September 2022 - 9

Gary Vandenbark of Smart Apply Inc. presents information on intelligent spray
control for precision chemical application.
place cut fruit buds in sample tins, which
are put into a freezer.
" In the old days we would sneak the
buds out of the chamber, cut them
and see whether they were dead or
not, " he said.
Now, devices measure the temperature
inside the small tins, Shane said.
Whenever a fruit bud dies, it gives off a
small temperature spike.
" We don't have to take buds out of
the chamber to see whether they are
dead or not, because they gave us their
swan song by the temperature spike. It's
taken a little bit of time to work out the
technique, but we have a pretty good
system now to do that. "
Shane said that, with the trials, they
use a lot of varieties and cooperators,
including wineries, producers, vineyard
staff and others
The project included hybrid,
vinifera and Concord grapes because
all three groups are important in
southwest Michigan.
researchers an indication the variety
wouldn't be in danger.
Sauvignon blanc buds at a Lemon
Creek location on Mountain Road
during the same temperature drop,
however, behaved differently. Researchers
predicted a bud mortality of at least 10%.
" The difference between killing 10%
and 50% is pretty narrow, by just a couple
degrees, " Shane said. " The difference
between 50% and 90% is equally narrow.
" You can see that having fairly accurate
information is very important, " Shane
said. " It's very important to know the
temperature in order to know what's
going on in that vineyard. Each variety is
its own particular situation. "
In a look at Merlot, information was
shown for a 50% kill at three different
locations. In general, the trend is that by
late January around -7˚ F was around the
50% kill point.
What determines that hardiness is
of interest, whether location, cultural
practices, vine or rootstock DNA or
other variables.
" There's a lot of things that can impact
the questions that come out of this. It
gives us a tool to be able to figure out
what's going on with the crop, " he said.
" Each year the picture is a little bit
different. "
Shane emphasized the need for a
predictive model to determine what is
taking place in the vineyard.
Use SPEAR®
Modeling cold hardiness
Shane said research has been
conducted, primarily at Washington State
University, with the Ferguson model for
Lexi Heger, Michigan State University
Ph.D. student in the Miles Lab in the
Department of Plant, Soil and Microbe
Sciences, shares data with field day
participants regarding grape disease
monitoring and management.
With each grape type, researchers
sought at least three sites so they would
have an indication of what the behavior
of that variety was. They sampled up to
16 different times during the growing
season.
" Such as, 50% of the buds were killed
at a temperature of -9˚ F, " Shane said. " As
we went into the fall, we could see the
temperatures that the fruit buds could
take became greater. We got down to -20˚
F that Cabernet Franc could take. "
When a low temperature of -3.7˚ was
logged on Feb. 17, 2001, for example,
fewer than 10% of the buds died, giving
hardiness of grapes.
" The models have been developed
for that area, " Shane said. " The big
question is how useful are they for us
in Michigan? "
MSU has been collaborating with
researchers from Cornell University
and the University of Wisconsin, which
have developed models to predict cold
hardiness responses of grapevines.
The Kovaleski & Londo model uses
temperature oscillations to predict
budbreak. The models are specific for
cold hardiness impacts in the eastern U.S.
The Wisconsin and Cornell model
initially used Concord, Cabernet
Sauvigon and Riesling. The model has
added 28 other cultivars. A web portal for
predicting cold hardiness is based on the
NEWA/MSU weather station sites.
" This is good news, " Shane said. " With
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Michigan State University entomologist Rufus Isaacs shares information about late
season vineyard insect pests.
information we can plug into any weather
station model we can come up with a
prediction of hardiness. "
Shane said the proliferation of
micro-sprinklers, wind machines and
plant-based dispersions that are being
used in the tree fruit industry also
has applications to vineyard freeze
management techniques. Bud hardiness
information also is useful for testing
cold-mitigation techniques such as
plant-based cryoprotectants. FGN
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September 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of September 2022
