E-mail sent by Gayla 11/9/2010  5:51  (Ashley's responses in red)

Connie:

I have been talking with Rob about how we can set up the vineyard management simulation--and have been collecting information from several of the Moodle courses and other resources on the web. I have placed much of that information on the i3D Viticulture wiki. You are probably getting updates when changes are made to the wiki. You can adjust the frequency by going in to your profile. I need for you to see if you can get answers to the following questions. You can send me the info or go to the wiki and add it directly.

1. I've listed the following as the objectives for the simulation. Please discuss with Ashley and Dennis and let me know if this is appropriate.
This 3D interactive learning activity investigates the practical management methods related to the vine physiology and vineyard production. Students will learn about vineyard establishment and management practices such as canopy management, vineyard floor management, and pest management. They should be able to identify visual symptoms of disease and insect pest damage. They should be able solve problems that arise in the vineyard such as frost events, pest/disease, drought, excess water, etc.

This is good - Did we want to include harvest decisions? I thought so.

2. I need SMEs to supply the knowledge, skills, and abilities that students need prior to completing this simulation. 

Good.

3. I started putting together a table of the Management Steps and Tasks that we need to incorporate into the simulation based on the following: Vineyard establishment II Planting and early care of vineyards, MSU Extension Fruit Bulletin - 26459701  11/30/99  Please let me know if I left anything out. We will need to determine what activities/tasks the students will need to perform for each of the steps and what decisions will they need to make and which ones are made for them based on other decisions.

task 3 - add cover crop selection

task 4 - need to research rootstocks but need at add 3309 and 101-14

task 8 - add pruning

task 10 - criteria for harvest?  include degree Brix, pH, TA, bird/disease pressure, and seed color.

4. One question--do we want to make this simulation specific to North Carolina or to the southeast. If we make it specific to North Carolina, do we want students to be able to select potential vineyard sites from the Yadkin Valley, Swan Creek, Haw River Valley, and the Coastal region--or do we want to use generic names as I have currently?  I noticed the one of the resources Ashley referred to in her course divides North Carolina into four zones. Do we want to have the vineyard sites in each of those zones? We need to decide the size of the vineyard (acreage) since that will impact the number of grape plants they buy. Rob and I thought that we could have real estate signs that provide the pertinent information about the site. The students would click the sign to "buy" the property and the $ would be deducted from the bank account. Students would be able to add to their property in succeeding years if they have enough money.

for now maybe we should stick to this area? I really think the answer to what areas to include is for Candace to determine since that may be in the grant???

5. The above questions about vineyard sites also relate to the grape choices offered. Do we want to offer all the grapes I have currently listed on the site or limit the choices? I started filling in description information. I need SME's to review that information and/or supply the specific information they think students will need in order to make their decisions. Also need to decide what age the plants are--2 or 3 year vines--since that determines when they will be able to harvest, right? For the simulation, I would suggest that we have the plants in pots rather than bare-root. It's easier to have them sitting there for students to choose.

The grapes that are listed are the ones that really need to be included. I wouldn't remove any. I did notice some descriptive information that doesn't really apply to NC. I can print this out at school and make changes - or I can get access to change it in the site?  When we order grapes from the nursery they come bare-rooted and that influences how they are planted. If at all possible, we should stick to that.

6. I've delineated potential challenges (weather, pests, diseases, weeds, nutrient deficiencies); we need to know which one(s) are challenges for each of the growth stages.

Are we referring to phenological growth stages or year 1, year 2, year 3?  If referring to years, they will all apply just in different ways. Throughout the season (phenological stages) there will be times some apply while other do not.

7. I put a generic description of different equipment cost levels for the simulation, but we need to figure out what equipment would be included for each of the levels--and probably need to determine more accurate costs. That equipment would be available for the students to complete the various tasks.

I could not view this page. A great resource for this would be the Mid-Atlantic Grape Growers Guide.

8. The year-end report, which tells the student how well he/she has done will provide the student with the following information. Do we have access to reports that might give us the information say for the last five years or so? We can input ranges and have the computer figure the rest based on the choices made and the challenges faced.

Harvest produced ____________ tons of grapes

(depends on site chosen, grapes chosen, trellis system chosen, pruning technique, and challenges faced)
Wholesale prices:
Sale of grapes:
Money expended during the year:
Profit:
Net Worth: ($ in bank acct for additional purchases next year)

 

Year 1 = 0 harvest
Year 2 =
Year 3 =

I don't know of any reports for this type of data. This will be a challenge. I think we can get ballpark but a lot of this type of stuff in the industry goes unreported and varies so much by type, region, conditions.

I hope this is helpful. I HIGHLY recommend the Mid-Atlantic Grape Growers Guide!!!!

Please feel free to call me if you have any questions, concerns, etc.

Gayla

3/9/2011

We decided to reduce the number of options for grapes the initial simulation. Would these work? European: Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon; hybrid: Seyval Blanc, Chambourcin; muscadine: Carlos, Noble  

I have since started adding pages based on the UC Davis Costs and Expenses Sheets in order to have something to work from. I have pages for Cabernet Sauvignon Lake County; Cabernet Sauvignon North Coast; Grape Intermountain; Chardonnay Sonoma Valley. I'm not sure which areas of North Carolina these geographical areas would match. Since California does not grow muscadines, I started the Muscadine NC page outlining muscadine information. It is not as complete as the European grape pages.  I don't have any information on the hybrids--not sure if I could use any of the other UC Davis sheets as examples.

Also, with those choices, what would be the top five diseases? For muscadines, I found that bitter rot and powdery mildew affect the fruit (what happens to the crop if this happens?). Angular leaf spot affects the leaves (what happens to the crop if this happens?). Black rot attacks leaves, flower clusters, and fruit (what happens to the crop?). Ripe rot attacks the fruit near harvest and in recent years become the most damaging fruit rot disease--especially during rainy seasons. Generally speaking, dark skinned cultivars (Noble, Pride) are more resistant, while bronze cultivars (Carlos, Scuppernong, Magnolia) are more susceptible. Would these diseases "attack" at different times of the year/growing season? What difference would that make? 

See Muscadine section 

Pierce's Disease is the primary disease affecting production of European and American varieties, right? Powdery mildew, phomopsis, Botrytis bunch rot were also mentioned for Chardonnay. Would these be the ones for the others as well?

Pierce's Disease keep European varieties from being grown in the eastern part of the state. 

What are the top five/six insects/mites that affect the grapes--and how? Yes, it would be helpful to have the web link for the spray program in NC--especially if it provides information about what months to spray--could you let me know what would happen if we overspray or underspray--or fail to spray?  grape leafhoppers, mites, lepidopteran (worm) pests, nematodes???

What about other problems with growing those five varieties? For example, would a rainy season affect one variety more than another--any particular time in the growing season worse; what about nutrient deficiencies--that type of thing? I found that crown gall is a disease caused by a bacterium that usually occurs in association with a freeze injury. What are the affects on the harvest? Does crown gall equally affect each of the kinds of grapes?

What would not controlling the weeds cause?

Not controlling weeds under vines will slow growth considerably during the first year of growth.  It robs nutrients and water from the vine that will slow growth and prevent training vines to the wires until the second year instead of the first year. 

I figure the birds and deer are going to like all the varieties pretty much equally. What month(s) would they be most problematic? What about gophers and squirrels?

Any help you can provide with regard to answering these questions would be greatly appreciated.