adapt themto theOkanagan climate.” She said among the potential benefits


fromthe production of a successful drought-tolerant rootstock is that it would address irrigation concerns and improve grape quality. Many vineyards strugglewith


balancing irrigation needs and over the long termit could become awater- resource issue. “Right nowit isn’t a restricted


resource, but if itwere to become a restricted resource or become amore expensive resource, it could really change themodel forwineries,” said Murch. “It’s going to be a balance; the morewe get ahead of it right now, the morewe can help growers to really be ready for changes that could come in the future.” Murch feels some of the rootstocks


being used in parts of Europe aren’t suited to theOkanagan environment and therefore could be having an effect on grape quality. “We’re hoping at the end of thiswhen


we’ve bred our rootstock that is really suited to theOkanagan and uniquely selected for the conditions of the Okanagan, that itwill improve the quality of grapes and the quality of the wine. That is obviously a long term(20- year) objective thatwill require us to growgrapes far enough along thatwe will get to the stage ofmakingwine, but we are hopeful thatwewill improve the quality of the fruit ifwe do this.” Testing is being conducted on a small


scale now, butMurch said rootstock could be available to test on a commercial scalewithin two or three years. Itwould not be necessary to remove


any vines in order to conduct large-scale testing because growers routinely uproot blocks of vines and re-plant themevery eight to 15 years, she said, noting vineyards also lose a small percentage of their vines due towinter die-offs. “Even though you’re not ripping out a


whole block, there are rowswhere there’s beenwinter die-off,” saidMurch. “In the first phase,wewant to take advantage of those naturally occurring holes in the rowswhere a vine is lost and just replace there. That’ll allowus to do the smaller-scale testing.” Rootstock tests began in the


laboratory in test tubes and thenmoved to greenhouse experiments atUBC- Okanagan.Winter heartiness testing was conducted at Summerhill Pyramid


British Columbia FRUIT GROWER • Spring 2014 27


EstateWinery inKelowna. By early 2015,Murchwould like to


partnerwith otherwineries to conduct further testing. She said a newer andmore innovative


approach is needed due to the unique Okanagan climate and soil. This type of work could lead to sustainability and environmental impactmeasures and different vineyardmanagement practices. Murch said thework on drought-


tolerant rootstock evolved froman undergraduate project atUBC- Okanagan. “The opportunity to have those


Susan Murch


undergraduatesworkingwith usmeans thatwe are able to do some really innovative and newthings, andwe can capture that student interest. “The studentswork really, really hard and they do an excellent job.”


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