# 2018 in the vineyard



## Johny99 (Jan 14, 2018)

Well,I won’t say my 2017 thread was a hit, but I enjoyed, and learned a thing or two, from seeing what folks we up to in their vineyards. So, here goes again, come one, come all. Post what is going on in your vineyard, large or small. 

Mid January, and it finally has delivered real snow. About 8 inches of nice wet stuff. Gues prun8ng will wait.


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## Stressbaby (Jan 14, 2018)

I liked the 2017 thread and hope to be a regular contributor to this one.
I'll get some pics tomorrow. Yours are beautiful.


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## havlikn (Jan 15, 2018)

Here is a few rows of Frontenac grapes from Wisconsin ready to prune. Work will probably start later this month.


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## balatonwine (Jan 15, 2018)

First snow here was last night. 3 to 4 mm (1/6th inch). I don't think I will get out my Nordic skis just yet. And it will 8°C (46°F) tomorrow, so that snow dusting will will not last.

Normally, the vineyards lay dormant work wise here till late February or early March. But with local weather as it is, i am pondering getting a head start this year on some tasks.


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## Stressbaby (Jan 15, 2018)

We are already dropping from today's high of 24F. Low tonight -1F. I haven't really even thought about pruning.


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## Johny99 (Mar 14, 2018)

Spring has arrived, sorry folks in the NE. 60 on Sunday so I got a little pruning done. Now I have the flu, so that is on hold. At least Wines and Vines and Wine Maker arrived so I have something to read.


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## garymc (Mar 17, 2018)

Sunset on the muscadines. This is a Geneva double curtain trellis with the wires at a little over 5 feet high. The wires are 4 feet apart. Each vine has between 36 and 40 feet of cordon. I've been pruning for a few weeks and I think I'm a little over half done.


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## balatonwine (Mar 17, 2018)

Nice "spring" weather this past week. But looks like another cold front coming in. Freezing at night. Maybe some snow. Forecast to be like that all next week. And the Almonds just bloomed this week. Looks like no almonds this year. The freeze will probably kill them off.

Raining today. But looks like I will have to get wet and put some low tunnels on my garden as well. Just lettuce and carrots seeded this week. Should be okay (I hope).


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## Masbustelo (Mar 17, 2018)

It's a gloomy day in Illinois. No weather warmer than 47F prognosticated for the next 10 days. I pruned 6 pounds off of one of these vines, this week. I think they will be way out of balance until next years pruning. This is their third year. I am establishing the cordons. An after thought was that I could have used the uprights as my cordons and grown the shoots out sideways. Then I could have had more buds this year, but I decided in the long run it will be way less work to let the shoots work with gravity versus against. So I went semi- conventional. These are Petite pearl. They have shown extreme vigor. The top cordons are separated by 5 feet from the lower cordons. The lower cordons are five feet off the ground. So the top cordon is at ten feet.


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## balatonwine (Mar 18, 2018)

Well. Yep. It snowed......


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## VillaVino (Apr 19, 2018)

Welcome to January 96th in Wisconsin.


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## Johny99 (Jun 14, 2018)

Well, Spring has gotten away from me, but I’m mostly keeping up with the vineyard. Tucking shoots and pulling suckers is a daily escape from the pressures of life. Looks like bloom is about 50% give or take a little for the different grapes, maybe 20,21 on the Coombe E-L stage system.


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## KevinL (Jul 1, 2018)

Summer time!

My 3 year Frontenacs have taken over their trellis. The Vidal Blanc had it's buds break late so it has some catching up to do. This year's plantings are coming along fine, and last years are looking healthy as well. I obtained this aerial shot with my new fancy spy drone... or by climbing onto the roof of my garage. You decide.


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## Johny99 (Jul 16, 2018)

Hot, dog days of summer. Most grapes are pea-berry size. We were nice and cool until mid last week. Now pushing 100. 8 hours of water this weekend. A little mildew has showed up on the Tempranillo, but nowhere else. Leafhoppers are under control, for now. I visited a wine tasting room yesterday on the way home from a hike. The owner/winemaker is interested in buying some of my Sangiovese for a rose and some Pinot Blanc. With changes at home, that is attractive as I have more grapes than I want to make wine from. Different pressure growing for someone else! I’ll take him a couple bottles of wine and ponder it further.


