Effects of Mulching on Soil Temperature, Scion Rooting, and Soil Moisture of Mounded Grapevines. Issue 2 (2nd April 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Jiang, Linjian; Dami, Imed; Doohan, Douglas
• Is Part Of: International journal of fruit science. Volume 16:Issue 2(2016)
• Page Start: 182
• Page End: 190
• Publication Date: 2016-04-02
• Subjects: Graft union -- herbicide -- Vitis vinifera; Fruit-culture -- Periodicals; Tree crops -- Periodicals; Fruit trees -- Periodicals; 634
• DOI: 10.1080/15538362.2015.1105170
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1553-8362

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Soil-hilling around grapevines is required in the eastern United States for winter protection of grafted and cold sensitive grape cultivars ( Vitis vinifera ). The effects of simazine-treated mulches (STM) on soil temperature, scion rooting, and soil water conservation were measured. Neither simazine nor interactions between simazine and mulches affected any variables measured in this study. Wood and straw mulches increased the minimum temperature of media around the graft union as effectively as hilled soil, reduced scion rooting by a factor of 2 to 75 compared with soil-hilling, and increased soil moisture content 45 to 75% at Wooster and 8 to 23% at Kingsville. These results indicate that mulches have positive attributes and should be considered as an alternative to traditional soil-hilling in vineyards for temperature mitigation around graft union.