Rick Dunst, Viticulturist, Double A Vineyards, Inc.  Now that harvest is over and winter is approaching, the staff at Double A Vineyards is starting to get a lot of phone calls and e-mails from our customers asking for assistance in selecting appropriate varieties to grow on their sites.  While many of our customers know exactly what they want, others are just getting started at growing grapes ...

Rick Dunst, Viticulturist, Double A Vineyards, Inc. The use of grow tubes in vineyard establishment has become popular in the past decade or two. Obviously, vineyards have been planted for thousands of years without the use of plant shelters, but the tubes do provide some positive benefits. This article will summarize some research on grow tubes as well as our experience in western New York. Gr...

Rick Dunst, Viticulturist, Double A Vineyards, Inc. Choosing an appropriate training system for your vineyard is one of the most important decisions you will make; that decision will affect potential productivity and profitability for the life of the vineyard. The most appropriate training system for your vineyard is based primarily on growth habit and the need for optimum fruit exposure, and i...

Once an appropriate variety and rootstock are chosen for a site, vineyard design becomes an important consideration that will affect the performance of the vineyard for its lifetime. Considerations include row orientation, vine spacing between rows and within the row, and trellis height. Row Orientation The optimum orientation of vineyard rows is north to south in order to maximize sunlight exp...

There are many factors that influence whether or not a specific grape selection will survive and be capable of producing high quality fruit at a certain location, including winter hardiness, length of growing season, and risk of spring frost. A common measure of the growing season is Growing Degree Days (GDD). Grapevine development during the growing season is strongly influenced by air tempera...

Rick Dunst, Viticulturist, Double A Vineyards, Inc. As the 2011 growing season comes to an end, we all know what comes next – winter. In areas where extreme cold temperature or temperature drops occur, winter protection of grapevines may be necessary. By their nature, grafted vines are most susceptible to winter injury, particularly at the graft union. Own-rooted vines are also susceptible to w...

Rick Dunst, Viticulturist, Double A Vineyards, Inc. Higher than average precipitation across many parts of the Eastern and Midwestern states has brought disease management issues to the forefront. Over the past several weeks, our staff has been contacted by grape growers from many growing regions with disease problems in their vineyards, many which had not been seen in prior years, or at least ...

Rick Dunst, Viticulturist, Double A Vineyards, Inc.  Grapevine red blotch-associated virus (GRBaV) is a recently identified virus which represents the latest addition to the long list of graft-transmissible agents that have been discovered in grapevines. This article will summarize what is currently known and not known about red blotch, and the future for the production of virus-free “cleaner” ...

The “polar vortex” of cold Arctic air that affected a large portion of the continental United States during early January 2014 was responsible for widespread transportation delays and a shutdown of activities at many schools and businesses. Blizzard conditions persisted for several days near Buffalo, New York, for the first time since 1993. Air temperatures around -10°F were common in western N...