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## CK55 (Jul 17, 2018)

Johny99 said:


> View attachment 49803
> View attachment 49804
> Hot, dog days of summer. Most grapes are pea-berry size. We were nice and cool until mid last week. Now pushing 100. 8 hours of water this weekend. A little mildew has showed up on the Tempranillo, but nowhere else. Leafhoppers are under control, for now. I visited a wine tasting room yesterday on the way home from a hike. The owner/winemaker is interested in buying some of my Sangiovese for a rose and some Pinot Blanc. With changes at home, that is attractive as I have more grapes than I want to make wine from. Different pressure growing for someone else! I’ll take him a couple bottles of wine and ponder it further.


Nice those grapes seem well on the way to developing. A little mildew isnt bad but you really want to control that and keep it from spreading. Im intrigued by that guy wanting to use Sangiovese for a Rose thats not what its used for normally. But to each their own. I really like Sangio. And Tempranillo, but tempranillo where I live tends to make hot tasting wines, with agressive alcohol that need a good bit of aging to mellow out. Ive got a guy pretty much half a mile away that runs a small winery, that grows tempranillo.

https://www.peacockcellars.com/


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## balatonwine (Jul 18, 2018)

This year has not been good here.

Really hot weather in the spring put everything at least two weeks ahead of "normal" schedule. And a week of heavy rain, quite unusual for early June, and right at the end of the bloom this year because of the hot weather, and then a week of heavy winds after that (combined which prevented effective spraying) resulted in a bucket load of mildew on the grapes and leaves.

What a mess. Significant losses.

Oddly, my one "experimental" variety, which is early to bud and bloom (thus hightly susceptible to "normal" late frost) is actually the one doing the best since its very early bloom missed most of the two weeks of storms.

Oh well. Such is farming. C'ste la vie.


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## Dennis Griffith (Jul 18, 2018)

Ok, I've a couple of shots as well for this year. The routine is typical beetles and fungi, with a virus scare. 



And some of my first year vines..


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## keverman (Jul 19, 2018)

Hello, novice grower and winemaker here, with Marquette vines in their third year in Ohio. Did not spray fungicide, being a tree-hugging wannabe, and no signs of disease first 2 years. Black rot got about 1/2 my 3rd year crop, but I still have a lot left that look nice. Next year the spray tanks will be primed and ready. It was actually a pretty full crop for year 3, more than I expected, anyway, so I guess I'm prob. still where I thought I would be in terms of yield this year. 18 vines. Bought some "practice" Marquette grapes last fall from Michigan, and the carboy is about ready to bottle, and I'm optimistic about the potential! I do have one vine showing colors, but when I looked closely, I see the vine is stressed. Funny little spongy "fingers" coming out of slightly swollen area around the base, picture included. Crown gall?


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## CK55 (Jul 19, 2018)

keverman said:


> Hello, novice grower and winemaker here, with Marquette vines in their third year in Ohio. Did not spray fungicide, being a tree-hugging wannabe, and no signs of disease first 2 years. Black rot got about 1/2 my 3rd year crop, but I still have a lot left that look nice. Next year the spray tanks will be primed and ready. It was actually a pretty full crop for year 3, more than I expected, anyway, so I guess I'm prob. still where I thought I would be in terms of yield this year. 18 vines. Bought some "practice" Marquette grapes last fall from Michigan, and the carboy is about ready to bottle, and I'm optimistic about the potential! I do have one vine showing colors, but when I looked closely, I see the vine is stressed. Funny little spongy "fingers" coming out of slightly swollen area around the base, picture included. Crown gall?View attachment 49839
> View attachment 49840


Looks good,  I dont have that many threats to my vines here in california so i dont spray them, ive got some Criolla vines that have made it 40 years with no spray. Which are my only vines that are producing, my Cabernet ,Merlot,Barbera and Alicante have only been in the ground 2 months now.


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## GreenEnvy22 (Jul 19, 2018)

My muscat looks good, no sign of disease so far.
Riesling has some erineum mite on it, trying to control it with Kumulus (sulphur).
Table grapes also look good.

