# Chateau Michaelena Vineyard



## ibglowin

OK so its not really a vineyard, more like a "Wine Garden"

I have a thread going over at FWV forum and thought I would cross post over here the success to date with growing cold hardy hybrid grapes at altitude here in the desert Southwest. 

This project began like all others of this nature as a labor of love. I am at ~6400 ft elevation. We average over 300 days a year of sunshine. Warm Summers, cold (but sunny) Winters. Most of the precip comes in the July-August monsoon season or through snowfall in the Winter. We average about 40" here at the house in White Rock and about 65" up in Los Alamos which is higher and closer to the mountains at ~7300 ft in elevation.

Soils are thin with very little organic and volcanic in nature (the entire area is an ancient lava flow bed) with tons of basalt rock just under the soil line. Getting an 18" hole dug with a manual post hole digger was difficult to say the least with more than a few abandoned due to rocks that were just too darn big to try and dig out (some are medium sized boulders). As a result, my rows are not very straight but most will be connected one way or another by some type of trellis system. All vines are on a drip system with a (1) GPH drip head. Watering is daily for 45 mins during the hot months of May and June and until the monsoons kick in and then shut off and on as needed.

As some of you may recall, we suffered through the worst fire in the history of New Mexico in June with the townsite being evacuated for an entire week but luckily no structures lost in Los Alamos (this time around). 

The monsoons were pretty much a no show the whole month of July but they did finally arrive towards the end of the month and are here big time the whole month of August (so far). I feel like I am living back in Houston for goodness sakes its so humid outside but the grass and wine garden are loving it as you can see. 

The vines were planted last Spring/Summer and have come back pretty solid after the coldest winter on record (-21 degree lows for 2 days back in February) as well as a killing late freeze on April 21. I guess these guys are going to make it if they can make it through that heck of a first year! 

I have just over 30 vines total of Marquette, Corot Noir and Noiret. The Corot Noir and Noiret and doing the best with the Marquette some are doing well and others not so vigorous at the moment (which could be a good thing). 

A few low hanging clusters escaped my eyesight somehow and managed to bloom and set without me seeing them so I let them go just to see how they would ripen as well as the timeframe for ripening. Looks like they are only a 2-3 weeks out from fully ripening. I also am interested to see what pest I encounter (rabbits, birds, etc) now rather than later.

Cant wait for next year to see their continued growth and development. 

Thanks for looking!


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## robie

Looking really good, Mike.


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## Racer

Very nice start to some good looking vines you have going there.


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## Runningwolf

Great pictures and thanks for sharing and starting this thread Mike. Your vines in the beginning stages reminds me of hops growing straight up like that. I'm sure J. Cook would be proud of you!


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## ibglowin

Bwahahahahahahahahaha........

I can say that its my thread!


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## ibglowin

How weird is this? Its almost the end of August and I walked out to the garden to check on the vines and spotted this unusual sight on one of them....... 







This was not there last week, just formed over the last few days. Is it normal for a vine to do this in late Summer?


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## grapeman

Lop that "sucker" off! It is the result of a late forming summer lateral that grew after the rains began after the fires there.


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## ibglowin

Thanks Rich!


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## rhoffart

Very nice ... I would like to try a few vines next spring ...


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## jtstar

Looks really good there make sure you post more picture next year


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## PCharles

*I Enjoyed Your Garden Photos*

My compliments on your attractive garden. I expect, as those roots become more established, you will find an increased output. We're having are grape harvest now and it will continue through October. Are there others in your area growing grapes? I was wondering when you might normally expect to have your grapes mature. At that altitude I figure your a bit of a trail blazer when it comes to growing grapes there. 

My compliments on your green thumb.

Paul


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## ibglowin

Hey Charles, thanks for the kind words. New Mexico has the distinction of being the oldest commercial wine-growing region in the United States. In 1598, wine was introduced here by the Spaniards. In 1629, a Franciscan monk and a Capuchin monk planted the first grapevines on the east bank of the Rio Grand near present-day Socorro. 

I am in the Northern region and we have wineries spread out all over the state with the most being in the lower altitude Central and Southern portions of the state. Most of the wineries are small with only an acre or two of vinifera planted on the estate. Down South in Deming, NM is our "Mecca" wine region with over 800 acres planted of vinifera. This area supplies the bulk of the fruit for the entire state. 

The three varieties I have going all are cold hardy hybrids from Cornell or University of Minnesota. These all have some DNA from Pinot Noir and will ripen in our shortened Summer/Fall season. We had a late frost in late April and I have one very nice cluster that looks to be just about fully ripened. Our average first frost date is Oct 7th so we still have a good month to month and a half left till the average first frost.

They look pretty darn happy for being only in the ground for just over a year. Can't wait to see how they mature over the next few years.


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## rob

very nice, well thought out and so clean....wish I only had 30 to look after. Keep a close eye on the birds and I am sure by now you have developed a spraying program of some sorts. Thanks for posting


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## ibglowin

Spraying program? Whats that...... 

I have not spayed anything whatsoever and don't think I will need to. We are just so dry (humidity wise) compared to most other places, and we don't have many bugs as well...... Time will tell I guess but so far so good. Here is a pic I took today of my prettiest little cluster. So far the birds and the bunnies are leaving it alone.


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## rhoffart

ibglowin said:


> Spraying program? Whats that......
> 
> I have not spayed anything whatsoever and don't think I will need to. We are just so dry (humidity wise) compared to most other places, and we don't have many bugs as well...... Time will tell I guess but so far so good. Here is a pic I took today of my prettiest little cluster. So far the birds and the bunnies are leaving it alone.



Wow ... I'm jealous ... I so want to plant a few vines but don't know where to start.


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## rhoffart

When will you get your first harvest? How much wine could you guess you might get off your 30 vines?


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## ibglowin

First you dig a hole..... LOL

I know they are trying like crazy to develop a wine region in the Hill Country but without much luck. Last I heard they had dug most everything out and were trying Spanish varietals since they seem to do better in hot/humid conditions. I would talk to the local county extension in Kendall County and pick their brains first, then try the wineries and see how their plantings are doing. Find a source for the varietals you want now so you can plan a small plot and get it ready in time for next Spring.


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## ibglowin

They say one mature vine will produce one gallon of wine. Looking at Grapeman's vineyard, he has some of the same varietals and seems to be getting more than that after only 3 years. I would be happy with 30G of this. These vines make a very nice wine something akin to Pinot Noir since they have Pinot DNA running in the vines. 



rhoffart said:


> When will you get your first harvest? How much wine could you guess you might get off your 30 vines?


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## rhoffart

ibglowin said:


> First you dig a hole..... LOL




That can't happen ... you know Boerne ... I put a bird feeder up this spring and it took 2 hours with a jackhammer to get 18" deep ... If any maybe few in half wine barrels.


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## ibglowin

If I can get 30 holes in our rocky volcanic soil you can do it the limestone in South Texas! You can rent an auger for a day or do like I did. Manual post hole digger and a breaker bar. Sometimes you hit a rock and its small enough to break up or pry out with the bar and sometimes its not. If its not , then you move over a foot and try again. I would wait till it cools off before trying this in your neck of the woods, like November!


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## Flem

Everything looks great, Mike. The "vineyard" is awesome. Keep up the posts. We love to follow them.


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## ibglowin

Anyone ever seen anything like this? Seeing them on the vines. Some type of a small worm. Very colorful as you can see. I can't see any damage to the vines and have seen them on the vines off and on most of the Summer. Seems like there are more now due to all the rains we have been having as of late.


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## Mike89T

ibglowin said:


> Anyone ever seen anything like this? Seeing them on the vines. Some type of a small worm. Very colorful as you can see. I can't see any damage to the vines and have seen them on the vines off and on most of the Summer. Seems like there are more now due to all the rains we have been having as of late.



I would guess it's a caterpillar. Western Grapeleaf Skeletonizer? Which are not friendly to grape vines.

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/r302301011.html

By the way, I love your Vineyard! Hope to have something similar in a year or two.


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## ibglowin

Holy cow, that's it for sure. Thanks for the quick id and link!


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## Runningwolf

Maybe it came across the pond on the boat when you ordered rice hulls.


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## ibglowin

You must have me confuzed with someone else!

Only found them on one vine, about 10 altogether today and have squished their gutz but good!


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## Mike89T

Since you don't have too many vines, it shouldn't be hard to periodically inspect them for these guys. You might be able to manually control them.

Are there any other vineyards near your place? They might have migrated over from next door.


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## ibglowin

Closest as far as I know is 20-30 miles away. We are just too high in altitude and I suspect my cold hardy hybrids are the only ones in this area for sure. The rains we have had for the last week or two have really increased the presence of "critters" to say the least!


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## ditchbanker

Quite a different part of the country, but really wanted to say thanks for the overview. My wife and I are seriously considering planting a vineyard about this size next spring. It's great to see your efforts and the (gorgeous) payouts you're already getting.

Thanks for taking the time to let us follow along.


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## ibglowin

Although not "officially" part of the vineyard I thought I would post up some pics from my dahlia patch before they freeze this weekend........ 

They started off very slow out of the gate even on a drip system. Once the monsoons came in July, August time frame they grew like weeds. They seem to thrive on humidity in the air not just in their root system. Enjoy!


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## Runningwolf

Mike thanks for sharing. Dahlia's are one of my favorate flowers but I refuse to go through the effort of digging up the rizomes every fall and wintering them over. Already cold stabilizing wine I'm not going to do my flowers also.


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## jtstar

Dan maybe he is making wine out of them ?


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## ibglowin

I tried an "experiment" last Winter. Decided not to dig them up. I bought a big plastic tarp and cut it to fit the dahlia plot. I have a very large Ponderosa pine in the front yard that drops a truckload of needles every Fall. I coved the tarp and dahlias with about 9" of piine needles for the Winter. 

So what happened? We had the coldest temps on record. 3 days of -20 degrees at the house. The next Spring only 2 of about 40 of the tubers survived.

I think if it had been a normal Winter it would have worked pretty well. I may just try it again this Winter..... or not.


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## vinividivici

Very nice, Mike! Professional and the pics are gorgeous, too.

A few questions for you: I noticed one of your wines is a Sangiovese and the bucket looks just like the one I picked up yesterday from a local supplier. It's from Quebec, and mentions the grapes are from California. It came in a 6 gallon bucket that looks like the Mosti Mondiale.

1) What do you bulk age your wine in? Carboys?

2) The bucket had laughable instructions on it, such as remove the lid, and replace it lightly, ferment for two weeks, rack once, etc. