The heat certainly did arrive yesterday and more so today. Reached 37C yesterday and 39C today with the night temperatures not getting below 25C, not much diurnal variation during ripening.  This has been a sustained hot period for January.

On both days the nets were checked for any intruders of the feathered type.  Strong winds during the night had caused some to come unclipped, so reclipping was required.  This will have to be ongoing every few days to ensure no entry points occur.

Due to both the Merlot and Viognier going through veraison it is important that soil moisture levels are maintained.  

Monitoring of levels is carried out in the field using a GB Reader.  Readings are stored and then downloaded onto computer where a graphic presentation allows me to see how levels are going.  Measurements are taken at about 30cm in depth and again at 50-60cm or in this case at clay level.

The readings did indiacte a rapid drying in the top level of the soil at all sites and as a result I decided to give all blocks some 3 hours of irrigation.  I will take readings again tomorrow in order to see if the irrigation registered on the top probes.

It is important during veraison to not severely stress the vines and with such heat anthocyanin production in the Merlot could be compromised.  Only time will tell if this is the case. 

Also checked the grafts and they are coming along well.  Will report on these in a week or two.

Vineman

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 28th, 2007 at 9:35 pm and is filed under Vineman Equipment, viticulture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.