Muscat on trellis:


Muscat rows:



Riesling with some mite damage:


Muscat on trellis:


Muscat on trellis:


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## Dennis Griffith (Jul 20, 2018)

keverman said:


> Hello, novice grower and winemaker here, with Marquette vines in their third year in Ohio. Did not spray fungicide, being a tree-hugging wannabe, and no signs of disease first 2 years. Black rot got about 1/2 my 3rd year crop, but I still have a lot left that look nice. Next year the spray tanks will be primed and ready. It was actually a pretty full crop for year 3, more than I expected, anyway, so I guess I'm prob. still where I thought I would be in terms of yield this year. 18 vines. Bought some "practice" Marquette grapes last fall from Michigan, and the carboy is about ready to bottle, and I'm optimistic about the potential! I do have one vine showing colors, but when I looked closely, I see the vine is stressed. Funny little spongy "fingers" coming out of slightly swollen area around the base, picture included. Crown gall?View attachment 49839
> View attachment 49840



Hmmm, well Marquette is winter hardy, so it probably isn't winter damage. As for galling, it looks like an interesting abnormality. If it's the crown gall bacterium, then I don't know what to tell you. If you want to stay organic, the try Serenade and Neem oil. Use often and regularly to help your vines fight the fungi. They are not as effective as some of the chemical fungicides, but they are considered safe . I've read that people drink Neem oil for it's health benefits(not me cause it stinks), so it can't be that dangerous. If you start with a dormant oil early, that will help too. I'd contact your local extension office to see if they can direct you to someone that could evaluate the issue. I'm not sure what part of Ohio you are in, but OSU has a research center at Piketon with a viticulturist handy.


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## Johny99 (Jul 21, 2018)

[QUOTE Im intrigued by that guy wanting to use Sangiovese for a Rose thats not what its used for normally. But to each their own. I really like Sangio. And Tempranillo, but tempranillo where I live tends to make hot tasting wines, with agressive alcohol that need a good bit of aging to mellow out. Ive got a guy pretty much half a mile away that runs a small winery, that grows tempranillo.QUOTE]

Well, mildew is about 12 vines or so. Not sure if I should panic, so I did.. I hit the whole vineyard with Rally and some oil today, what a local field man recommends. Hopefully....as for the Sangiovese rose, it is pretty common around here. I made 30 lbs, 6 bottles last year. Not impressed. OK but I’d like more fruit. Hopefully the guy will come through and make some, that way I can compare.


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## bumblebeetuna (Jul 21, 2018)

@keverman I think those are called aerial roots, which can occur during humid periods. Cornell has an article about them that says they will eventually dry up and go away. If it is crown gall, there is nothing to do for it. It will eventually suffocate the growth above it and kill it. Hopefully a sucker will shoot out below that and you can cut it out and start over.


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## Masbustelo (Aug 2, 2018)

Regarding 2018 in the Vineyard, some of my Petite Pearl are at about 11 brix. I checked them today for the first time.


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## Stressbaby (Aug 3, 2018)

My Frontenac is at 27 brix. Going to spot check again tomorrow but seriously thinking about picking my little batch.


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## keverman (Aug 3, 2018)

Dennis Griffith said:


> Hmmm, well Marquette is winter hardy, so it probably isn't winter damage. As for galling, it looks like an interesting abnormality. If it's the crown gall bacterium, then I don't know what to tell you. If you want to stay organic, the try Serenade and Neem oil. Use often and regularly to help your vines fight the fungi. They are not as effective as some of the chemical fungicides, but they are considered safe . I've read that people drink Neem oil for it's health benefits(not me cause it stinks), so it can't be that dangerous. If you start with a dormant oil early, that will help too. I'd contact your local extension office to see if they can direct you to someone that could evaluate the issue. I'm not sure what part of Ohio you are in, but OSU has a research center at Piketon with a viticulturist handy.


Thanks for the organic info!!


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## keverman (Aug 3, 2018)

bumblebeetuna said:


> @keverman I think those are called aerial roots, which can occur during humid periods. Cornell has an article about them that says they will eventually dry up and go away. If it is crown gall, there is nothing to do for it. It will eventually suffocate the growth above it and kill it. Hopefully a sucker will shoot out below that and you can cut it out and start over.


YES! Thank you, I google aerial roots and that's it. Interestingly, that vine went into veraison a good 2 weeks earlier than the rest....


