Wines & Vines

October 2016 Bottles and Labels Issue

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76 WINES&VINES October 2016 GRAPEGROWING WINE EAST KEY POINTS Cover crops under the trellis (intra-row) can re- duce the use of herbicides and control excessive vine growth through competition between vines and the cover crop for soil resources. Annual cover crops such as buckwheat may be preferable to perennial cover crops in cool cli- mates such as the Finger Lakes, where growers often hill-up soil from under the vine row to pro- tect the graft union in harsh winters. In regions where vines can have excessive veg- etative growth, even with cover crops in the in- ter-rows, perennial grasses intra-row can help reduce that vigor. Other factors such as seasonal weather condi- tions, available soil resources and nutritional re- quirements can impact the vigor of vines when intra-row cover crops are planted. I n cool-climate vineyards, labor (calcu- lated as hours per acre) employed for canopy-management operations such as shoot positioning and thinning, cluster thinning, leaf removal and hedging, is estimated to be much higher than for floor-management practices. Excluding harvest and pruning, canopy management takes ap- proximately 32% of total labor hours compared to 11% for floor management. 1 Canopy-man- agement practices are critical for optimizing crop load, improving microclimate conditions in the fruiting zone and reducing disease pres- sure on the leaves and fruit. However, we tend to forget that floor man- agement also has profound implications for the vineyard ecosystem, productivity and, indi- rectly, wine quality. 2 The main goals of vineyard floor management span from weed control, soil conservation, soil nutrient and water man- agement, to biodiversity improvement. 2 Among many factors, the best floor-management strat- egy for a given vineyard site depends on the age of the vine, growing region, soil type and production goals of the grower. 3 Environmental regulations and public perceptions may also influence growers' choices toward a specific floor-management practice. 2 The conventional floor-management prac- tice for mature vineyards in the eastern United States and other temperate regions around the world is a cover-cropped inter-row combined with a vegetation-free area directly beneath the vines to reduce competition for soil resources (i.e., water and nutrients). The under-trellis area is kept bare using herbicides and, in some cases, by soil cultivation (see photo above). Several studies have been conducted in the eastern United States during the past 10 years to test if and which under-trellis cover crop Impacts of Under-Trellis Cover Crops Use of herbicides can be reduced, and excessive vine growth can be controlled By Dr. Michela Centinari Conventional vineyard floor management is shown in a vineyard in the eastern United States.

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