Wind Machine Project - Grape Bud Survival

Grape Growers of Ontario (GGO) and the Wine Council of Ontario (WCO) are the major sponsors of the project. Other partners include; Stephane Bosc, Orchard Rite, Roger Vail, Chinook, KCMS, Agricorp, Ontario Tender Fruit Producers' Marketing Board, the NPF & VGA, OMAFRA, Brock University (CCOVI) and the University of Guelph.

Grape bud sampling to establish winter survival is part of the CanAdvance and CRESTech funded Wind Machine project. The tables in this article report the sampling results based on the bud collection during the week of Jan. 9-13, 2006.

For sampling purposes, the grape growing areas of the Niagara Peninsula were placed into different climatic zones which closely resemble the "Niagara Grape Climatic Zones", map originally published in 1976 and revised in 2001 by Fisher and Slingerland.

The Parkway zone runs approximately 1 km along the west side of the Niagara River from Niagara-on-the-Lake to Queenston; the Lakeshore zone is approximately 1 km south of the lake from the Niagara River to Grimsby; the Central zone continues south of the Lakeshore zone to the base of the escarpment; the Bench zone starts at the south side of the Central zone to the brink of the escarpment and the Vinemount zone runs south of the Bench Zone.

To date, the coldest temperatures were recorded between Dec. 12 -14, 2005 and ranged between -14.1º C on the Jordan Escarpment to -19.1ºC at the Virgil OWN weather site. These temperatures were not considered a "cold event which could cause considerable damage", however, wind machines may have prevented some winter injury at certain sites. There was concern that a cold event so early in the season might have caused some damage as plants may not have been properly acclimated at that date.

The tables below are based on multiple samples and multiple sites within in area for each cultivar. Some sites had wind machines running between Dec. 12th to the 14th, but all observations for each cultivar and location include both vineyards with wind machines and without.

Trends to date

• Labrusca grapes are generally good
• French Hybrid grapes are generally good except for some sites of Vidal on top of the escarpment in the Vinemount area
• Most vinifera are in good shape except for Sauvignon Blanc and Syrah at a couple of sites

% Live Buds - Vinifera - Jan. 13, 2006 (NS means no sample taken)

% Live Buds - Labrusca - Jan. 13, 2006 ( NS means no sample taken)

% Live Buds - French Hybrid - Jan. 13, 2006 (NS means no sample taken)

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