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## GreenEnvy22 (Aug 4, 2018)

The robins were starting to pick at my muscat, so netting went on today.
Took a solid 3 hours to get everything netted. There is this area in the photos, then 2 25 foot rows more of Muscat, and another 25 foot row of riesling. Also have a few table grape vines. This is the first time I've netted the table grapes, and I used every last inch of netting. Still have a few holes here and there, but this should protect most of it.


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## Masbustelo (Aug 4, 2018)

It appears that the dog also caught the ball.


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## Johny99 (Aug 5, 2018)

Stressbaby said:


> My Frontenac is at 27 brix. Going to spot check again tomorrow but seriously thinking about picking my little batch.


Wow, not even near verasion here. I’m thinking of netting in a couple of weeks. Tucking shoots and plucking leaves tomorrow.


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## Stressbaby (Aug 5, 2018)

Johny99 said:


> Wow, not even near verasion here. I’m thinking of netting in a couple of weeks. Tucking shoots and plucking leaves tomorrow.



Veraison first week of July here. I restested with a bigger sample: 24 brix, but pH 2.79, and TA still very high, I stopped adding at 1.2%. So we wait.


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## CK55 (Aug 6, 2018)

Johny99 said:


> Wow, not even near verasion here. I’m thinking of netting in a couple of weeks. Tucking shoots and plucking leaves tomorrow.


Same my criolla hasnt even began and im blown away im wondering if they even will.


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## Johny99 (Aug 8, 2018)

A bunch of friends came over Sunday and attacked the vineyard like locusts. I got the mowing done, then we weed wacked the rows, tucked shoots, tightened wires and green harvested. I don’t think it has ever looked this good mid summer. No sign of color except for the Gwertraminer. Nets in the next week or so.


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## CK55 (Aug 8, 2018)

Johny99 said:


> View attachment 50311
> A bunch of friends came over Sunday and attacked the vineyard like locusts. I got the mowing done, then we weed wacked the rows, tucked shoots, tightened wires and green harvested. I don’t think it has ever looked this good mid summer. No sign of color except for the Gwertraminer. Nets in the next week or so.


Damn that does look nice . I wish my grapes werent going to take untill like 2020 to start producing because i think im going to go crazy waiting.


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## Johny99 (Aug 19, 2018)

Nets are all on and verasion is happening, particularly for Tempranillo and Sangio, photo. Fortunately for the fire fighters, it has been cool and humid, but it does make for smoke. Nearest fire is 8-10 miles away by crow, so no danger but irritating to the lungs. I hope it clears soon so we don’t get a bunch of smoke taint.


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## CK55 (Aug 19, 2018)

Johny99 said:


> View attachment 50470
> View attachment 50471
> Nets are all on and verasion is happening, particularly for Tempranillo and Sangio, photo. Fortunately for the fire fighters, it has been cool and humid, but it does make for smoke. Nearest fire is 8-10 miles away by crow, so no danger but irritating to the lungs. I hope it clears soon so we don’t get a bunch of smoke taint.


Those Grapes are looking good. I cant wait to hear how the wine turns out.


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## balatonwine (Aug 22, 2018)

Johny99 said:


> verasion is happening



It has been a weird year for me. Started harvesting today (up at dawn, out of the field by 9:00 AM -- we are in the forth week of a heat wave here).

But calling when to harvest was difficult. Ripening was all over the place. Some bunches were under ripe, some were over ripe, and some were so far gone they were raisins on brown stems. I have never experienced such a wide variation before.

I am trying to time all my harvest this year to get the most clusters at a decent ripeness and avoid having to make multiple harvest passes (I just don't have the time/labor pool to organize multiple passes). But I will loose some clusters with that strategy, which is a pity.


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## coboll2921 (Aug 22, 2018)

We have a small city vineyard. I might get a gallon of wine if the birds don't get them all.


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## Ray Stern Garden (Aug 30, 2018)

coboll2921 said:


> We have a small city vineyard. I might get a gallon of wine if the birds don't get them all.


Since you have a small vineyard it may be worthwhile to bag your grapes. 
I only have about 20 vines in production this year so it didn't take too long to cover the clusters. Last year every single cluster I didn't bag was eaten by birds.


