Thursday, March 28, 2024

Timer

Avoiding crop damage this winter

First Published:

[projekktor id=’16644′]

After a bitterly cold winter last year, Niagara grape growers are already working to avoid millions of dollars of potential damage this season. A Brock University program is helping to take some of the guess work out of how and when growers need to protect their crops.

It only takes one cold weather snap to cause serious crop damage.

Matthew Speck, Henry of Pelham winery: “Those buds are actually alive and they need to get through the cold winter months alive for there to be a crop next year.”

Henry of Pelham co-owner Matthew Speck says they used to have to guess when to run their wind machines, which help raise the temperature in the vineyard: “You’d guess that if you think it’s minus 20 you err on the side of caution and probably run at minus 16 so we would basically end up running our wind machines much more often than we needed.”

It can be an expensive estimate. Speck’s 12 wind machines run at about 40 to 50 dollars per hour each.

Speck: “When we’re in the lab we basically dissect the bud off and that’s the bud that we’re going to be testing for freeze intolerance.”

A Brock University program that takes vine samples during the colder months is helping growers eliminate that guesswork.

Senior viticulture scientist Jim Willwerth says a vines’ tolerance to cold changes throughout the season. Within 24 hours of testing samples in their lab, researchers are able to notify growers when their crops are in danger through an online site called “vine alert.”

Jim Willwerth: “We’ve been able to help save the industry from catastrophic losses that we had in 2003 and a lot of it has to do with the type of technology and the tools these growers have.”

The university estimates vine alert helped growers save as much as 2.3 million dollars in fuel costs alone last year.

There are social and environmental benefits to reducing running times as well. While it’s too windy to turn them on today, when operating each one of these machines is as noisy as a helicopter.

Brock is hoping to soon expand vine alert to other parts of the country.

More Top News

Evening weather forecast for March 27, 2024

Shelly Marriage shares the forecast for March 27, 2024 and the days ahead.

Sister of man involved in Burlington hit-and-run speaks out

The sister of a man struck by a vehicle in a hit-and-run in Burlington on Sunday is speaking out. She says she's not sure if...

Horwath to veto council’s decision not to build affordable housing on Stoney Creek parking lots

Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath says she's using her "strong mayor" powers to veto city council's decision not to move forward with a plan to...

Niagara police identify 2 people found dead in St. Catharines home

Niagara police have released the identities of the two people found dead in a home in St. Catharines on Monday. Officers were called to 47...

Ontario international student permits to go to in-demand areas

Ontario will give the vast majority of its allocated international student study permits to post-secondary institutions that offer in-demand programs such as in the...

Sportsline: Hamilton Ticats all-star receiver Tim White on his World Vision trip to Asia

VIDEO: As a sibling of nine in Los Angeles, Tim White and his family lived through some hard times. So when the Hamilton Tiger-Cats...