Last weekend the climatic conditions were quite tough throughout the province, which have impacted many crops and vineyards are not the exception. Throughout winter AAFC is sharing bud hardiness reports to show the acclimatation of buds in hybrids and Vitis vinifera varieties, information that helps to decide pruning decisions depending on varieties. Unfortunately, last weekend's event was quite cold and stayed for many hours, increasing the potential damage.
We had a
similar event last year, which impacted different varieties and locations in
the province. At this time the cold event impacted broadly, it might be
possible to find areas with lower or higher temperatures. Regardless of the
variety, it’s important to assess the vineyard before taking further decisions.
- How to assess cold injury? Please look at the following presentation from Dr. Kevin Ker and Dr. Jim Willwerth. This is the first step to evaluate how conditions are in your vineyard before taking any further decisions. Problems with the link, please try with https://brocku.ca/webfm/Assessing_Bud_Injury_for_Grapes__2014.pdf
As
mentioned, bud survival depends on many factors, such as variety, location,
vine health and age, management practices, crop level, etc. For more
information on bud hardiness, please take a look to the last AAFC
Bud Hardiness Sixth Report or check the following link http://www.novascotiagrapeblog.com/2023/02/aafc-bud-hardiness-sixth-report-season.html