Bunch Grapes

  • 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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  • The last post I wrote on May 17 was optimistic for a good fruit set given the wonderful weather we were experiencing last week. Key word here is “were”. The weather has been rather wet, cool, and rainy from this past weekend, and continuing through tomorrow.  This has been particularly true throughout northern GA, but I’ve also received reports of very rainy…

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  • Downy mildew was identified on bunch grapes this week at a vineyard site in Lumpkin County. Cheng-Fang Hong, graduate student at UGA, confirmed the downy mildew infection. Grape producers are encouraged to scout for downy mildew and add DM-active materials to their spray programs. Below is an example of downy mildew on grape leaves:

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  • The annual Southern Winegrape Symposium presented by Vineyard and Winery Association of West Georgia will be held on Saturday, June 10 at the Carroll County Ag Center in Carrollton, GA.  All current and aspiring individuals interested in learning more about winegrape growing and making wine are invited to attend. Keynote speaker, Dr. Cain Hickey, UGA…

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  • Now that we are getting close to fruit set (and maybe even seeing a bit in early varieties planted in southern / lower altitude vineyards), it is a good time to review fruit set, what can impact it, and what this means in an applied sense. Flowering (see left picture, below) and fruit set (see right…

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  • ‘Morning all: I have been out and about in the foothills area of GA (Cleveland/Dahlonega), but also up in the Yadkin Valley AVA in NC. Depending on variety, bloom likely started mid- to late- this week in some warmer Yadkin Valley vineyards, and it will likely start sometime next week in the cooler Yadkin Valley…

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  • All, I sent an email out last week with a link to Dr. Mizuho Nita’s blog.  Here it is again: https://grapepathology.blogspot.com/ Mizuho is a grape pathologist at Virginia Tech’s Alson H Smith, Jr. AREC in Winchester, VA. He provides a wealth of information on grape disease management in the eastern US. Though Mizuho’s information is…

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  • All, Welcome to the UGA Extension Viticulture Blog. Please read the information on the “Home” tab to familiarize yourself with how the blog works, and then head over to the “Personnel” tab to find out who is involved. Please share with new and veteran fellow industry members, as well as others who may be interested.   Please…

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