Kentville Research and Development Centre
2022-23 Bud Hardiness Report No. 7 - Nova Scotia
Attached, from Jeff Franklin and Dr. Harrison Wright, is the 7th Nova Scotia bud hardiness report for the 2022-23 year. The Nova Scotia wine grape bud hardiness survey generates a bi-weekly report of the low temperature exotherm (LTE) values over the dormant period (roughly from late October to late April).
Note from the research team: "This is the first bud hardiness report since the deep-freeze event on February 3 and 4 which saw temperatures ranging from -23.3 °C to -27.7 °C across the grape growing regions of Nova Scotia. The impact of this event was significant damage to all varieties grown in our region. Bud viability for vinifera varieties has dropped to < 5% in both primary and secondary buds within the vast majority of Nova Scotian vineyards. There will be no appreciable vinifera grape crop this year. Bud viability for hybrid varieties was reduced to ≈ 30% / 50% (primary/secondary) averaged for all hybrid varieties and across the entire growing region; however, specific hybrid viability is dependent on both variety and region. In the wake of this very serious event, we have decided to go ahead with a scaled back survey for the remainder of the dormancy season. We have dropped all vinifera varieties from the survey as there is no longer a source of viable buds. We have dropped the number of L’Acadie sites from eight to three and added two Frontenac Blanc sites to the survey to give us an additional cold hardy variety (see Table 1, Figure 1). The three hybrid varieties in the survey have not showed any significant acclimation since the last survey at the end of January. Temperatures are forecast to be below average for the next five days which may force some of these varieties to acclimate further."