We get this question quite a bit: We do not have either a wind machine or smudge pots…but our neighbors do!
In the early spring while the blossoms on the neighboring orchards are so fragile, and when temps drop below 32°, the wind machines are used to circulate the air to keep the damaging cold pockets from freezing the blossoms. The danger extends to the delicate bud tissue of the grapevines as they fill with sap and begin to swell and open.
We happen to benefit from this as well. As our vines are JUST beginning to wake up, the plants are bringing up water from the ground and if temps get too cold, the plants could potentially freeze.
We also mitigate the danger by keeping a cover crop on the soil to keep it from warming up too quickly and manage our pruning so as not to stimulate early bud growth.
Do you want to learn something about winemaking? Or about…
- Grapegrowing
- How we farm the land
- Our garden?
- Why we do the things we do?
- or even that quirky couple, Marty & Ryan?
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