April 2007 - Cold Snap

Nature is pretty resourceful, and each bud is actually three buds in one.  The shoots that were on the vines came from the primary bud and are now gone.  If the secondary buds aren't killed by this extended cold snap, then new shoots will develop from them.  Dependent upon the particular variety, these secondary shoots can produce a fruit crop, however, the size of the crop will be reduced.

Due to the timing of this event, the extreme in temperatures and the length of time these temperatures were held, it is possible that the secondary buds will also be killed.  If this is the case, the tertiary buds will provide foliage growth to keep the vines alive and prepare them for the '08 growing season.  (Yes, the tertiary buds can also be destroyed, but we don't even want to think about that.)

After the cold snap ended, we assessed the damage by cutting open hundreds of buds and seeing if the secondary and/or tertiary buds were black (bad) or green (great).

We will develop a crop this year from our secondary buds, however, it will be around half or three-quarters of what we would normally harvest.