Thursday, Sept. 14, 10:30-12:00:
Drone Spraying Field Demo with FarmX and Ag-Bee
at Ascona Vineyard
FarmX will demonstrate drone based spraying in vineyards. You will see an actual demo of an aerial drone spraying a vineyard (note, water will be sprayed). You will learn the state of the drone spraying industry, capabilities and limitations of drone spraying, what kinds of vineyards drones are most suited to spray, and typical spraying costs. You will also learn how to get started with drone spraying, coverage rates, and application rates that are possible with drones. A single aerial drone can optimally spray up to a 40-acre vineyard, including fungicides, foliar fertilizers and pesticides.
And this will give us an opportunity to get together and compare notes before harvest.
FarmX, headquartered in Mountain View, also provides capabilities for grape monitoring and irrigation automation using a unique soil moisture probe that measures a volume 4′ in diameter, and other crop parameters to provide irrigation recommendations based on the local weather and soil type. In addition, you will hear about how FarmX automates valves, pumps, and more to enable deficit and short cycle irrigation. FarmX ipartners with Ag-Bee, LLC to provide aerial drone spraying services for nut, vegetable, wine and table grapes growers and more.
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Saturday, June 24, 10:00-12:00 – Fritz Westover, Virtual Viticulture Academy
Vineyard Management Strategies Workshop for the Summer and Beyond (see more below)
– in person at Neely Wine / Spring Ridge Vineyard
555 Portola Rd., Portola Valley (note this is the winery address, not the tasting room address)
Fritz Westover of Virtual Viticulture Academy (VVA) will be ere with e program jam packed with hands-on, actionable advice for the coming summer months. See the program topics below.
Vineyard Management Strategies Workshop for the Summer and Beyond
Program Time/Date
10:00am-12:00pm + 1 hour social
Saturday, June 24th
Location
Neely Winery, 555 Portola Rd, Portola Valley, CA 94028
Presenters
Fritz Westover, Virtual Viticulture Academy
Ken Swegles, Rhizos Viticulture
Lucy Neely, Neely Winery
Topics
Grapevine Nutrient Testing & Fertilization Strategies
- Leaf vs petiole testing – timing, methods, interpretation of results
- Critical windows for fertilizer application & best methods for efficient uptake
- Spray adjuvants & timing to enhance foliar nutrient uptake
- Best timing for foliar vs. ground applied or drip irrigation applied fertilizer
- What to look for in the canopy when assessing vine health
Nuances of Canopy Management Tasks
- Shoot thinning to improve dormant pruning efficiency
- Canopy management tasks that reduce disease pressure
- To hedge or not to hedge – what are the options?
Spraying to target critical times for disease development
- Identify critical times for disease susceptibility of fruit
- Tips for rotating chemistries for conventional spray programs
- Best spray adjuvant choices for organic or conventional tank mixtures
A holistic view on sustaining yields
- Four season factors influencing yield
- Actions growers can take from harvest to budburst to improve yields
- Assessing yields
..
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Thursday, March 30
Grape Vine Trunk Disease and Pruning Sealant, with Alan Haack, SePRO Ag
Including an Application Demo
Also: Frost Mitigation, and more
At Ascona Vineyard
This meeting has been rescheduled from earlier in the month (due to the ongoing storms) now to March 30 when we will have a break in the weather. It will include a presentation on Vine Trunk Disease and pruning sealant with Alan Haack, SePRO Ag, makers of the biofungicide Bio-Tam. And we’ll have a demo of its application. We’ll also talk about ways to mitigate frost damage. And view a variety of training systems in use at Ascona.
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Friday, March 3, 1:00-3:00pm – in person at 3P Vineyard in Soquel
Storm Preparedness and Damage Recovery, Plus Funding for Vineyard Conservation Practices
– with Rich Casale and Drew Mather, NRCS
We have had some fierce storms, a lot of rain and high winds, in the past couple of months. Rich Casale and Drew Mather of the local NRCS office (Santa Cruz County) will address:
– storm preparedness;
– what to do (and not to do) in an emergency if you experience storm damage
– storm damage recovery practices and/or strategies;
– and NRCS/Farm Service financial and technical assistance programs throughout the year for conservation and other management practices.
You may have had trees uprooted on your property that have compromised soil retention, drainage or erosion issues, etc. And if not yet then it will still be good to know what to do to avoid and address in the future. Plus, you’ll find out about some valuable funding assistance through the NRCS for a wide range of conservation practices, of which some of our growers have benefited from over the years.
If you have particular damage issues that you are interested to have addressed during the program you can email Rich ahead of time at richcasale3@gmail.com .
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Monday, Jan. 23, 2:00pm PST – NO CHARGE, ON ZOOM
with Fritz Westover, Virtual Vineyard Advising
– Preparing for the 2023 Vintage; Pruning Refresher, Impacts of Heavy Winter Rains, Adapting Vineyard Practices for Heat Waves
This program will focus on preparing for the upcoming vintage. Fritz will address the impact of heavy rains such as we have had recently. And he will also talk about adapting your practices anticipating heat waves, such as we experienced last year, and in prior years, at harvest time. This program will be packed with valuable practical advice that you can apply in your vineyards.
The program will include:
– A pruning refresher.
– The effect of saturated soils on nutrients and uptake; vine nutrition
– Canopy management – impact of high rainfall, etc., pruning
– Preparing for heat waves
About Fritz Westover:
Fritz Westover is Viticulturist and owner of Westover Vineyard Advising, based in Houston, Texas. Fritz obtained his BS in horticulture and MS in Plant Pathology from Penn State University. He specializes in vineyard consulting for over 1,500 acres of vineyard and is active in research and education in the south and southeastern US, drawing from more than 20 years of experience in the vineyard industry including extension and outreach positions in Virginia, Texas, and California, including the Vineyard Team on the Central Coast. Fritz contributes to wine industry educational programs in several states and is founder of Virtual Viticulture Academy, a leading resource for practical grape growing information for all levels of winegrape production. He can be reached by email at Fritz@VirtualViticultureAcademy.com, at his website www.VirtualViticultureAcademy.com