By Jacqueline Maclaurin Viticultural Technician, Wither Hills The Marlborough summer seems to have arrived, with typical long hot days, interspersed with the odd day of rain to calm the dust. With the windy sunny days we have not yet seen any high disease pressure incidents in the blocks, although we have been running a tight […]
We are pleased to release the monitoring data from the first year of the Organic Focus Vineyard project. This report includes information on pest and disease incidence, maturity and yields, soil moisture and irrigation, and production costs, for both conventional and organic grape varieties on all three focus vineyards during the first growing season in […]
Fruition Horticulture and Hydro Services are providing soil moisture and irrigation monitoring for the focus vineyards. You can follow the data in real time throughout the current season, with side by side comparisons of the organic and conventional treatments, here, on Fruition’s website. Here’s the full irrigation monitoring report from the 2011-12 season: Irrigation Report […]
There were no visible differences in the growth of the organic and conventional Syrah during the 2011-12 season. Without the herbicide strip under the conventional vines and the cultivated strip under the organic, it would be hard to tell the two apart. In these photos conventional is on the left, organic on the right. This […]
The conventional and organic vines showed extremely similar growth throughout the 2011-12 season. This was the vineyard’s first year in organic conversion.
Organic and conventional growth patterns were similar throughout the 2011-12 season. The organic vines were slightly less vigourous in some areas, and by the end of the season the organic leaves had a more yellow colour in comparison to the conventional. However, the organic yielded more highly than conventional. This was the vineyard’s first year […]
Organic and conventional growth patterns were similar during the 2011-12 season, with the organic slightly less vigourous than the conventional in some areas of the vineyard. This was the vineyard’s first year in organic conversion.
By Caine Thompson Viticulturist, Mission Estate The great weather continues in Hawkes Bay, with settled weather right through flowering and warm temperatures continuing through December and now into January. The vines are well balanced, carrying moderate crops, and are advancing nicely as the season progresses. There don’t seem to be any visual differences in canopy […]
During the 2011-12 season, the organic Pinot Noir developed a less vigourous canopy than the conventional, and was behind the conventional in its growth stage for much of the season. Reasons for this are not known but could include rootstock differences, young vines adapting to having their surface roots cut by cultivation, or other factors, […]
There were not major differences between the organic and conventional Sauvignon Blanc in the first season of organic conversion, 2011-12. The organic block did show slightly less canopy growth and therefore required one less trimming. One of the most obvious visual differences in these photos is in the interrow. The conventional Sauvignon Blanc is completely […]
