Influence of Geotextile Mulches on Canopy Microclimate, Yield, and Fruit Composition of Cabernet franc

Abstract

Three vineyard floor management strategies—reflective (white) geotextile mulch, black geotextile mulch, and an herbicide strip in vine rows—were evaluated with regard to canopy light and temperature, vine growth, and fruit composition of Cabernet franc. Using a randomized complete block design, two trials were conducted at commercial vineyards in the Finger Lakes Region of New York during 2004 to 2005. Black and white geotextiles in 2-m-wide or 5-m-wide strips almost doubled vine size after two years, but did not affect overwinter primary bud survival compared with mowed sod row middles with undervine herbicide control treatment. In both experiments, the white geotextile mulch significantly increased sunlight reflected from the vineyard floor into the vine cluster zone, especially early in the growing season. Vines mulched with white geotextile had greater yields, but there were no significant differences in fruit ripening time or fruit chemical composition at harvest, and minimal differences in vine nutrient status among the floor management systems. The increased yield values in reflective geotextile plots were not sufficient to compensate for the substantially greater costs of geotextiles relative to the standard practices of mowed sod row middles with undervine herbicide weed control.