Cultural Practices
Vineyard NutritionJust as in humans, nutritional balance within the vine is essential to consistent fruit quality and quantity. How do you balance nutrition in the vineyard? While the majority of nutritional management can be dealt with prior to planting, such as adjusting soil pH and organic matter, vineyard soil management is a continual process and requires monitoring to ensure healthy, productive vines. It's better to maintain proper soil health practices than to try to correct problems when leaf symptoms are visible. How can you keep an eye on vineyard nutrition? Soil and petiole testing will help you monitor nutrients available in the soil and in the plants. We recommend doing BOTH soil and petiole testing to verify that what you have available in the soil is actually getting into the vines. If a petiole test result indicates a deficiency, but soil test results indicate adequate levels of a nutrient, an alternative problem, such as improper soil pH or inadequate water drainage, could be the culprit.
CULTURAL PRACTICES CATEGORIES
Complete Cultural Practices Summer Content
Kevin Martin, Extension Educator, Business Management
Lake Erie Grape belt low temperatures in Feb 2015 reached -19 to -29 degrees F and this has caused variable damage to fruiting buds of grapevines. Viticulture Specialist, Luke Haggerty, and the CLEREL staff are evaluating the extent of bud damage from several vineyards across the region.
Edith Byrne, Association Program Educator I
Choose the regional program that best meets your needs.
Fruit Thinning in Wine Grape Varieties
by Hans Walter-Peterson
Cluster thinning is often employed in wine varieties to help achieve a certain crop load and quality level. The amount of fruit to remove from a given vine is a function of many individual factors, including vine vigor, variety and rootstock, growing season conditions, and even the contract with the buyer. Because conditions in eastern North America can vary greatly from year to year, the need for cluster thinning and the amount to be removed can also change every season. The goal of cluster thinning, then, is to achieve both the quality and quantity parameters that will satisfy both the grower and their buyers.
Terry Bates, Director, Cornell Lake Erie Research & Extension
A "no math"cheat sheet you can bring with you into the field to help you in crop estimation and thinning. The table does the rest of the math for you. Happy estimating!
Edith Byrne, Association Program Educator I
Seasonal Primer for Grape Production
Edith Byrne, Association Program Educator I
Soil and petiole testing can provide a clear picture of what is going on in your vineyard. The soil tests will determine what nutrients are available to be taken up by the vines' roots, and the petiole tests will show whether or not the roots are actually absorbing those nutrients. Once you have the soil tests, you have one side of the story, and petiole tests will give you the other side of the vine nutrient story.
Edith Byrne, Association Program Educator I
Business Programs
Through its Business Programs, USDA Rural Development provides for business credit needs in under-served rural areas, often in partnership with private-sector lenders.
Please visit their website for more up to date information: http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/LP_BusinessPrograms.html
Edith Byrne, Association Program Educator I
Images of the Eichhorn-Lorenz Phenological Stages
Adapted from Eichhorn and Lorenz (1977) and Lorenz (1994)
Edith Byrne, Association Program Educator I
Inflorescence elongating: flowers closely pressed together
Edith Byrne, Association Program Educator I
Inflorescence fully developed: flowers separating
Edith Byrne, Association Program Educator I
Early flowering: 25% of caps fallen
Edith Byrne, Association Program Educator I
Full flowering: 50% of caps fallen
Edith Byrne, Association Program Educator I
Late flowering: 80% of caps fallen
Edith Byrne, Association Program Educator I
Fruit set: young fruits begin to swell, remains of flowers lost
Edith Byrne, Association Program Educator I
Berries small: bunches begin to hang
Edith Byrne, Association Program Educator I
Berries pea-sized: bunches hang
Edith Byrne, Association Program Educator I
Beginning of berry touch
Edith Byrne, Association Program Educator I
Beginning of berry ripening: beginning of loss of green colour veraison
NYSDOT Truck Inspection Power Point Presentation Slides
Last Modified: August 2, 2023
NYS Trooper, Matt Luft, presented on Commercial Vehicle Awareness at CLEREL, including a mock truck inspection to raise awareness to what they look for when doing an inspection. The power point presentation slides that he used are attached for your reference.
Nitrogen Worksheet
Kevin Martin, Extension Educator, Business Management
Lake Erie Regional Grape Program
Last Modified: June 4, 2015
Freeze Damage
Last Modified: February 24, 2015
Lake Erie Grape belt low temperatures in Feb 2015 reached -19 to -29 degrees F and this has caused variable damage to fruiting buds of grapevines. Viticulture Specialist, Luke Haggerty, and the CLEREL staff are evaluating the extent of bud damage from several vineyards across the region.
Where in New York Are You? / Some added Resources
Edith Byrne, Association Program Educator I
Lake Erie Regional Grape Program
Last Modified: November 13, 2013
Choose the regional program that best meets your needs.
