Article for my NE SARE Grant work

[grapeman]

I just got a copy of Growing Magazine in which they published an article covering the research work I did last year with cold hardy grapes. The article just touches on the work I did and results I got from it. Here is a link to it if anybody wants a peek.

I am doing a follow up to that work this year using an expanded amount of vines. I am also establishing one of the largest training trials in the country dealing with training systems in cold hard grapes. This is year two for that planting and I hope to begin data collection from it in the next couple years. If the universities are slow to gather the information we can use, it is up to us as growers to get the preliminary data to get their attention.

http://www.growingmagazine.com/article.php?id=5446

 

[Tom]

Nice article. Is this your 1st published?

 

[lloyd]

That's great work grapeman Im just a lowly hay farmer I really admire you who can supply the quality produce that fills the kitchens of the U.S.A. trying to get perfect hay for Horses is an elusive challenge for me. I salute you. thanks for sharing your intelligence and talent with us.

 

[Runningwolf]

awesome article!

 

[Larryh86GT]

Very cool. It's so great we have a vine expert with us to pester.

 

[Zoogie]

WTG Grapeman nice work!

 

[deboard]

Great work grapeman!

 

[Wade E]

Great article Rich, hopefully someday ill have a yard where I can put some of that knowledge to use.

 

[xanxer82]

Great job Rich!

 

[grapeman]

Thanks guys. I'm just trying to learn what I can to do a better job with the vines and grapes in our cold climate. That article was written last fall .

I got an e-mail from another magazine today - Small Farms Quarterly, saying she is interested in doing a piece on the application procedure for NE SARE. Time will tell how that turns out.

I'm more intested in the hard numbers that come out of my research work, but the publicity helps get others interested in the work, which can help their bottom line.

My work this year is an expansion on last years research. So far the results are trending the same already - contrary to popular convention. The VSP vines are already crowded and overrun, but limited in the number of clusters they can carry by space. The Four Arm Kniffen vines just look more open- because they are. Total clusters is higher, shoots more manageable in length, but larger leaves with better air movement.

 

[Wade E]

There are times when you want less grapes though right? Isnt that what some vineyards do, produce less but of greater quality?

 

[grapeman]

That's the rub Wade. Even with a higher yield because they have more leaf surface per cluster, the guality is higher. Even with a 60% higher yield the grapes were 2 brix higher in sugar and 2 g/l less TA. That is the whole premise of my research- to match the proper training system to the variety to maximize quality and yield. You should not have to reduce yield to an unprofitable level to get a higher yield of grapes. It a matter of increasing the photosynthetic engine.