What it’s like to have real time plant stress
Let’s look at some data. I once saw a commercial that said: “forget everything you thought you knew about slip covers”. So I did. Admittedly I don’t know a lot about slip covers. I do know quite a bit about plant stress. Up until recently, our constant flow of data on soil moisture has been […]
After the flood…Part deux!
After the flood…Part deux! How did the recent rains affect your aquifer…if at all? California was hit by some torrential rain in January. In our last post, we explored how that rain had affected soil moisture. In some cases, the water percolated right through and left the soil dry again. In other cases, the rain […]
Why was yield low this year?
Why was yield low this year? All over California, tonnage came up shy Not to state the obvious… There are a lot of factors contributing to the low yield this year. Let’s address the most glaringly obvious one: things got hot. September temperatures reached over 105° in many parts of the state and stayed that […]
Countdown to harvest: How should I be irrigating?
Countdown to harvest: How should I be irrigating? Don’t cut off water just yet… You know it’s harvest season when the winemakers emerge from their cavernous abodes and start making appearances in the vineyard. It’s a magical time, I mean, sometimes they bring donuts! But they also bring with them some funny ideas about irrigation […]
Groundhog day: 2022 is looking a lot like 2021
Groundhog day: 2022 is looking a lot like 2021 Let’s take a look at the soil moisture, shall we? Things certainly were looking up a few months ago, amiright? Harvest ended. Nothing in Sonoma or Napa caught fire. And we even got rain! A lot of it. Here in Windsor, California we finished out 2021 […]
2021 was a good year…to dry farm??
2021 was a good year…to dry farm?? More reasons to consider monitoring your soil moisture Between stunted growth to unexpected nutrient deficiencies, this second consecutive year of drought threw us quite a few curve balls. One thing people aren’t expecting to hear though is that some places haven’t needed to irrigate all season. That’s right. […]
New regulation is coming. Invest now in improving your water management.
New regulation is coming Invest now in improving your water management There’s nothing farmers love more than government regulation, am I right? And there’s nothing this viticulturist loves more than legal rhetoric. That is of course why I violently sobbed into my textbook during the semester I studied food and beverage law in undergrad: my […]
Baby, it’s dry outside: an update on the drought and what it means for vineyards
Baby, it’s dry outside Here’s what we’ve seen so far… If you haven’t noticed, California is in a bit of a dry spot right now. Here in Windsor, middle of Sonoma County, this winter yielded a whopping 9.7 inches and the vintage is showing it in some surprising ways. We’ve written about the impending drought […]
Ask a viticulturist: How do I manage my Red-Blotch-infested vineyard?
Ask a viticulturist: How do I manage my Red-Blotch-infested vineyard? I have a vineyard with a fair amount of Red Blotch in it. It’s not enough to justify pulling the whole vineyard. Can I manage those vines differently so that I get a quality crop in the meantime? Thanks for reaching out! In response to […]
And the time to irrigate is…now?
The time to irrigate is…now? As if frost season didn’t suck enough Happy budbreak! Actually “budburst”, as I’m told that is the more accurate term. Or perhaps you’re in the Southern hemisphere and are celebrating the end of harvest…good for you, mates. Archive the crap out of this post. For the rest of us though, […]
