Joe Siebert for DJs- Virus can spread from vine to vine quickly. In some cases over as little as 1-2 years! This can lead to problems with declining yield and poor canopy function and ripening. If you’re planning to re-work/graft or replant a vineyard it’s important to take note of virus symptoms now and know your levels before you start.
Read MoreSmoke taint & bushfire recovery - Podcast with Gill Gordon-Smith /
Assessing Fire Damage to vines - a quick guide. /
Q- How do you tell how damaged vines are by fire?
A- You look at the health of the trunks of the vines by cutting into them. We call this Cambium Testing. We normally do this cut on the trunk, but you can make this cut anywhere (roots, cordon or shoots).
You make a shallow slice (3mm), with a sharp blade, across the surface to expose the cambial layer under the bark.
The colour of the vine tissue that you see will give an indication of what is going to happen to the vine. A green colour indicates live tissue. Vines with green tissue are hopefully going to survive by throwing our water shoots.
Green tissue indicates the vine is still moving nutrient and water up the stem.
Burned trunk, but cambium layer looks green.
Note the burned vine bark.
Vines with brown and dry looking tissue have likely died and will not be able to be resurrected.
For more information visit the AWRI resource pack:
https://www.awri.com.au/…/information-packs/managing-fire-…/
Or look at CropWatch Adelaide Hills.
WSET and IWSC reveal their Future 50 /
The Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) and International Wine & Spirits Competition (IWSC) has announced its inaugural Future 50.
The Future 50 is a new initiative created by WSET and IWSC in celebration of their joint 50th birthdays to select 50 future influencers of the global drinks industry.
The 50 on the final list hail from 14 countries, with roles ranging from distiller to viticulturist and historian to bartender. There were three winners from Australia in the final list: our very own James Hook, DJ’s founder, and Nick Glaetzer from Tasmanian urban winery Glaetzer-Dixon Family Winemakers in the wine category and Ryan Hartshorn in the spirits category.
WSET Chief Executive, Ian Harris, said: “We are delighted with the final Future 50 list. It offers a genuine reflection of the young talent we have in the wine, spirit and sake categories globally. Each of the winners should be very proud their achievement.
“We look forward to seeing them making their mark and shaping the future of our industry.”
There were more than 600 nominations for the first round, a longlist of professionals working as winemakers and distillers, in product development, design and distribution, marketing, journalism, hospitality and everything in between. This longlist was whittled down to 200 in the second round, then to a final shortlist of 82 names.
IWSC Chief Executive in Fine Wines and Spirits, Christelle Guibert, said: “Narrowing down the 600+ nominations we received from around the world was a rigorous and lengthy process, with each candidate showing a wealth of talent and expertise.
“We are confident that the final 50 showcases the brightest sparks of the wine, spirits and sake industries, and look forward to seeing their careers develop over the coming years.”
Choosing the winners was done through a two stage vetting process using the knowledge and authority of panel of expert judges from around the world. These include Stephanie Macleod (Master Blender, Dewar’s), Richard Paterson (Master Blender, Whyte & MacKay), Xavier Rousset MS (restaurateur), Joe Fattorini (The Wine Show), Ian Harris (WSET) and Allen Gibbons (IWSC), supported by a global regional advisory panel covering 17 countries.
Podcast with Sam Freeman looking at IPM and how it's used. /
DJ's is the proud winner of the Corteva Environmental Respect Award for Australia /
DJ’s Growers Services staff members, David Oddie and Sam Freeman, with Nick Weckert (centre) from Corteva agriscience. DJ's Growers Services, located at McLaren Vale and Woodside, in South Australia, took out the Country Champion Honour for the international Environmental Respect Awards.
Community the key for Environmental Respect Award winner
Agricultural store DJ's Growers Services, located at McLaren Vale and Woodside, in South Australia, has taken out the Country Champion Honour for the international Environmental Respect Awards.
The Award, which is sponsored by Corteva agriscience, is given out each year to recognise industry participants focused on community, the environment and sustainability.
David Oddie, from DJ’s, said they were thrilled to be Country Champions.
“It certainly gives us a great feeling that the track that we are going down is recognised, especially by a company like Corteva” he said. “It is fantastic that we have been recognised for the work we do in our community and for our customers. Working with our environment is something that we do take very seriously at DJs and try and do the best job that we can."
