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  • NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center releases monthly climate outlooks in mid-month showing one-month and three-month outlooks for temperature and precipitation.  They are probabilistic forecasts, which means they tell you the likelihood of above, near or below normal conditions but not how extreme they might get. For example, in the one-month temperature outlook for August, you see…

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  • Since I am the newest member of the Viticulture Team, I thought I would introduce myself.  I am Pam Knox, UGA agricultural climatologist, currently in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences in the College of Ag.  I’ve worked at UGA since 2001, first as the Assistant State Climatologist and now as a Public Service…

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  • Veraison is here in many parts of GA – see the 10-day-old photo of a Merlot cluster (below) for proof. Though I was not in Georgia for the previous veraison period, I know that veraison is a bit ahead of schedule this year.  This is usually a welcomed occurrence as this could mean that harvest will follow suit.  However,…

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  • THIS IS A REMINDER TO PLEASE REGISTER FOR THE UGA EXTENSION NEW GRAPE GROWER’S CONFERENCE, TO BE HELD ON AUGUST 16, 2017 AT CRANE CREEK VINEYARDS IN YOUNG HARRIS, GA. This conference is a exactly one month away from today, and is intended for both those looking to join the grape and wine industry, but…

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  • Considerations for crop thinning

    We talked about crop load management at the recent mid-season vineyard workshop at Wolf Mountain Vineyards and Winery.  Whether you were there or not, I hope this will serve as good food for thought if you are considering crop thinning. Depending on variety, site, and local weather patterns, some will be starting veraison within the next week to…

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  • Vineyard management – brief update

    At this stage, most are hopefully finished with shoot thinning and tucking and now are doing some remedial canopy work – such as fruit-zone leafing and canopy hedging. Remember – intensive leaf removal is best done early (i.e. peppercorn to pea size berries at latest) in order to acclimate fruit to the radiation and temperatures…

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  • In addition to pest management (as recently posted by Nathan), canopy management is an important consideration in the early post-fruit set period. While chemical management is of utmost importance in the humid eastern US, where fungal diseases are pervasive, canopy management is a good supplement as it aids in canopy and fruit-zone drying, spray coverage on fruit, and serves…

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  •   Dear all: The American Society of Enology and Viticulture / Eastern Section Conference has now released its full agenda: https://www.asev-es.org/pdf/2017%20%20Program%20ASEV-ES%20full.pdf   This conference will take place in Charlottesville, VA from July 10-12, 2017.   As I said in the previous post, it is a great conference for eastern US industry stakeholders to attend due to…

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  •   The 42nd American Society of Enology and Viticulture / Eastern Section (ASEV/ES) Conference will be held from July 10-12, 2017 in Charlottesville, VA. Please see details here:  https://www.asev-es.org/ The full conference program should be posted in the coming weeks.   This conference showcases very applied viticulture and enology research that has been conducted by research/extension…

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  • Petiole sampling at bloom

    Since the first seasonal opportunity for vine tissue sampling comes at bloom, this message may be timely for vineyards that are northerly and/or at higher altitudes, but somewhat late for those located more southerly and/or at lower altitudes. Bloom-time petiole sampling is a good tool for those interested in learning more about the nutritional status of…

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