Paso Robles vineyards jump the gun again to start the 2016 season
By CnAgri
Print
Trusted farming industry news for : commodity information, growing analysis, news, and grape production trends
This year’s early bud break comes as many growers continue to prune their vines. As with powdery mildew, rain drops could wash other types of fungal spores into pruning cuts to infect spurs with such trunk disease as Eutypa dieback or bot canker (Botryosphaeria dieback).
Probably the most worrisome aspect of this year’s unusual early start, Zelinski says, is that it extends the time that the vines are vulnerable to frost. Typically, freezing temperatures can pose a threat to growers here through April and even into May. The extensive frost damage the Paso Robles wine grape crop suffered from severe frost in early April, 2011, is still fresh in the minds of growers.
“If you get hit with a disease, you can go back into the vineyard with materials to control the disease,” Zelinski says. “But, of course, once you lose shoots and clusters to a freeze, you’re stuck. You can’t treat for it.”
