2014 Meetings

2014

 

Surface Renewal Evapotranspiration, June 2, 3:00pm at Thomas Fogarty Winery
Our guest speaker: Tom Shapland, Tule Technologies. This is the 3rd (and last) in a series on vine water use and smart water management. Tom will talk about surface renewal evapotranspiration as an actual measurement of ET and vine water status.
And, we will have a vineyard tour and talk with Nathan Kandler about what is going on at the Fogarty vineyards, which includes new plantings and moving to organic growing.

 

Vine Water Use, Friday, April 18, 2014,9:00am-12:00noon at Ridge Vineyards
18100 Montebello Rd., Cupertino

  • Vine Water Use

    This is a joint program with CAFF (Community Alliance with Family Farmers)

    See the flier here.

    This program will be about understanding and measuring vine water use for vine health and fruit quality.  It continues what will be a series on vineyard water issues. In this program:

    – David Gates at Ridge Vineyards has very generously volunteered to host and will talk about the irrigation strategies he has implemented. He dry farms some blocks and irrigates others. He will talk about irrigation triggers, as well as his use of sap flow monitoring instrumentation from Fruition Sciences. And he will give us a vineyard tour and talk about his water conservation measures overall.

    – Thibaut Scholasch, PhD., founder of Fruition Sciences, will talk about vine response to water stress and the science behind using sap flow sensors to schedule irrigation.

    – Larry Bettiga, UCCE Viticulture Advisor for Santa Cruz County (web page here), will give us the big picture on vine water use, including the effects of water availability and drought conditions on vine health, and different measurement methods.

Vineyard Water Management – Strategy, Monitoring and Implementation with speaker Dr. Marcus Buchanan, Buchanan Associates.
Saturday, March 8, 2014, 10:00am-12:00noon
at the Loma Prieta Community Center, 23800 Summit Rd., Los Gatos, 95033

Vineyard Water Management with Dr. Marcus Buchanan

We are reprising the presentation that Dr. Buchanan gave at the Resource Conservation workshop we held last year in July, giving him more time to go into more detail, and expanding the presentation to make it more specific to our current weather conditions. Even though we are finally! now getting some rainfall, it is anticipated that this will not change our drought status, although it is going a long ways to recharging our soil for this growing season. Nevertheless, smart water management is an ongoing issue, and this program will help you to understand the effects of water (or lack of) on vine health.

Whether or not you irrigate you will learn more about the effects of water (or lack of) on winegrape quality.  Dr. Buchanan will provide an overview of concepts and techniques for precision irrigation of winegrapes.  Topics include vineyard and vine management strategies (do you need irrigation or not?), evapotranspiration-based irrigation scheduling and controlled deficit irrigation, use and interpretation of pressure bombs and readings, irrigation system maintenance and testing, flow monitoring, and if and how irrigation has positive impacts on winegrape ‘quality’. It will also address related issues of canopy management in reduced water conditions, and practices to conserve soil moisture.

About Marcus Buchanan: A former resident of the Santa Cruz Mountains and now residing in Oregon, Marcus Buchanan holds a doctorate in Soil Science and  Systems Modeling and a Masters in Agroecology.  He is an applied soil scientist and agronomist and works with vineyard clients (as well as vegetable, tree and bush fruit) in California and Oregon.  A focus of his consulting business is irrigation management, and he has experience with many winegrape varieties in diverse climates. Between 2008 and 2011 he was the first Oregon State Extension Viticulturist in the Southwest Oregon region, comprising three appellations with over 50 grape varieties planted.  In this position he developed an ET Irrigation Network with ten growers across the mesoclimates of the three county region.  He works with his clients to solve production problems, develop and implement new technologies and practices, and optimize production efficiency while protecting soil and water resources.

To serve the common interests of all Santa Cruz Mountains appellation winegrape producers, and to enhance the quality, profitability and reputation of winegrape production in the appellation through promotion and education.