Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey Search Rutgers

Rutgers New Jersey Center for Wine Research and Education

A unit of the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station

  • Home
  • About
    • Mission
    • History of NJ Wine
    • Contact Us
  • Educational Opportunities
    • Courses
    • Certificate Programs
    • Associate Degree Programs
    • Undergraduate Degree Programs
    • Graduate Degree Programs
    • Internships
  • Grape Growing
    • For New Grape Growers
    • Site Selection
    • Pest Management
    • Enterprise Budget
  • Winemaking
    • For New Winemakers
    • Enology from Experts
    • Wine Marketing and Economics
  • Regulatory & Legal
    • Become a Member
    • Understand the Rules
    • Get Started
  • News
    • For Industry Members
    • For Wine Enthusiasts
  • Blog
  • Support

Hill-Up your Grapevines

November 2, 2018 by Daniel Ward

Time to Hill-Up your Grapevines is NOW!

Winter injury is a crucial limiting factor to wine grape production in the New Jersey. Following the harsh winter of 2013-14, almost 85% of vineyards reported various degrees of cold damage. Often, the cold injury results in the development of Crown gall disease, which causes gall formation around the trunk and graft unions, which can lead to vine decline or death. One particularly useful way to reduce winter injury is to protect the graft union from the cold by covering, or Hilling-up, the base of the vines with soil to protect the graft union. Right time to hill-up is after the harvest and before the ground is hard frozen – that is now!

Factsheet 1264 https://njaes.rutgers.edu/fs1264/ details the following important aspects of hilling-up to protect the graft union from cold damage.

  • The principle of Hilling-up – How the soil works, both as a thermal mass that holds the heat and insulator that slows heat loss.
  • How to perform effective hilling-up using available and specialized implements.
  • Cost benefits of using the implements.
  • Challenges such as, timing, preventing damage to the drip lines and to trunks during hilling-up; and how to address those challenges.
  • The process of hilling down in the spring to prevent root formation above the graft union and proper weed management.

New Jersey Center for Wine Research and Education Tagged: cold damage, crown gall disease, graft union, grapevines, hill-up, hilling up, wine grape, winter injury

Contact Information

Rutgers Agricultural Research and Extension Center
121 Northville Rd., Bridgeton, NJ 08302-5919
danward@njaes.rutgers.edu
Monday - Friday
9 AM - 5 PM

Social

  • View RutgersCooperativeExtension’s profile on Facebook
  • View RutgersNJAES’s profile on Twitter
  • View RutgersNJAES’s profile on YouTube

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Copyright © 2023 Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

Rutgers University is an equal access/equal opportunity institution. Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to direct suggestions, comments, or complaints concerning any accessibility issues with Rutgers web sites to: accessibility@rutgers.edu or complete the Report Accessibility Barrier or Provide Feedback Form | Log in