Budburst is upon us!

To coincide with the budburst in Victoria, I thought I would give our members an insight into what budburst is.

Budburst is the period in early spring where the grapevines come out of their winter dormancy and first begin to produce new shoots. During this phase, the vines are very vulnerable to frost damage. Therefore, making this part of the vineyard management a very important time.

During winter, the temperatures drop and the vines going into a dormant stage, losing their leaves and producing brown scales that protect the vine from the winter weather. As the temperatures increase in spring, they leave the dormancy phase and the shoots sprout. These small shoots on the vine will give life to leaves and flowers. The bursting of the buds is created by the change in air and soil temperature, although the optimal temperature for budburst does vary from variety to variety. Becuase of the role of soil temperature in this process this creates a physionlogical signaling that makes the plant to emerge from dormancy, soil management is paramount to ensure the buds burst at the right time. Well drained and relatively stony soils are preferred over wetter soils with higher clay content, mainly in cooler climates, as the soil warms up faster.

Wooly bud, the beginning of the process.

Bursting of leaves from the bud.

The leaves growing in size as the weather continues to warm up.