Larry Bettiga*
*University of California Cooperative Extension, 1432 Abbott Street, Salinas, CA 93901 (lbettiga@ucdavis.edu)

Plant material and training strategies used are critical factors in promoting vine development and production. The objective of this study was to evaluate nursery stock and training strategies for their potential to advance vine development and yield. A trial was established in a Pinot noir vineyard in the Salinas Valley of California to compare standard 30 cm-long dormant benchgrafts to 90-cm tall benchgrafts that were produced by using a longer rootstock cutting from 2015 to 2019. The treatments were: 1) standard field-grown dormant, 30 cm; 2) tall dormant potted, 90 cm; and 3) tall green-growing potted, 90 cm. The tall vines were trained to bilateral cordons in the first year where growth was adequate. Standard vines were trained to a single trunk shoot at the end of the first year, and cordon training started in year 2. The dormant tall benchgrafts at the end of year 1 produced vines with larger diameter trunks and growth was adequate to form the cordons. In years 2 and 3, dormant tall vines had larger trunk and cordon diameters and pruning weights, standard was intermediate, and tall green-growing had the smallest diameters and pruning weights. In year 2, dormant tall vines produced the greatest yield; standard intermediate and green-growing tall vines, the least. In year 3, the dormant tall and standard vines produced similar yield, and green-growing tall vines had lower yields. The results from this trial suggest that both plant material and vine training method in the first year could advance development of the permanent framework of the vine and promote the potential for earlier vine production, especially when either factor improves total vine growth in the year of planting and that growth increase is used to form the vine’s permanent framework.

Funding Support: Various donors