Fruit Thinning in Wine Grape Varieties
Last Modified: July 22, 2013
Fruit Thinning in Wine Grape Varieties
by Hans Walter-Peterson
Cluster thinning is often employed in wine varieties to help achieve a certain crop load and quality level. The amount of fruit to remove from a given vine is a function of many individual factors, including vine vigor, variety and rootstock, growing season conditions, and even the contract with the buyer. Because conditions in eastern North America can vary greatly from year to year, the need for cluster thinning and the amount to be removed can also change every season. The goal of cluster thinning, then, is to achieve both the quality and quantity parameters that will satisfy both the grower and their buyers.
Crop Estimation and Thinning Table
Terry Bates, Director, Cornell Lake Erie Research & Extension
Lake Erie Regional Grape Program
Last Modified: June 28, 2013
A "no math"cheat sheet you can bring with you into the field to help you in crop estimation and thinning. The table does the rest of the math for you. Happy estimating!
Seasonal Primer for Grape Production
Edith Byrne, Association Program Educator I
Lake Erie Regional Grape Program
Last Modified: March 14, 2013
Seasonal Primer for Grape Production
Soil and Petiole Testing
Edith Byrne, Association Program Educator I
Lake Erie Regional Grape Program
Last Modified: March 13, 2013
Soil and petiole testing can provide a clear picture of what is going on in your vineyard. The soil tests will determine what nutrients are available to be taken up by the vines' roots, and the petiole tests will show whether or not the roots are actually absorbing those nutrients. Once you have the soil tests, you have one side of the story, and petiole tests will give you the other side of the vine nutrient story.
USDA Rural Development for Businesses and Cooperatives
Edith Byrne, Association Program Educator I
Lake Erie Regional Grape Program
Last Modified: March 13, 2013
Business Programs
Through its Business Programs, USDA Rural Development provides for business credit needs in under-served rural areas, often in partnership with private-sector lenders.
Please visit their website for more up to date information: http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/LP_BusinessPrograms.html
Eichhorn-Lorenz Phenological Stages
Edith Byrne, Association Program Educator I
Lake Erie Regional Grape Program
Last Modified: January 20, 2013
Images of the Eichhorn-Lorenz Phenological Stages
Adapted from Eichhorn and Lorenz (1977) and Lorenz (1994)
PHENOLOGICAL STAGES: Inflorescence elongating: flowers closely pressed together
Edith Byrne, Association Program Educator I
Lake Erie Regional Grape Program
Last Modified: January 12, 2013
Inflorescence elongating: flowers closely pressed together
PHENOLOGICAL STAGES: Inflorescence fully developed: flowers separating
Edith Byrne, Association Program Educator I
Lake Erie Regional Grape Program
Last Modified: January 11, 2013
Inflorescence fully developed: flowers separating
PHENOLOGICAL STAGES: Early flowering: 25% of caps fallen
Edith Byrne, Association Program Educator I
Lake Erie Regional Grape Program
Last Modified: January 9, 2013
Early flowering: 25% of caps fallen
PHENOLOGICAL STAGES: Full flowering: 50% of caps fallen
Edith Byrne, Association Program Educator I
Lake Erie Regional Grape Program
Last Modified: January 8, 2013
Full flowering: 50% of caps fallen
PHENOLOGICAL STAGES: Late flowering: 80% of caps fallen
Edith Byrne, Association Program Educator I
Lake Erie Regional Grape Program
Last Modified: January 7, 2013
Late flowering: 80% of caps fallen
PHENOLOGICAL STAGES: Fruit set: young fruits begin to swell, remains of flowers
Edith Byrne, Association Program Educator I
Lake Erie Regional Grape Program
Last Modified: January 6, 2013
Fruit set: young fruits begin to swell, remains of flowers lost
PHENOLOGICAL STAGES: Berries small: bunches begin to hang
Edith Byrne, Association Program Educator I
Lake Erie Regional Grape Program
Last Modified: January 5, 2013
Berries small: bunches begin to hang
PHENOLOGICAL STAGES: Berries pea-sized: bunches hang
Edith Byrne, Association Program Educator I
Lake Erie Regional Grape Program
Last Modified: January 4, 2013
Berries pea-sized: bunches hang
PHENOLOGICAL STAGES: Beginning of berry touch
Edith Byrne, Association Program Educator I
Lake Erie Regional Grape Program
Last Modified: January 3, 2013
Beginning of berry touch
PHENOLOGICAL STAGES: Beginning of berry ripening
Edith Byrne, Association Program Educator I
Lake Erie Regional Grape Program
Last Modified: January 2, 2013
Beginning of berry ripening: beginning of loss of green colour veraison
Upcoming Events
LERGP Coffee Pot Meeting
July 16, 2025
Portland, NY
Come join us for timely and pertinent vineyard discussion, coffee, donuts and camaraderie.
LERGP Coffee Pot Meeting
July 23, 2025
Burt, NY
Come join us for timely and pertinent vineyard discussion, coffee, donuts and camaraderie.
NO COFFEE POT MEETING
July 30, 2025 : LERGP Coffee Pot Meeting
Announcements
Lake Erie Regional Grape Program - Cornell Cooperative ExtensionYour Trusted Source for Research-Based Knowledge
