Viticulture Information from Kinkead Ridge
This technical information is for current and potential grapegrowers.

VINEYARD ESTABLISHMENT NOTES:

This section is a work-in-process for the benefit of prospective or new growers. I remember when I first got started with little direct knowledge of viticulture. Fortunately, for me, I had examples of good and bad viticultural practice to observe, an excellent university research team and experienced friends in the business. In a new grape growing region such as Northern Kentucky and Southern Ohio, these elements are often missing. This is an attempt to help fill this gap in knowledge.

Beginning growers often want a recipe for success. "Tell me what to plant and how to grow it." There is no recipe in this business, which makes grape growing so different and more interesting than most of agriculture. You will not find any recipes here, and beware of anyone who offers one. What you will find are tried and true principles based on my cumulative experience and backed by research with a lot of caveats.

The caveats are necessary because the number of variables, such as soil, aspect, variety, microclimate, trellis and vine spacing to name a few are such that no one size fits all.

Hopefully, what I write here will help keep you out of trouble and perhaps save you some money and time. Take what I offer here, read every book you can on the subject, travel to conferences in other states, talk with "experts" and then make your own informed decisions. When you are up and growing, I encourage you, as I was advised many years ago to "listen to your vines and keep them happy."

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Click here for Viticulture Note 1: Soil Tests

Click here for Viticulture Note 2: Initial Vineyard Decisions

Click here for Ron's Top Ten List of Viticultural Mistakes, Ron's Suggested Varieties for southern Ohio, northern Kentucky and northern Virginia and Sprayer Recommendations

Technical slideshow about Grape Canopy Management,
click here

Useful Links on the Web:

Virginia Wines - On the Verge of Mediocrity
The article above (click link to read)  is excerpted from the quarterly newsletter of the Virginia Vineyards Association, Vol. 19, No. 3 for October 2003. The author Jim Law, a native of Cincinnati, grows grapes and makes fine wine in Virginia at Linden Vineyards. I have asked and received his permission to reprint his remarks because of their relevance, poignancy and value outside Virginia. Bravo Jim for your candor.

TECHNICAL NOTES: Note 1: Recent research on Black Rot has yielded some interesting and unexpected results. Last year, I experienced a Black Rot outbreak after spraying with Abound (azoxystrobin). Disease pressure was high, but it still seemed that Abound had let me down. Research by Wayne Wilcox at Cornell may have the answer. It appears that Abound and other strobilurin fungicides are simply not as good as Nova (and likely Elite) at controlling Black Rot. The differences become more acute as disease pressure increases. To quote Wilcox et al "some conidia of G. bidwellii can utilize alternative respiration to germinate and form infection structures (appresoria) on grape leaves when treated with commercial rates of a strobilurin fungicide." So much for silver bullets. Note 2: More news on the fungicide front. Many of us have experienced problems with ripe fruit rot (sour rot) in thin skinned primarily white varieties. Riesling, for example, is severely affected. Some preliminary work indicates that strobilurins may be effective at or post veraison in reducing disease severity. More investigation needs to be done, but a strobie spray might be worth trying. Nothing else seems to work. Note 3: I can happily report that it appears that I have found the answer to the late bunch stem necrosis problem afflicting especially Riesling, but also Chardonnay and red varieties. It seems that in our limestone (calcite) based soils, Magnesium is deficient and Potassium(K) is abundant. With a variety with a high magnesium requirement such as Riesling, on a rootstock with high potassium uptake such as SO4 or 4453M, the results can be devastating. The answer is Magnesium Sulfate (Epsom Salts) mixed in with the regular sprays. For a few dollars per acre per year, my rot problem seems solved, the vines are healthier and my fruit potassium levels are lower which makes for better wine.

TECHNICAL PAPERS: No warranties, express or implied, are warranted as  to the suitability of this information for your site. Kinkead Ridge Technical Papers 2008 Spray Program 2007 Spray Program 2006 Spray Program 2005 Spray Program 2004 Spray Program 2001 Presentation "Economics of Vineyard Management", Ohio State Grape Wine Short Course Fence Costs 1999 Suppliers