—story by Kate Prengaman—picture by TJ Mullinax
Attendees pay attention as Washington State College irrigation knowledgeable Troy Peters talks about soil moisture sensing at one station throughout a four-part subject day at Figgins Vineyard in Walla Walla, organized by the Washington State Grape Society and WSU Extension on Aug. 7. (TJ Mullinax/Good Fruit Grower)
The Washington State Grape Society and Washington State College held their annual subject day Aug. 7, hosted this yr at Figgins Vineyard in Walla Walla.
The positioning supplied an opportunity for viticulturist Jason Magnaghi to speak about his new plantings on rootstocks and the way the winery’s observe of cane burial got here in clutch after the chilly injury the winery website sustained this yr.
It additionally offered Michelle Moyer and Gwen Hoheisel from WSU Extension a possibility to have subject day attendees strive their hand at scouting for indicators of phylloxera injury. Like many vineyards throughout the state, the Figgins property winery is coping with challenges from the root-feeding pest in a few of its own-rooted blocks.
Inviting the broader business to search for the indicators of phylloxera in its vineyards is a chance to assist everybody take care of the problem posed by the pest, Magnaghi stated.
The important thing to scouting is to not dig for root samples beneath the worst vines, Moyer stated. The pests have seemingly already moved on to feeding on neighboring vines with more healthy roots, leaving the broken vines with no fantastic roots. She recommends digging beneath drip emitters in September, when soils cool barely, and utilizing a hand lens to look at the fantastic roots, searching for small, discolored galls or for small, pale, football-shaped bugs.
The sphere day additionally featured a chat on a brand new weed-control expertise — electrical present software — from WSU weed scientist Rui Liu and her collaborators at Burrows Tractor.
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