Coffee Shop Blog
NATURAL LAWS AND VINEYARD MANAGEMENT
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...
IDENTIFICATION OF NUTRIENT DEFICIENCIES FROM LEAF SYMPTOMS
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 process:...
SOME COMMON VITICULTURAL BAND-AIDS
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...
IRRIGATION PUMP EFFICIENCY & more
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...
IRRIGATION DISTRIBUTION UNIFORMITY
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...
USDA NRCS EQIP Funding
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 related...
TO HEDGE OR NOT TO HEDGE?
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...
WHEN NEGOTIATION DOESN’T WORK
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...
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