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Grape Notes Blog

  • Figure 2. Abundant residues from the oats cover crop.
    Cover crop residues and fire risk

    Vineyards and orchards have long used winter cover crops to help reduce erosion, improve soil structure and prevent nutrient leaching. Growers are being encouraged to increase their use of cover crops to help capture atmospheric carbon dioxide and fix it...


    By Mark Battany
    Author - Water Management and Biometeorology Advisor
  • Figure 2. What's the relationship between the Kc values and the 2021 growth? Watch the video to find out!
    Using satellite NDVI for vineyard diagnostics

    Satellites have been measuring NDVI over the entire planet for many years, but only recently has the data become accessible to the non-expert with the development of very user-friendly websites. This accessibility to the data has created...


    By Mark Battany
    Author - Water Management and Biometeorology Advisor
  • Total harvested acres
    Production and economic trends for San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara County vineyards

    The following charts are updates of similar ones first presented here in 2015; they now include values through the 2019 harvest. They are helpful to appreciate the divergent paths that the wine grape industries in each county have been experiencing in...


    By Mark Battany
    Author - Water Management and Biometeorology Advisor
  • Figure 1. UCCE weather station with a 30-foot mast to measure the inversion condiitons.
    UCCE San Luis Obispo weather station network

    This new project is bringing some unique and very useful weather data to San Luis Obispo County. Twenty weather stations are planned for the County; at this writing 12 are installed and operating. An additional twenty stations are also planned for Santa...


    By Mark Battany
    Author - Water Management and Biometeorology Advisor
  • Figure 8. Tandem D8H crawlers pulling a large slip plow to thoroughly mix a stratified soil near Santa Maria. The result has been described as a
    Irrigation volume and frequency: soil, salinity and nutrient considerations

    Irrigation frequency and volume One fundamental decision that a grower needs to make is how frequently to irrigate a vineyard; either applying small amounts of water frequently, or larger amounts of water less frequently. This choice determines how...


    By Mark Battany
    Author - Water Management and Biometeorology Advisor
Grape Notes Blog Articles

The Grape Notes Blog has replaced the previous Grape Notes Newsletter. You can view the Blog at the following website, and sign up to receive email notification of new articles:

http://ucanr.edu/blogs/GrapeNotesBlog/index.cfm

 

Articles that have been posted, in reverse chronological order:

2019:

Irrigation volume and frequency: soil, salinity and nutrient considerations

Spring Fever 2019

 

2018:

Realignment of Farm Advisor assignments serving San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties

Special issue of the California Agriculture Journal: The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act

 

2017:

Resistance to the QoI (Strobilurin) Fungicides in Grape Powdery Mildew on the Central Coast

Downy Mildew appearing in Central Coast vineyards

2016 update - Production and economic trends for SLO County vineyards

The Orange Slime is appearing again on pruning wounds

 

2016:

Grape Erineum Mite

The Driedfruit Beetle can exacerbate bunch rot problems

Planthoppers appearing in area vineyards

Vine mealybug identification posters

Vineyard floor management and frost risk

Red Blotch and the Threecornered Alfalfa Hopper

 

2015:

Weather and drought effects on the poor fruit set in 2015

Production and economic trends of Santa Barbara County vineyards, and comparison to statewide averages

Production and economic trends for SLO County vineyards

Managing irrigation water quality

The rise (and demise) of the UC Experiment Station at Paso Robles

Renovating vineyards affected by trunk diseases

Black Foot Disease in coastal vineyards

Pinot Leaf Curl appearing in Central Coast vineyards

Arrival of the 'Red Bug' to Central Coast vineyards