Journal | June 10, 2020
Hardscrabble Journal
Bloom
The vines are in bloom. Finally. They struggled through an unseasonably cool April and May to get to this stage. Such a late bloom date does have an advantage: the warm and dry conditions of mid-June should be ideal for a successful pollination.
Vines are self-pollinated. No bees required. However, without the assistance of insects, dry weather is critical for the release of pollen. You know that pollen count number quoted by the weatherman? Right now, the higher the better.
Back in 2018 it was soggy every day during flowering resulting in scraggly clusters with very few berries and a dramatic yield reduction.
In 2020 we’ve already had a crop reduction in Chardonnay and Merlot due to the Mother’s Day frost. Each vine has fewer clusters to start with, so it would be most helpful to make up for this loss if the remaining clusters had more berries. Typically only 30% of a given cluster’s flowers are successfully pollinated and become grapes. Under ideal conditions that number will increase.
But then there are potential quality consequences to having lots of grapes on a cluster. The cluster stem (rachis) stays the same size, regardless of the number of individual grapes. More grapes make for a more compact cluster at harvest. Tight clusters are much more susceptible to rot. If one berry is compromised, rot can quickly spread to the others.
Social distancing is healthier for grapes, too
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Linden Vineyards / Learn More / Latest at Linden | Journal: June 10, 2020