ANNUAL LIFE CYCLE

PHENOLOGY- Branch of Science Dealing With the Relations Between Climate and Periodic Biological Phenomena…Bud Burst, Plant Flowering.

VINE BALANCE- A Balanced Vine Will Invest the Right Amount of Energy In Vegetative Growth and the Right Amount of Energy In Fruit Growth.  If You Have a Vine Which is “Out of Balance” You Will Find a Vine Putting Too  Much Energy Into Its Canopy Which Puts Too Much Shade On the Vine Which Will Reduce Fruit Quality In This Growing Season and In Turn Reduce It’s Yields and Growing Potential In Next Years Crop.  Also a Vine Which is “Out of Balance” Can Put Too Much of Its Energy Into Its Fruit Production and Not Enough Into Building a Canopy Which Can Ripen the Fruit.

VIGOR- Refers to the Rate at Which a Vine Grows From Month to Month. Vigor Is Influenced by Soil, Climate Nutrients, Water, Canopy Management. High and Low Vigor Can Effect the Vines Ability to Achieve Optimum Grape Maturity.

  • VITICULTURE DISCLAIMER~ ~Variations In Weather~
    • “Generally Certain Events In the Annual Life Cycle of the Vine Happens at Set Times During Growing Season. These Set Times Can Be Skewed by Days or Week Depending On the Grape Variety or Variations In Weather That a Region Might Be Subject to.”
  • VITICULTURE DISCLAIMER~ ~Time-Line~ 
    • “Information Given Implies to the Northern Hemisphere Growing Season.”

A YEAR IN The VINEYARD

Generally Work Never Stops In the Vineyard. Year After Year, Season After Season Month After Month There’s a Rhythm to the Annual Life Cycle of the Vineyard.

JANUARY

  • ANNUAL MONTHLY OCCURENCE–
    • DORMANCY– Although Not Essential For Healthy Grapes, It’s Deemed Beneficial For Grape-Vines to Shut-Down or Go Dormant For Period of Months.
  • VITICULTURE PRACTICES–
    • Winter Pruning- Can Be Started As Early as November or Can Be Done As Late as March.
    • Planting Winter Cover Crops.
    • Fertilize the Soils

FEBRUARY

  • ANNUAL MONTHLY OCCURENCE–
    • DORMANCY- Although Not Essential For Healthy Grapes, It’s Deemed Beneficial For Grape-Vines to Shut-Down or Go Dormant For Period of Months.
  • VITICULTURE PRACTICES–
    • Winter Pruning- Can Be Started As Early as November or Can Be Done As Late as March.
    • Ploughing
    • Chopping Pruning Material and Working it Into the Soil.
    • Fertilize the Soils

MARCH

  • ANNUAL MONTHLY OCCURENCE–
    • BUD SWELLING– Bud Sight Swells and Get Larger. This Act is the Un-Official Beginning of Growing Season.
    • BLEEDING/ WEEPING– Lose of Fluid/ Bleeding From Bud Sights.
    • BUD-BURST– Buds Burst, This Marks the End of Dormancy. (Late March/ Early April)
        • Temperature Related (Weather Needs to Warm For Process to Go Off.)
        • Standard Deviation- 1 Day to 10 Days
      • Time Scale– “Bud-Burst to Flowering”  62 Days
        • “Bud-Burst to Véraison”  58 Days
        • “Bud-Burst to Harvest”  170 Days
  • VITICULTURE PRACTICES– 
    • Winter Pruning- Can Be Started As Early as November or Can Be Done As Late as March.
    • Trellising Maintenance

APRIL

  • ANNUAL MONTHLY OCCURENCE–
    • BUD-BURST– Buds Burst, This Marks the End of Dormancy. (Late March/ Early April)
      • Temperature Related (Weather Needs to Warm For Process to Go Off.)
      • Time Scale– Bud-Burst to Flowering”  62 Days
        • “Bud-Burst to Fruit-Set”  ?
        • “Bud-Burst to Harvest” 170 Days
    • SHOOTS– New Stems Emerge From Bud and Start to Grow.
      INFLORESCENCE EMERG–
  • VITICULTURE PRACTICES–
    • Vines Are Starting to Grown and Need Attention/ Ploughing Down.
    • Desuckering

MAY

  • ANNUAL MONTHLY OCCURENCE–
    • FOLAGE– Leaves Unfold and Start Growing.
    • EMROYO BUNCHES EMERG-
  • VITICULTURE PRACTICES–
    • Tying Down Vines
    • Desuckering
    • De-Budding Unwanted Positions

JUNE

  • ANNUAL MONTHLY OCCURENCE–
    • FLOWERING– Grapevine Flowers Develop Into a Cluster, the Main Axis is Called the Rachis. When Spring Temperature Reach 68° Flowers Begin to Bloom Usually 6-8 Weeks After Bud Break. Vines Possess Stamens(Male) & Carpels(Female) Covered by the Calypra. Flowers Bloom for 8-10 Days and Fertilization 2-3 Days After. Generally Grapes Are Ready For Harvest 90-100 Days After Flowering, Give or Take 1 Week.
      • Standard Deviation– 1 Day to 7 Days
      • Time Scale– “Flowering to Pollination”  ?
        • “Flowering to Fruit-Set” ?
        • “Flowering to Veraison” 58 Days
        • “Flowering to Harvest”  ?
    • POLLINATION/ BLOOM- Process by Which Pollen is Transferred From the Anther(Male Part) to the Stigma(Female Part) of the Plant Enabling Fertilization and Reproduction.
      • Vines Need Dry Conditions With Sufficient Sunlight For Pollination to Go Smoothly.
      • Wet and Cold Weather During Spring Can Lead to Uneven Flowering and Reduced Fruit-Set.
      • Time Scale– “Pollination/ Bloom  to Fruit-Set”  3 Weeks
        • “Pollination to Harvest”  ?
    • FERTILIZATION- Fusion of Gametes to Initiate the Development of a New Organism.
  • VITICULTURE PRACTICES–
    • Focus On Maintaining and Curating Crop Load, Fasten Canes, Prune Leaves.
    • Shoot Thinnin

