Supply
(315) 904-4007
fingerlakestrellis
supply.com
4
Irrometer Co.
(951) 689-1701 irrometer.com
4
LI-COR Biosciences
(402) 467-3576 licor.com/env
4 4
Metrohm USA Inc.
(866) METRohM metrohmusa.com
4
Mettler Toledo
(800) METTlER mt.com
4
Netafim USA
(559) 453-6800 netafimusa.com
4
PMS Instrument Co.
(541) 704-2299 pmsinstrument.com
4
Spectrum Technologies Inc.
(800) 248-8873 specmeters.com
4 4
TandD US LLC
(518) 669-9227 tandd.com
4
TCW Equipment
(707) 963-9681 tcwequipment.com
4
Trimble Navigation Ltd.
(800) 874-6253
trimble.com/agriculture/
viticulture
4
Valley Pipe & Supply
(559) 233-0321 valleypipe.com
4
For more on the suppliers listed above visit winesandvines.com/buyersguide or see Wines & Vines' 2015 Buyer's Guide.
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