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| Crop Update - 4/5/2007 | |||
| Back to the Lake Erie Regional Grape Program Home Page | |||
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UPCOMING EVENTS REMINDER:
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| Grape Cultural Practices | Hans Walter-Peterson |
Another Cold Snap
As of 4:00 AM today, the low temperature recorded by the NEWA station at the Fredonia Lab was 25.5°F. If this happened on May 5 instead of April 5, we would certainly be concerned about damage to buds that had started to break. Fortunately, we're still early enough in the season that buds (as far as I've seen) are still clamped shut. While the buds have probably started to deacclimate in anticipation of the new growing season, I think the bud hardiness should still be enough to handle these temperatures. If we dropped another 10 degrees or so, it's possible that we might see some noticeable bud damage at that point, but the worst the forecast looks at this point is for low temperatures to remain in the mid-20s or so.
Labor Difficulties
Some growers in the Lake Erie region are struggling to finish their pruning work this winter due to the sudden disappearance of a significant chunk of the regular labor pool that is normally here to do that work. A few growers have called us asking if we have any suggestions for what to do or who to talk to in order to find some people to finish the work. Unfortunately, we don't have that magic wand which would bring a new wave of skilled pruners to the region (it's the same wand that would magically change the price for Concords to $300/ton) in time to address the situation this season. The extension team knows that this could be a major, long-term issue for growers, so we will be discussing some options that we can pursue to give growers some ideas on dealing with a smaller labor pool.
In the meantime, it might help us to hear the experiences of a few growers who have been impacted by this. Let us know how many workers you lost or couldn't get, how many acres you had left to prune when it happened, and what you are doing to try to make up for the sudden shortage of labor. Will some acres just go unpruned (or hedged)? Are you hiring a neighbor who has a mechanical pruning system? Are you having to pay higher wages in order to get somebody to come prune? Getting this information from growers around the region would give us a better sense of the scope of the problem and perhaps give us some guidance on what we can do to help.
Feel free to email me your experiences at hcw5@cornell.edu.
| Weather Facts | Tim Weigle and Edith Byrne |
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| The weather proverb from the Farmer's Almanac this week is: |
| If the Sun should set in gray, the next day will be a rainy day. . . |
Sustainable Viticulture Workbook Project
We continue to hear from growers and are still asking for more volunteers to go through the workbook, answering the questions that pertain to them (and let us know what questions do not pertain to their operation)! Please let us know if you are interested by emailing Edith (emb35@cornell.edu or grape@netsync.net)! We would love to hear from you.
Update - We have met with growers from Chautauqua, Niagara, Cattaraugus Counties in New York and several growers from PA. for this project which is a cooperative effort of growers, processors, the Finger Lakes Regional Grape Program, Long Island Grape Program and the Lake Erie Regional Grape Program.
Going over the questions in the workbook typically takes about 90 minutes. Depending on your operation and the type of grapes you are growing doesn't make any difference either - we are interested in everyone's input, no matter how many acres you have. Once you have completed the first phase of going through the workbook and answering the questions scaled from 1 (best practice) to 4 (should look at this practice to see if it can be improved), a follow-up visit is scheduled with a member of the SWCD from your county (they have the money to help with cost sharing) to discuss how you might be able to move the practices that received a rating of 4 to a rating closer to 1 - this is the Action Plan meeting.
The workbook questions are painless, self-reflective and the comments made by growers' are very positive - including how going over the questions makes them think about their total operation, or how they might be able to do or think about something differently, etc.
We have appointments set up with more growers through the month for both the workbook portion and Action Plan meetings... If you are interested in working with us on this project please send Edith an email or give her a call at 716.672.6830 so she can schedule an appointment with you.
Lake Erie Regional Grape Program Extension Team Members:
| Andy Muza | Extension Agent, Erie County, PA Cooperative Extension | (814) 825-0900 |
| Barry Shaffer | Area Extension Farm Business Management Educator | (716) 679-3185 |
| Hans Walter-Peterson | Area Extension Grape Cultural Practices Educator | (716) 672-2191 |
| Tim Weigle | Sr. Area Extension Educator, Grape IPM | (716) 672-6830 |
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any questions or comments on the format of this update please contact Tim Weigle at: timweigl@netsync.net |
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The Lake Erie Regional Grape Program Website is maintained by the NYS Grape IPM Program |
| 412 E. Main Street, Fredonia, N.Y. 14063 | Telephone: 716-672-5296 | E-mail: Webmaster |