Frost Continued from Page 7
On the night of April 12, skies cleared and earlier winds died. The dew point also declined into the 20s. Without much humidity, which acts like a heat reservoir, the dry air cooled much faster. As a result, many areas in northern San Joaquin County and southern Sacramento County saw temperatures ranging from 27.7 to 30.6 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 min- utes to more than four hours, according to Western Weather data. Depending on the leaf growth stage, variety and cold duration, those tempera- tures were enough to damage or kill leaves and shoots on some vines. The 2022 grape yields in harder hit regions also reflected the cold damage. When establishing a new orchard, Tanner said growers can take into consideration terrain or other features that create cold pockets or influence cold air flow patterns. They also can choose varieties with later bud break that have better chances of avoiding cold snaps than ones with earlier bud break. Placing trellis arms and wires higher off the ground can raise canes above the cold- est air layer closest to the ground. With established vineyards, he said growers can tweak cultural practices to try to address potential frost issues. “Sometimes with existing vineyards, we just have to manage those differently,” Tanner said.
Once leaves emerge during bud break, as shown on the left, they become sensitive to frost. At right, a Lodi-area vineyard is damaged after frost last April.
If growers have low spots in vineyards or entire vineyards that are prone to frosts, he said they may want to hold off pruning. This delays bud break and extends cold hardiness for up to 20 days. Mechanical prepruning to seven to eight nodes can be completed any time during the dormant period. But Tanner said growers can wait as late as unfold- ing of the second or third leaf on apical shoot positions—those farthest from the
trunk—to complete hand pruning with little yield impact. Vineyard floor management is another frost-management tool, he said. Firmly packed bare soils—especially when they contain moisture—intercept solar radia- tion and then release it at night, he said. On the other hand, lush cover crops shade and insulate vineyard floors, preventing the soil from absorbing daytime solar heat. In addition, the coldest layer of air settles on top of tall vegetation, which brings it closer to the cordon height. Dave Simpson, who grows winegrapes
near Lodi, said he has limited frost-man- agement options. “Really, there isn’t much we can do, and managing the vineyard floor is one thing we can do,” he said. Simpson cited previous University of California research that showed one of the worst scenarios is to have cover crops taller than 12 inches. “My goal is to leave a cover crop but keep it short enough that you’re not hurting yourself,” he said. Outside of that, Fry said he also uses crop insurance, where appropriate, as an- other risk-management tool to deal with Mother Nature. (Vicky Boyd is a reporter in Modesto. She may be contacted at vlboyd@att.net.)
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Crush Continued from Page 3
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the Central Valley declined for a sixth con- secutive year. In that region, “the continu- ing trend of an annual lighter crop appears to be due mostly to drought conditions and ongoing vineyard pullouts,” Johnny Leonardo, partner at Ciatti Company, said in a statement. With the release of grape crush data for 2022, those in the sector are waiting to see if the report spurs market activity. “It will be interesting to see how the market moves going forward,” Proctor said. “The belief on some fronts is that we’re going to see some renewed market activity because the crush was lighter than everybody thought. I think that’s a possibil- ity. But I also think a lot of the reason we’re seeing some of this hesitant activity on the market is because of the economy and concerns about where it is going to take us in the future.” He added, “Buyers are somewhat reluc- tant to make commitments. They don’t want to have more supply than they need.” (Caleb Hampton is an assistant editor of Ag Alert. He may be contacted at champton@cfbf.com.)
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8 Ag Alert February 22, 2023
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