by Lodi Growers | Sep 21, 2017 | Blog, Vineyards
One of the newest educational activities on the calendar for the Lodi Winegrape Commission is a monthly Lodi CD11 PCA Network Breakfast Meeting that is held on the first Tuesday morning of each month. You can find the time and location of the meetings at...
by Lodi Growers | Sep 13, 2017 | Blog, Vineyards
At over $12 billion annually, the research and development (R&D) tax credit is one of the largest tax incentives available to businesses. For wineries and grape growers, the potential tax savings could be significant. Yet many Northern California wineries and...
by Lodi Growers | Sep 8, 2017 | Blog, Vineyards
In the late 1980’s, as sales of varietal wines began to overtake those of blended wines, Chardonnay emerged from minor importance to displace Chenin blanc and Colombard as the major white wine variety in California. It has since proven to be adaptable to...
by Lodi Growers | Sep 1, 2017 | Blog
To adequately explain why I am so thrilled to be the Marketing and Communications Manager for the Lodi Winegrape Commission, I need to convey a little background. My love affair with Lodi began about 15 years ago as a regular visitor to tasting rooms throughout the...
by Lodi Growers | Aug 25, 2017 | Blog
New Fiscal Year, New Officers and Board Members Join the Lodi Winegrape Commission It’s always an exciting time of the year when new board members join our ranks. Yet, similar to the end of the calendar year, the end of the fiscal year is also bittersweet, with old...
by Lodi Growers | Aug 16, 2017 | Blog, Vineyards
Lodi, California winegrape growers have been farming responsibly for generations. An important part of farming responsibly means intentionally taking care of one’s resources. A farmer’s resources include the land, the crop, the ecosystem and...
by Lodi Growers | Jul 24, 2017 | Blog, Vineyards
Vineyards are populations of grapevines and associated organisms supported by air, water, and soil resources. As such, they constitute ecosystems or perhaps more precisely, agro-ecosystems. While vineyard ecosystems are artificial, rather than natural, they are...
by Lodi Growers | Jul 10, 2017 | Blog, Vineyards
At the end of the growing season, grape leaves are changing color. They turn from green to shades of yellow (white varietals) or red (red varietals) – see the Magnesium deficiency symptoms below (Figures 1 & 2). This is the result of the leaf senescence...
by Lodi Growers | Jul 3, 2017 | Blog, Vineyards
Solving vineyard problems can be a complex and time consuming task, as is deciding how to correct them. The most obvious remedy is sometimes taken to be the most practical while, in reality, it treats the symptoms rather than the cause of the problem. In this...
by Lodi Growers | Jun 26, 2017 | Blog, Vineyards
Not only are irrigation pump inefficiencies just plain bad for the environment, they cost the grower money! No bueno! Each percent of pressure wasted is equal to the additional costs paid in energy. If you waste 30%, you pay an extra 30%. Irrigation Efficiency...
by Lodi Growers | Jun 21, 2017 | Blog, Vineyards
Did you know that yields within a single grapevine row can vary up to 5x? One factor in this yield variation is irrigation. Poor Irrigation System Distribution Uniformity (DU) has been shown to negatively impact crop yields in numerous studies conducted over the past...
by Lodi Growers | Jun 12, 2017 | Blog, Vineyards
The USDA’s NRCS Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) is a voluntary program that provides financial and technical assistance to agricultural producers to plan and implement conservation practices that improve soil, water, plant, animal, air and...
by Lodi Growers | Jun 6, 2017 | Blog, Vineyards
Hedging is a summer pruning method involving the removal the distal or apical ends of shoots. In some parts of the world hedging is called topping or tipping. Like all pruning methods, hedging depresses vine growth vigor and capacity. It does so by reducing the...
by Lodi Growers | May 10, 2017 | Blog
In January the Lodi Winegrape Commission hosted a very informative and well-attended workshop on negotiation presented by Jim Olson from the Graduate School of Management at U.C. Davis. Jim is extremely knowledgeable and his presentation was universally well...
by Lodi Growers | May 2, 2017 | Blog, Vineyards
If shoot thinning were a book or movie it might be entitled Pruning: The Final Chapter. Quite simply, shoot thinning, which is the selective removal of shoots, enhances the viticultural effects of pruning and in some ways, finishes the pruning job. Here we will...