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## CK55 (Aug 31, 2018)

balatonwine said:


> am trying to time all my harvest this year to get the most clusters at a decent ripeness and avoid having to make multiple harvest passes (I


Nice looking vines.


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## Stressbaby (Sep 3, 2018)

A couple of pics from our harvest. Year 2, got 60# Frontenac, 80# Chardonel, 60# Traminette.


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## BigH (Sep 3, 2018)

Stressbaby said:


> A couple of pics from our harvest. Year 2, got 60# Frontenac, 80# Chardonel, 60# Traminette.



Hey, we have the same crusher, although my crank operator doesn't always show up for work.

Do you find that you have to pick out a lot of stems as the must slides down the hopper? Some varieties eject the stems cleanly out the end, but several produce a lot of small chunks that make it through the grates and down the hopper. I try to pick out as many as I can, but that slows everything down. Still trying to figure out how important it is to sit there and pick them out.

H


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## Stressbaby (Sep 3, 2018)

BigH said:


> Hey, we have the same crusher, although my crank operator doesn't always show up for work.
> 
> Do you find that you have to pick out a lot of stems as the must slides down the hopper? Some varieties eject the stems cleanly out the end, but several produce a lot of small chunks that make it through the grates and down the hopper. I try to pick out as many as I can, but that slows everything down. Still trying to figure out how important it is to sit there and pick them out.
> 
> H



I got a few stems but it was easy to pick them out. I made rosé from the Frontenac so I didn't ferment on the stems, it got pressed right away.


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## Boatboy24 (Sep 6, 2018)

BigH said:


> Hey, we have the same crusher, although my crank operator doesn't always show up for work.
> 
> Do you find that you have to pick out a lot of stems as the must slides down the hopper? Some varieties eject the stems cleanly out the end, but several produce a lot of small chunks that make it through the grates and down the hopper. I try to pick out as many as I can, but that slows everything down. Still trying to figure out how important it is to sit there and pick them out.
> 
> H



I have the same c/d as well. I don't bother picking stems out during crush, but I to grab 'em during punchdowns.


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## keverman (Sep 7, 2018)

Marquette harvest was Sept. 3 (2871 GDD in Huron, Ohio) We came in at 24 Brix, 3.4 pH and 9.0 TA. We hand crushed using a 1" grate over a bucket, aiming to get a fair amount of whole berries. Ended up with 118 lbs. from our 16 third year vines.


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## Stressbaby (Sep 7, 2018)

keverman said:


> Marquette harvest was Sept. 3 (2871 GDD in Huron, Ohio) We came in at 24 Brix, 3.4 pH and 9.0 TA. We hand crushed using a 1" grate over a bucket, aiming to get a fair amount of whole berries. Ended up with 118 lbs. from our 16 third year vines.



Where do you guys get your GDD numbers? I looked online but only found GDD for standard ag crops.


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## keverman (Sep 7, 2018)

From what I understand, GDD is a heat accumulation number for a specific area, usually by zip code, so not really crop specific. That number is a predictor of horticultural events, like disease outbreaks, insect emergence, bloom time, ripening, etc. I'm in Ohio and my numbers come from The Ohio State University site "OSU GDD". They have an interactive historical calendar.


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## bumblebeetuna (Sep 8, 2018)

There are also a few different apps that track GDD, Growing Degree Days by iNet Solutions Grouphttps://itunes.apple.com/us/app/growing-degree-days/id386655475?mt=8


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## BigH (Sep 10, 2018)

Stressbaby said:


> Where do you guys get your GDD numbers?



I get mine from https://www.pioneer.com/home/site/us/tools-apps/growing-tools/gdu/ . I like that tool because it gives me an easy comparison with last year. I choose Mar 1 as the start date.

The GDD equation for a single day is (Tmax + Tmin) / 2 - Tbase where Tbase is crop specific, Tmin is the low temperature of the day, and Tmax is the high (but is not allowed to exceed 86). I think most grape researchers and breeders use the same base as corn, which is 50 degrees F. 

In rough terms, the equation works out to the average temperature for the day minus the base temp below which the crop will not grow. The 86 rule is there because heat beyond 86 doesn't help corn much. I don't know if that is true for grapes, but since most GDD tools are geared towards corn, I just go with it.

Whatever tool you use to calculate GDD, try to stick with it so you can compare across years.

H


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