The 2005 Growing Season – The Ultimate Drought?
The 2005 growing season started out with worry on most growers' minds, whether you were growing apples, cherries, and/or grapes. Drought was the word that everyone in the industry was muttering under their breaths last year, and while numerous media outlets wrote stories about it, the effect on wine grape production was minimal. It gave all of the extension agents around the Pacific Northwest the opportunity to pull out those old “Drought Advisories” for each crop, including grapes, which was updated in 2005.
Overall, the growing season started out fairly warm, with budbreak gunning for last year's record setting dates. However, some cool weather in June slowed growth down for both wine grapes and juice grapes (Figure 1). Warm weather returned in July and we ended the year above the long term average, with 2,653 growing degree days for WSU-Prosser.
Other areas around Eastern Washington were warm (Table 1; Figure2), however western Washington was not as warm as 2004. Climatologists have indicated that we may be heading into a “La Niña” year, so expect more cool temperatures and an increased chance of rain as harvest approaches.
Thus far, drought is not likely this coming growing season, as the snow pack in the mountains is over 120 percent of normal for this time of the year. It's good news for all of the skiers trying to get in that last run before starting tasks on the farm. We'll continue to watch how the season progresses and you can find all of the latest information related to precipitation, growing degree day accumulation, and evapotranspiration rates at http://winegrapes.wsu.edu/ .
Yields were up by 3% for wine grapes according to the Washington Agricultural Statistics Service. White Riesling is making a comeback (thanks to the New York Times article last year in addition to others) with a 14% increase. Red and white wine grape varieties are still about half and half, with harvest of white grapes at 53% and 47% red grapes. Average prices for wine grapes were up by $5.00 per ton over 2004.
In Concord grapes, yields were up by 36.7%, making it one of the largest harvests on record. In fact, for National Grape Cooperative, the 2005 crop was the largest the cooperative has ever harvested. Unfortunately, with the large crop, low prices were also prevalent, and marketing the '05 crop will be a challenge. For the 2004 crop, Concord growers have been approved for Trade Adjustment Assistance through the Foreign Ag Service – be sure to sign up at your local Farm Service Agency Office through June 26, 2006. See the April Newsletter for more information.
Have a wonderful growing season!
- Mercy Olmstead, Extension Viticulturist
Figure 1. Cumulative growing degree days during the 2005 growing season at WSU-Prosser (L. Mills).
Table 1. 2005 cumulative growing degree days for selected sites in Washington State.
Alderdale |
3112 |
Brewster |
2804 |
Everson |
1385 |
Goldendale |
1757 |
Moses Lake |
2547 |
Oroville |
2701 |
Walla Walla |
2640 |
WSU-Mt. Vernon |
1241 |
WSU-Wenatchee |
2722 |
Figure 2. AVA comparison of growing degree day
accumulations for the 2005 growing season. 
Resources:
Grape Release from the National Ag Statistics Service for Washington State , January 27, 2006
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