Hot water treatment of grapevines is an important—and in some cases, mandatory—tool for controlling the spread of pests and disease, but for some growers the cure is worse than the disease. Many growers have reported that vines treated with hot water exhibit reduced vigor, poor growth, dying leaves, and delayed bud break, said Dr. Pat Bowen of the Pacific Agri-Food Research Centre in Summerland, British Columbia, Canada. Bowen made a presentation to the annual viticulture and enology conference the British Columbia Wine Grape Council hosted in Penticton, B.C. this past ­summer. The vigor problems led some growers in Canada to […]