Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/603228
40 DECEMBER 2015 Good Fruit Grower www.goodfruit.com "It's insurance," he said. "If the cordon survives, you cut the buried one off and throw it away. If it doesn't, you train up the new one." The Viticulture Day demonstration was put on by Mike de Schaaf, a wine- grape grower and the winemaker and vineyard manager at Lake Michigan Community College (and formerly owner and winemaker at Hickory Creek Winery); Erik Hurtado from Fenn Valley Winery; and Dr. Tom Zabadal and Dave Francis, who do wine grape research at Michigan State University's SWMREC . Zabadal noted that history was repeat- ing itself, because he did some basic research on vine protection using burial back in 1995. Back then, growers were looking for ways to lock the barn after los- ing the horse the winter before. But after 20 years, most everybody who adopted the practice abandoned it after repeated and increasingly mild winters. Zabadal found that burying the graft union and a cane growing from it under about five inches of soil would keep the vine temperature around 21°F. Three inches of packed straw (six inches loose straw) was not quite as effective, but temperatures under the straw stayed well above 0°F, even as air temperatures were reaching -18°F. Mike de Schaaf grows grapes in the Lake Michigan Shore AVA and is pres- ident of the Michigan Grape Society, an association of growers. They maintain a lively Facebook page. He showed growers how the practice works during Viticulture Day and amplified on his remarks in a conversation with Good Fruit Grower. During the growing season, a primary cane growing from above the scion union is allowed to grow up to the wire. In preparation for winter, in November or December, this cane is laid down along the row. It is then covered up, either with straw applied by a straw chopper or by PHOTOS BY RICHARD LEHNERT/GOOD FRUIT GROWER This tractor-mounted rotating brush is used to sweep mounded soil back into the row middle each spring. The buried vine is pulled up first. "If the cordon survives, you cut the buried one off and throw it away. If it doesn't, you train up the new one." —Duke Elsner Call now for current availability