January 27 2006, 16:49 Agrarian Marketing Project

Frosts Could Reduce Grape Harvest in Zakarpattya

According to the opinion of some specialists, continual cold weather could harm the grape harvest in western Ukraine. "Taking into consideration the significant deterioration of the condition of the vineyards during the last 15 years, we can predict that grape buds will be injured by frost, especially the European varieties", Mikhail Skrylnik, Agronomist of "Zakarpatsadvinprom" corporation told the Agricultural Marketing Project.

The specialist explained the poor condition of vineyards have been caused by insufficient care, inadequate fertilization, and disease. The age of vineyards worsen the situation, as the majority of them were planted in the Eighties. Vineyards should be able to with stand temperature of -26 to -29°С, but in reality are being injured by temperatures of -20 to -22°С. It is hard to determine the amount of damaged acreage in the region primarily because of temperature differentiations recorded throughout the various rayons. The mountainous landscape causes temperatures to differ significantly, even in places of close proximity to each other. Specialists will do a more precise estimation of the injured vineyards shortly after completing relevant analyses. Then, results will be used to choose the appropriate pruning method, as proper pruning is able to reduce damage caused by the frosts.