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158 WINES&VINES January 2018 GRAPEGROWING WINE EAST INFORMATION SOURCE: APPELLATION AMERICA quality. With north-south row plantings, leaf removal needs to be done on the east side only for good fruit exposure. Excessive leaf re- moval, particularly on the canopy's west side, can cause fruit to be sunburned. If high-cordon training is used, some leaf removal at the top can also be beneficial. The next fruit quality determi- nant is the management of the crop load. Bordelon determined that cluster thinning is usually not needed for Traminette, except on young vines in their second and third leaf years. This is due to the basic fruitfulness of the cultivar, which is less than most hybrids. In their trials at numerous sites, yields averaged 12-20 pounds per vine, based upon vines sized at 2-3.5 pounds of pruned canes per vine. This translates to a crop load ratio (yield to pruning weight) of 6 to 10, which is thought to be an ideal range. Vines in the Purdue trials aver- aged 1.4 clusters per shoot, with average weights of 0.25 to 0.32 pounds per cluster. A way to bal- ance yield and vine vigor is to try to attain a pruning formula of 20 + 20, thus a vine with 2 pounds of pruned canes would be bal- anced by 40 buds. "Those buds would produce 40 shoots each with about 0.35 to 0.40 pounds of fruit clusters, leading to a yield of 14 to 18 pounds per vine, and a crop load ratio of 7 to 9," Bordelon noted in the bulletin. Translated to tons per acre, one can expect a yield range of 3-4 tons per acre in Indiana, depending upon site. As done with other cultivars, short shoots are best removed or fruit stripped, in order to get higher fruit quality. It was also observed that Tra- minette occasionally had poor fruit set, and Bordelon could not point to any particular scientific cause. "It's not so common that it's a major concern," he said. Due to the randomness of this prob- lem, decisions on cluster thinning are best delayed until fruiting is finished and size of the clusters is known. A final consideration is for pest management. The trials showed Traminette to be "relatively toler- ant" of most common grape dis- eases, but an effective spray program would ensure vine health and the quality of the fruit. A source for spray recommendations is Purdue Extension Publication ID-169, Midwest Fruit Pest Man- agement Guide. This cultivar sometimes de- velops downy mildew and, less often, powdery mildew. Gener- ally, it is reasonably free of black rot and Botrytis cinerea fruit rot, but is more affected by Phomop- sis viticola, which causes Pho- mopsis cane and leaf spot, and can lead to fruit rot. Bordelon With an early history that includes Illinois, New York and Michigan, Traminette grapes are now grown in 19 states (green). Daily wine industry news winesandvines.com SELL TO MORE GROWERS The Wines & Vines Grower Online Marketing System (GOMS) enables users to create and save highly customized grower searches, and export results into advanced report types, data exports and mailing labels. (866) 453-9701 • winesandvines.com/OMS SELECT RECORDS BASED ON: SELECT RECORDS BASED ON: region varietals acreage grape sales new vineyard