2017 ASHS Annual Conference

Cold hardy Vitis riparian hybrids can be particularly challenging to manage in the vineyard due to their excessive vigor and procumbent growth habit. The performance of ‘Marquette’, ‘Frontenac’, ‘La Crescent’, and ‘Brianna’ vines was investigated over a two-year period on three training systems: high cordon (HC), vertical shoot positioning (VSP), and Scott Henry (SH). The study was conducted at the West Madison Agricultural Research Station (WMARS) in Verona, WI. Yield components (yield per vine, pruning weight, and cluster and berry weight) and basic fruit composition traits (total soluble solids (TSS), pH, titratable acidity (TA)) were evaluated for all four cultivars. Vines trained to divided-canopy SH had the highest yield (kg/vine) and number of clusters per vine. There were no statistical differences in cluster weights among training systems, however, during both years cluster length in ‘Marquette’ was longer in the HC system compared to VSP. High-cordon vines had dense canopies with higher number of leaf years, while SH and VSP vines presented a higher percentage of exposed clusters. Despite differences in canopy density and crop load ratios, fruit composition at harvest was similar for all training systems.