JULY

  • ANNUAL MONTHLY OCCURENCE–
    • FRUIT-SET- Period Where Flowers Are Fertilized, Small Green Berries Form.
      • Time Scale– “Fruit-Set to Véraison”  ?
        • “Fruit-Set to Harvest”  ?
    • LAG PHASE- Pause In Berry Growth While Seed Embryos Start to Form.
    • VERAISON- Period Grapes Change Color From Green to Red or Yellow
      • Ripening of the Grapes Begins the Moment Veraison Starts, Grape “Color Up”. Black Varietals Turn Red/ Blue or the Dark Color They Are Destined to Be. White Grape Turn Crystal Yellow or Pale Green or the Color They Destined to Be.
      • Veraison Can Be Spotty, With Some Grapes Being Ripe, While Some Can Raison While Others Remain Green.
      • Heterogeneity- Uniformity During Veraison
      • Standard Deviation- 1 Day to 10 Days
      • Time Scale– “Occurs at a Set Time After Flowering.
        • “Véraison to Harvest”  51 Days
  • VITICULTURE PRACTICES–
    • Shoot Thinning

AUGUST

  • ANNUAL MONTHLY OCCURENCE–
    • SHATTER/ Coulure- Sugar Imbalance, Vines Can’t Develop Enough Sugar For Berries, Failure of Grapes to Develop After Flowering, From Extended Rain/ Frigid Weather.
      • If Vine Flower Doesn’t Get Pollinated Grapes Die and Fall Off, Flowers Stay Closed and Aren’t Fertilized.
      • Grapes Are Self Pollinating, During Fruit-Set if it Rains it Washes the Pollen of Grapes Away and Grapes Don’t Idea Crop-Set and You Get Shatter. This Resulting In Clusters That Don’t Complete and Crop Can Lose +25% of Harvest and Yields. Shatter Doesn’t Effect Quality But Effects Yields.
      • Caused by Warm Weather Causing Excessive Shot Growth and the Grape- Vines Enate Feeling That It Will Not Develop Enough Sugar to Nourish the Grapes Completely. By Going Through Coulure it Will Drop Fruit Which Allows the Remaining Fruit to Have All the Resources it Needs Ripen Grapes.
    • HEN & CHICKS/ Millerandage/ Shot Berries- When a Grape Bunch Has Berries That Differ Significantly In Size and Maturity Levels Usually From Insufficient Pollination.  (Mostly From Rain or Poor Nourishment During the Flowering Stage.)
    • RIPENING- Maturity of Grapes, +Sugar, +Tartaric Acid & -Malic Acid 40-60 Days.
      • Factors; Varietal, Pest, Disease, Environment.
      • **Refer to “GRAPE DEVELOPMENT/ Ripening” For Detailed Information.
  • VITICULTURE PRACTICES–
    • Most Major Farming Practices Are Done and There is a Little Bit of a Break Before Harvest/ Leaf Thinning/ Green Harvest
    • Harvest- “Early Ripening”, Picking Grapes From Vine and Initiating Wine Production.

SEPTEMBER

  • ANNUAL MONTHLY OCCURENCE–
    • ?
  • VITICULTURE PRACTICES–
    • Harvest- Picking Grapes From Vine and Initiating Wine Production.
    • Standard Deviation- 1 Day to 12 Days
      • Time Scale– Occurs at a Set Time After Verision.

OCTOBER

  • ANNUAL MONTHLY OCCURENCE–
    • ?
  • VITICULTURE PRACTICES–
    • Harvest- “Late Ripening”, Picking Grapes From Vine and Initiating Wine Production.
    • Standard Deviation- 1 Day to 12 Days
    • Late Harvest-

NOVEMBER

  • ANNUAL MONTHLY OCCURENCE–
    • LEAF FALL–
  • VITICULTURE PRACTICES–
    • Very Little if Nothing to Performed In Vineyard.
    • Winter Pruning- Can Be Started As Early as November or Can Be Done As Late as March.

DECEMBER

  • ANNUAL MONTHLY OCCURENCE–
    • LEAF FALL–
    • DORMANCY- Although Not Essential For Healthy Grapes, It’s Deemed Beneficial For Grape-Vines to Shut-Down or Go Dormant For Period of Month.
  • VITICULTURE PRACTICES–
    • Very Little if Nothing to Performed In Vineyard.
    • Winter Pruning- Can Be Started As Early as November or Can Be Done As Late as March.
    • Planting Winter Cover Crops.

**Refer to “BIBLIOGRAPHY/ Sources” For Details On Scholarly Works Referenced.