Mr Oddie said both regions serviced broadacre and horticultural growers, with a large focus on viticulture and other crops such as strawberries, potatoes, apples and pears.
He said urban encroachment was a big issue for many in the region and they worked closely with growers to succeed in this environment.
“We do everything that we can to try and help the grower ease people's concerns and give them the tools to be able to still manage their blocks or their properties effectively whilst keeping their neighbours happy."
Staff and shareholders of DJ’s are encouraged to take part in the community and are given time to participate in a range of activities.
“People within our business, do sit on a number of community organisations,” Mr Oddie said. “We've got shareholders that are involved with McLaren Vale Grape, Wine and Tourism. Staff are also encouraged to sit on some of the industry boards and committees, as well as one shareholder and a number of customers that are involved in the McLaren Vale Bio-Diversity project.
“We support the local footy clubs. Most of us live within the communities that we are servicing so we do try and be involved. Ultimately, if we don't have the community, we don't have customers and we're not here."
As well as a key community focus, DJ’s has a large focus on technologies that promote sustainability and the environment.
“We are using a few more different techniques than what your traditional agronomists do,” Mr Oddie said. “We do use a lot of Integrated Pest Management with our customers and that is certainly something that all of our agronomists have been trained in.”
He said their focus to bring in cultural and biological controls and not just rely on chemistries had been very successful for their farmer customers.
Control measures have included releasing beneficial insects via drone over crops like strawberries to encourage them to help control the target pests without the use of broad spectrum insecticides.
“Integrated Pest Management is really just a case of monitoring what's there, both the pests and the beneficials and then using the appropriate course of action” Mr Oddie said.
The action could be a chemical, specific cover crops, or the release of beneficial insects.
“When we are using a chemistry, we are trying to keep it as friendly to those beneficial insects as possible so we can use them as a tool to help improve the benefits of the chemistry as well."
“Some of the potato crops that I deal with, have gone from four or five insecticides in a crop to maybe one or two.”
He said less reliance on chemistry was helping extend the life of the insecticide and also potentially saved the grower money and time by not having to constantly go out and spray.
While IPM technology is a key to the business there are many other elements that contribute to sustainability and the environment.
“We do operate a moisture monitoring business as well,” Mr Oddie said. “We have over a hundred soil moisture probes in around McLaren Vale, Adelaide Hills and out into the Mallee in South Australia to help farmers better utilise their irrigation water.”
DJ’s also support the local bio-diversity groups and offer them advice on weed control. NDVI mapping has been completed throughout McLaren Vale and other areas and the business is working with contractors to develop variable spreading technology for composts and fertilisers.
Mr Oddie said they also conduct a lot of soil tests to ensure growers apply, but not over apply, the proper fertilisers and nutrient combinations.
“We go out and look at people's crops and help them make the decisions in the best way to attack any problems that we might identify."
Undervine Weed Control Trial - Ashton - 2019 /
DJ’s Growers Services would like to invite you to visit an under vine weed control demonstration. The demo compares the efficacy of herbicide treatments and mechanical methods.
Our aim is to evaluate the range of available herbicides for the control of under vine grasses and broadleaf weeds during winter/spring.
Address: access is via the driveway between 62 & 56 Woods Hill Road Ashton follow the signs for DJS demonstration.
Start time: Sausage sizzle @ 12:30 for a 1pm vineyard walk.
Using vertical images of vineyard canopies to predict wine quality. /
The relationship between the light environment in a vine canopy and wine quality has been studied for many years, but practical techniques to measure the light environment are only now being developed.
Many had hoped the using NDVI or “plant cell density” imagery taken from satellites, drones or planes would be able to do capture variation in your vines and allow you to highlight the areas of likely best quality. However using images of vines taken from above can have trouble differentiating between the “green” of vine leaves, and the “green” of undervine ground cover.
For Vintage 2020 - DJ’s is running out a system of using vertical canopy images, taken against the blue background of sky, to produce the best estimate of the light environment on your fruit as it ripens.
Ask us how this can be used to improve our vineyard returns.
Vertical canopy image taken with the VitiCanopy App. at EL-15 in a single wire cordon trained cv. Shiraz vineyard in McLaren Vale, South Australia.
Porosity image to the comparison between Canopy Porosity Zone Map (created by image analysis of canopy measure data 21-Jan-2019) and Satellite NDVI image (30-Jan-2019).
Blended image: NDVI image to the front.
Blended image: Porosity zones to the front.