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Vineland Campus
4890 Victoria Avenue North
P.O. Box 7000, Vineland Station
Ontario, Canada LOR 2EO
Phone: 905-562-4141
Fax: 905-562-3413
Facilities
The Vineland Campus, includes approximately 90 hectares of experimental tender fruit and other orchards, vineyards, rotation crop areas, ornamental plantings, greenhouses and a mushroom production unit.
Soil and Climate
Latitude 43 ° 11'N; Longitude 79 ° 24'W; Elevation 79 meters (above mean sea level).
Soils: Heavy clay loam and sandy loam
The Vineland Campus is located in the Niagara
Peninsula, that portion of Ontario which is between Lake Ontario
and Lake Erie. The Niagara Peninsula with its unique location,
climate and soils is Canada's most important area for the
production of grapes, peaches, pears, plums and cherries.
This area has a rich history in the settling of Canada as
well as a large number of fruit growers in a highly developed
fruit-growing industry.
One of the advantages of the Peninsula for fruit growing, particularly peaches, cherries and grapes, is climate. Lake Ontario has a tremendous moderating effect on spring, summer, fall and winter temperatures. Mid-winter temperatures rarely drop below -18 ° C in the fruit area.
The fruit-growing area is located on the south shore of lake Ontario in a narrow strip varying in width from 1 1/2 to 10 km with Hamilton on the west and the Niagara River on the east, a distance of approximately 65 km. A prominent feature of the fruit-growing area, is the Niagara Escarpment. This out-cropping of rock which was pre-glacial in origin rises 180 to 195 metres above sea level. The flat plain below the escarpment, where much of the fruit is grown, is approximately 75 to 105 metres above sea level.
Soils varying from well-drained sands and gravels to poorly drained silts and clays were developed in this area from the deposits of the glaciers that moved across Ontario within the last million years.
Weather
Vineland has kept official daily records of temperature, precipitation, wind and sunshine since 1916. Soil temperature records were included beginning in 1970.
An automated weather station has been installed at the Horticultural Research Institute of Ontario at Vineland Station as part of an OMAFRA (Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs) network involving approximately twelve weather stations across Ontario. Data is collected and stored remotely by a data logger which can be interrogated automatically through the telephone lines using a microcomputer. Custom software has been developed at Vineland to format and output data for both archiving and research purposes.
Contact:
Brian Piott - bpiott@uoguelph.ca
St. Catharines, Ont.
Weather (6 miles from Vineland)
Environment Canada. Atmospheric Environment Service: General
Canadian Weather Information
Grape Station
Grape research is conducted at a 14 ha experimental farm located 2.5 km south of Vineland Campus. Labrusca juice grapes, hybrid table grapes, and hybrid and vinifera wine grapes are under cultivation here. The soil of the Rittenhouse Grape Research Station is mainly heavy clay loam requiring tile drainage. It's climate is both warmer in summer and colder in winter than the main farm, conditions typical of many vineyard sites in Niagara Peninsula.Contact:
Dr. Helen Fisher - hfisher@uoguelph.ca
Heritage Orchard
The Heritage Apple Orchard at the Vineland Campus is the successor
to a planting called the "Canadian Centennial Museum
Orchard". This orchard was established in 1967 at Vineland
by Dr. Aleck Hutchinson to commemorate the 100th anniversary
of Confederation in Canada. The Centennial orchard contained
194 named cultivars and some strains of specific cultivars.
A strain by definition is a specific selection or mutation
of a cultivar which exhibits some characteristic different
from the cultivar itself.
In 1983, it was decided to replace the Centennial orchard with a new and smaller "Heritage" orchard, which would focus on maintaining apple cultivars having commercial importance in the Ontario apple industry in the past and/or present.
In 1988, the Heritage Orchard was officially dedicated on the occasion of the Centennial Celebration of the founding of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food. At the present time, 85 cultivars and 15 strains of apples are included in the Heritage Orchard. Most of the trees in this orchard were planted in 1986. Malling 26 is used as the rootstock. The tree size on this root will be about 40 percent of a tree on a standard vigorous rootstock. The tree spacing is 5 m. in the row and 6 m. between rows, producing a tree density of 333 trees per hectare. The system of training is a modified central leader.
Almost all of the cultivars formerly included in the Centennial Museum Orchard at Vineland are presently maintained at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station. This New York location has been designated a National Depository for apples by the National Plant Germplasm System of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture.
The
Heritage Orchard is located on the University of Guelph, Department
of Agriculture, Vineland Campus and is open to the public
for inspection and viewing. The Department does not propagate
trees or offer any fruit for sale from the varieties maintained
in this planting. However, limited quantities of propagation
material are available to Ontario fruit tree nurseries for
production of trees for sale.
This orchard has been established to maintain selected apple cultivars which have had a place in the Ontario apple industry of the past. A few cultivars of special interest are also maintained in this orchard. The oldest cultivar in the collection is "Lady" (known in Europe as "Api"), named and introduced from France in 1600. The oldest Canadian origination is "Snow" or "Fameuse", named in 1636.
Cultivars Maintained in the Ontario Heritage Orchard
|
Alexander (Emperor Alexander) |
Maiden
Blush |
Main Research Focus Areas
Tree-fruit Research Program
The tree-fruit research program emphasizes breeding and evaluation of peaches, pears, plums, sweet cherries, and apricots; as well as orchard management trials on peaches, pears, and plums.
Development of new clingstone cultivars and screening for resistance to canker disease are the prime objectives of the peach breeding program. Ultra-high density production systems for dwarf pear trees on quince rootstocks are being critically examined for cultural requirements and economic benefits. Self-fertility is a key objective in sweet cherry breeding. Several selections with that valuable characteristic are under evaluation. The plum breeding program is developing early-ripening, high-quality European plums. The pear breeding program is directed toward improved resistance to fireblight.
Contact:
Dr. John Cline, Apple and Stone Fruit Management -
jcline@uoguelph.ca
Dr. David Hunter, Pear Breeding and Management - dhunter@uoguelph.ca
Dr. Jayasankar Subramanian, Stone Fruit Breeding - jsubrama@uoguelph.ca
Viticulture Program
The viticulture program includes breeding and cultivar evaluation, rootstock and vineyard management, irrigation, nutrition and soil management studies. Specialized propagation methods are being developed for the cultivar Sovereign Coronation, which has been identified as a suitable fresh market grape for production in the Niagara Peninsula.
Contact:
Dr. Helen Fisher - hfisher@uoguelph.ca
How to Find Us
The campus, at 4890 Victoria Ave North, is located between Grimsby and St. Catharines, adjacent to the North Service Road of the Q.E.W. Exit the Q.E.W. at Victoria Avenue (Regional Road 24).
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Exact Location
These latitude-longitude co-ordinates can be plugged into your mapping software to get the exact location for our Vineland Campus:
43.191661,-79.396906 (see it at Google Maps)
