Greetings from formerly freezing but now balmy Texas!
It’s hard to believe it’s been a month since the record setting freezing weather and snow hit most of Texas (and much of the rest of the country). Fortunately our vines were already well into dormancy and the temperatures dropped gradually so the vines could adjust. The new vines planted in 2020 were a big concern but we were able to have compost delivered and with the help of some wonderful neighbors were able to cover all the graft unions before the really cold temperatures hit.
Once the freezing temps passed we had to wait 7 days to give the vine tissues time to either heal or die, then we collected several canes from mature vines of each variety and did a cross-section of the buds to determine what percentage of the buds were alive (green) or dead. We’re not experienced at evaluating buds but overall we think there are very few dead buds. Grapevines have compound buds. For most varieties the primary buds produce shoots that bear fruit and the secondary and tertiary buds are back ups that will produce shoots that will not have fruit but will provide growth to keep the vine alive until the next season. So the worst case scenario is that we will have live vines but a reduced crop load. For the new vines planted in 2020 we will just have to wait and see if they pop buds and push growth.
We were able to get our pruning done by March 7 and did not find any evidence of winter damage to the wood of the mature vines. All of the young vines looked alive and healthy as well so we were cautiously optimistic that everything was good.
SPOILER ALERT: Buds are popping! On the mature vines: the Sangiovese is nearly at 50% bud break. The Malbec will be popping any minute now. The Cabernet Franc, Syrah, Vermentino, and Malvasia Bianca have bud swell and will be popping soon. The Sauvignon Blanc is a little slower but coming along. The new vines planted in 2020 are popping buds everywhere!
This is all very promising. We should know for sure in the next two weeks whether the crop was affected since the inflorescences (flower clusters) are usually visible by the time the shoots are 4 inches long. Meanwhile, I’d better get my desk cleared off and clean the house because once the vines start growing things get VERY busy.
