Jeff - remind me of what you’re planting in the new block. I want to say it was the Nebbiolo that you all had been talking about.
Only a few buds starting to swell here, but already climbing cutworms are eating some of these buds. Tonight at 1 AM we start walking the rows to pick them off so…it’s on here too.
Hi Joe, This year it’s Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot. Next year is the Nebbiolo and some Sauvignon Blanc.
Have spent two nights with crew picking off cutworms. A couple hundred the first night and over a thousand the second night. The same 5 acres walked each night. Seeing some damage but we are getting them before they have an unacceptable impact. Only Cabernet Franc, Petit Manseng and Merlot buds are edible right now.
Forecast has a couple frosty nights next week. Given the expected temps, only swollen buds might be damaged…the same ones we’ve been trying to save at night. ![[head-bang.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/b/b1cd199e4b2b2988b5107c3c9598fd28dc92a776.gif "[head-bang.gif]"){kind=small}
Freeze watch tonight and tomorrow here as well. Only the Cab Sauv seems safe at this point as I still don’t see swell.
Jeff - Do you find that midnight/1am or so is the best time to be picking off the cutworms? The reason I ask is that I have been out between 9 and 10pm with no luck in finding them a couple of years back.
Snow here this morning and two consecutive freeze warning nights for tonight and tomorrow night. Luckily our buds(auxerrois, chenin blanc, and chardonnay) are still tight. Our coastal area stays cooler than inland which is a good thing when early season temperatures try to spike. Had dinner with a local orchard owner and he said the temperature spike and super cold from late Feb was enough to kill off 90% of his peach buds…thus no peaches this year.
Cheers, Gary
According to the local weather feed, my area only got down to 34 last night. I will walk things when I get home and see if I notice anything. Tonight remains the real concern with calls for low temps of 27 with wind chills in the low 20s.
Gary, We now start at 11 PM and find many. At 1 AM we noticed the damage was mostly done.
Thanks Jeff. Seems like I might have been missing the time, or temperature, window. When our buds appear this year I’ll watch for first signs of any damage and make the survey at different times at night.
Definetly took some freeze damage to my Chardonnay. So far everything else looks fine. According to the forecast, there could be more damage this Saturday night.
Sunday night we got down to 22F. Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Manseng took a hit. Any bud bigger than a pinky nail is dead. But maybe only 10 to 15 percent. Saturday night comes another round of cold but not as cold. Regardless, the damage is done. We left kicker canes in Merlot so after a few days of observation may substitute out canes or just add a third. Everything else hopefully, we can compensate for the loss of buds during shoot thinning.
Extreme cold night/morning here. Major temperature inversion. 18 degree difference between winery and vineyard. But it was just too cold. Zero at winery and 18 F midway up in vineyard. Any swollen bud is lost. Mainly in Cabernet Franc and Merlot but also a little in Sauvignon Blanc, Petit Verdot and Petit Manseng. Only Cabernet Sauvignon buds were still tight and so were not impacted. Forecast looks warm so will know the complete impact within a couple weeks time.
Jeff, wondering how those Cab vines are looking? Any pics of the other damage?
What an odd spring. Growth is way slower than normal. A few vines still haven’t burst yet. The two separate freeze events may have taken out a few Chardonnay vines. Most have pushed new growth but I keep waiting and hoping for signs of life on the others but no longer believe I will see it. Normally, i would have had the first spray on by now but unless we get some rains to kick things along it probably won’t be for another week. While still early, I fear another late harvest which I was hoping to avoid this year.
Casey, Our Cab vines are fine, just starting to swell and a few buds have broken. Cab Franc and Merlot were hit the hardest by the freeze. Will post some damage pics soon. Here is a couple shots of my crew digging holes for Cab 169 and putting in bamboo where just planted. First Phomopsis treatment goes on older vines next week.
First significant rain for over a month. This is much needed. Our new plantings and an 8,000+ acre forest fire in SNP.
No significant rain in my neck of the woods lately. With dry timber and low humidity we are under a fire warning. Buds on existing plants are still pretty tight with chardonnay showing the most swelling. New holes for 4K plants proceeding with Dingo auger at a rate of 540 holes/day.
Yep. But we stayed dry under the big canopy outside the tasting room. ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Forecast projecting that we may finally get some rain. It’s surely needed. If we get anything substantial, I expect growth will take off like crazy.
Okay here are a couple shots of some Cabernet Franc hit by 18F a couple Sundays ago.
