Notes from the Eastern Viticulture Workshop---Part 2

Dr. Bruce Reisch from Cornell University was the third speaker on the agenda and his topic was "Breeding New Cultivars for Cool Climates". Dr. Reish said that not all hybrids are crosses between Vitis lambusca x V. vinifera. Here in the United States, we also have Vitis riperia, V. cinera, and V. aestivalis to use in creating hybrid cultivars. One of the successful releases has been Cayuga White which is a cross between Seyval x Schuyler released in 1972. It has good disease resistance and if harvested early, the labrusca character can be minimized. I also learned that Traminette, released in 1996 has Gewurztraminer as part of it's parentage. There is a new release called NY76084424 which was created from a cross between Traminette and Ravat 34. Dr. Reisch said that they are currently in the process of selecting a name for this new release. Dr. Reisch's current research is focused on developing disease resistant varieties. More on this research can be found at Vitisgen.org, which is a federally funded project.

Next on the agenda was Dr. Imed Dami from Ohio State University who spoke on "Cold Hardiness and Winter Protection". Dr. Dami's talk was a very timely one. He began by asking if anyone had the publication entitled, Winter Injury to Grapevines and Methods of Protection. What a coincidence, I thought because that was one of my blogposts prior to coming to the Eastern Viticulture Workshop. Dr. Dami is one of the authors of the publication and it was great to see and hear his talk in person. Dr. Dami began with defining cold hardiness and freezing injury and walked us through the U-shaped curve of cold acclimation and deacclimation. Dr. Dami said that there are cultural practices such as creating vine balance and limiting overcropping that will enhance the cold hardiness of the grapevines. His current research involves using abscisic acid for getting grapevines to enter into dormancy earlier. Much of what Dr. Dami spoke about is contained in the publication "Winter Injury to Grapevines and Methods of Protection". It costs approximately $15.00 and is a must have for Northeastern grape growers.