Ch 7 Canopy Management Flashcards
Canopy Management
What is canopy management?
Organization of shoots, leaves and fruit on the vine in order to maximize grape quality and yield
Canopy Management
What are the 6 aims of canopy management?
○ Maximize the effectiveness of light hitting canopy
○ Reduce shade
○ Ensure microclimate for grapes as uniform as possible -> even ripening
○ Promote balance bet vegetative and reproductive functions (fruit)
○ Ease mechanization and/or labor
○ Promote air circ -> reduce fungal disease
Canopy Management
How does exposure to sunlight or shade affect the vine organs?
bud fruitfulness
○ Exposure to light = greater bud fruitfulness = more inflor in next yr buds
○ Shading - lower bud fruitfulness -> because vine focuses on vegetative growth vs reproductive growth (from when in forest seeking to find light which then triggers inflor growth)
Canopy Management
What impacts does proper canopy management have? What benefits?
○ Inc yield -> max leaf surface area exposure to sun -> inc phs and reduce disease pressure
○ impact style and quality -> sun on leaves and grapes impacts level and balance of components in grapes
Canopy Management
How does promoting sunlight exposure affect grape components?
quality and style
○ Inc sugars -> greater phs
○ Inc tannin levels and greater polymerization -> less bitter
○ Inc anthocyanin development -> more color in black grapes
○ Dev malic acid -> higher grape temps = more malic acid breakdown due to higher grape respiration-> cool climates risk of too high acid
○ Inc some aroma precursors and compounds = terpenes
○ Dec methoxypyrazines = reduced herbaceous-ness
Canopy Management
How does canopy management impact grape health and yield related to disease pressure
Good canopy management lowers disease pressure - good air circ lowers humidity
○ Poor air circ - dense, shaded canopies dry more slowly/retain moisture after rain/morning dew = more fungal disease; also harder to spray fungicides
Canopy Management
What is vine balance and why is it important?
○ Balance between vine vigor and yield of grapes
○ Important for successful ripening and sustained production over future growing season
Canopy Management
What is optimal yield?
Amt that allows grower to grow maximum weight of grapes that have desired composition for desired wine quality
What is the blurb for balance vine cycle?
What is blurb for vegetative (out of balance) vine cycle?
Balanced - achieving proper balance between vegetative growth and fruit development and ripening and sustained production over future seasons. Ensuring proper light exposure ensures proper early stages (BB, bunch initiation and FS and berry dev) which then leads to increased fruit weight per shoot which ensures shoot growth suppressed post veraison which reduces canopy growth, allowing more light… etc
Vegetative - not enough light means depressed early vine stages, which means fruit weight per shoot depressed which means vine focuses more on shoot growth in post veraison due to less fruit growth, which means denser canopy and less light…
Canopy Management
What is balanced cycle of vine growth and how does it work?
○ Balance between shoot and fruit growth
○ Before veraison -> vines sugars/nutrients mainly used for shoot and root growth and storage
○ After veraison -> sugars and other growth compounds used for fruit growth while shoot growth suppressed ->
○ Because shoot growth reduced -> canopy less likely to be dense/shady -> light exposure improved-> high quality fruit AND improved bud fruitfulness for next year = continued balanced cycle
Canopy Management
What is under-cropping and over-cropping?
○ Under-cropping - yield of fruit too low relative to vigor of vine
○ Over-cropping - yield of fruit is too high relative to vigor of vine
Canopy Management
What happens in under-cropping?
fruit yield is too low relative to vigor of vine
○ Shoot growth continues thru vine cycle because not enough fruit to ripen-> ○ Shoots and leaves compete with fruit for sugars/other growth compounds -> neg impact grape formation and ripening ○ Also leads to shady/dense canopy -> lower quality fruit due to less light exposure ○ Can lower yields next yr due to reduced bud fruitfulness ○ Low yields next year-> under-cropping again -> vine enters vegetative cycle
Canopy Management
What happens in over-cropping?
Fruit yield too high relative to vine vigor
* vine may gain sugars from carbs stored roots/truck/cordons which it needs for winter and next spring ->weakens vine in future years
Canopy Management
What is the definition and difference between balance vine growth cycle and vegetative vine growth cycle
Balanced cycle - balance between shoot and fruit growth
Vegetative cycle - imbalance between shoot and fruit growth
Canopy Management
What factors impact ability to have correct amt of fruit on vine for proper vine balance and why for each?
Natural and human factors
○ Growing environment
§ Climate (temp, light, rain); Soil (drainage, nutrients); weather hazards (frost, hail)
§ Warm environments with sufficient water/fertile soil -> vines are vigorous = lots of shoots/leaves = lots of phs = lots of sugar creation capacity = able to ripen large yields; poor conditions/soil -> low vigor-> can’t ripen to same crop levels
○ **Vine itself **- grape var and rootstock
§ some var naturally more vigorous (CS) than other (Mer) and will grow/ripen more fruit in same conditions
§ rootstocks can have significant effect on vigor
○ Presence of disease- viruses can lower vine vigor
○ Age of vine - Old vines less vigorous than younger
○ **Wine style **being made - grapes for rose can have bigger yields since tannin ripeness less critical due to very short maceration
Canopy Management
When is key time in vine lifecycle that decisions are made that impact vine balance? what is an adjustment technique?
○ Winter pruning decisions - influence number of shoots and potential yield for new season
○ Summer pruning can amend vine balance and enhance ripeness as needed
Canopy Management
What is yield?
○ Measure of amt of fruit produced
○ Measured either per vine (kg per vine) or over set area (kg/ha)
Canopy Management
What is relationship between yield (vine balance) and fruit quality?
○ Out of balance vines (either over or under-cropped) likely to produce lower quality fruit
