Chapter 4 - Approaches to Grape Growing

Question 1

Aims of Conventional Viticulture

How are they being achieved?

Answer 1

Raising production levels
Reducing labor requirements

Mechanization
Chemical inputs
Irrigation
Clonal selection

Question 2

Pros/Cons of a monoculture

Answer 2

Pros:
Ability to mechanize work in vyd
Reduction in competition from other plants
Ability to tend to the specific needs of the grape variety planted - irrigation, nutrition, hazard/pest/disease treatment
Increases yield
Minimizes cost

Cons:
Plants become more prone to disease bc they are all the same
More treatments and protection required
Nutrients are depleted quicker than nature can replenish so fertilizer need to be applied
Residual chemicals can leak into the ground and air causing environmental damage

Question 3

Aims of Sustainable Viticulture

Answer 3

Promote the natural ecosystem in the vyd
Maintain biodiversity
Manage waste
Minimalize application of chemicals
Reduce impact of viticulture on the wider environment

Question 4

Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

Answer 4

Overall: Prevent and Predict rather than regularly treat

1. Identifying and monitoring pests
2. Setting up preventative measures
3. Setting thresholds at whcih action needs to be taken (when pest population get to a certain level)
4. Evaluating nad implementing control options (the actions to take once threshold is crossed)

Question 5

Pros/Cons of Sustainable Viticulture

Answer 5

Pros:
More thoughtful approach to viticulture - economically, socially, environmentally
Scientific understanding of vineyard threats to minimalize intenvention - Limits serious damage to the grape crop
Builds up vine’s own defence mechanisms
Reduces amount of synthetic and traditional treatments
Prevents weeds from building up resistance to chemicals
Saves on cost

Cons:
Term is not protected so there are no set standards
Danger that nationwide standards are set too low (ie New Zealand

Question 6

Aims/Main Features of Organic Viticulture

Answer 6

1. Application of compost that breaks down in the soil - slow release of nutrients, improves structure of the soil, increases biomass
2. Use of natural fertilizers (animal dung, natural calcium carbonate, etc)
3. Cultivation of cover crops & green manure - prevent soil erosion, improve biodiversity
4. Reduction of monoculture - grow cover crops, plant hedges, improve biodiversity
5. No chemicals allowed - ferilizers, fungicides, herbicides, pesticides
   Instead:
   Introduce natural predators
   Sexual confusion techniques - using pheromone tags to dsirupt mating patters of insects like mealy bugs

Question 7

Org that sets Organic Standars

What is a universal requirements they set?

Answer 7

IFOAM (International Federaltion of Organic Agriculture Movements)

Vineyard must undergo a period of conversion working to organic standards before being certified

Question 8

Pros/Cons of Organic Viticulture

Answer 8

Pros:]
Improvement in health and disease resistance of the vine
Improvement in the health of the soil
Elimination of spraying synthetic chemcials
Cost savings on elimination of synthetic chemicals

Cons:
Possible small reduction in overall yield
Possible significant reduction in yield in difficult years
increased reliance on copper sprays
Cost and time expended on certification

Question 9

Aim of Biodynamic Viticulture

Answer 9

Everything of Organic + philosophy and cosmology

Farm is an organism seeking to achieve a balance betwen the physical adn higher non-physical realm
Vineyard soil is connected with planet Earth, other planets, and the air
Growing practices are coincided with cycles of hte planets, moon, and stars
Use of homeopathic remedies to fertilize soil, treat disease, ward off pests, enhance life forces on the farm

Question 10

Prepration 502-507

Answer 10

Activate compost by a series of starters in tiny quantities

Assist with the decomposition of the compost

Question 11

Preparation 500

Answer 11

Horn manure
Cow manure is stuffed into a cow’s horn and buying the horn in the soil throughout the winter
In spring, horns are dug up, contents dynamized (stirring contents into water so that the water memorizes the power of the preparation)
Sprayed onto the soil

Believed to catalyze humus formation

Question 12

Preparation 501

Answer 12

Horn Silica

Filing cow’s horn with groudn quartz (silica) and bury for 6 months
Dug up, dynamized, sprayed on soil

Encourages plant growth

Question 13

Precision Viticulture

Answer 13

Uses data collected from the vineyard (soil, vine vigor, topography, plant growth) to respond to changes from plot to plot, row to row
Collected by sensors like GPS
Interventions targed in light of the data collected - Variable Rate application technology

AIM: carry out vineyard activities precisely wth teh aim of producign teh best quality and yield, reducing envirnomental impact, reducing cost on treatments
Identify different quality zones within a vienyard

Often used as a part of sustainable or organic viticulture

Question 14

Pros/cons of Precision Viticulture

Answer 14

Pros:
Detailed understanding of variations in the vineyard
Differences in yield nad quality within/between vineyards
Ability to tailor interventions to individual blocks or even rows

Cons:
Initial cost of remote data collection
Cost of sensors, software, trained staff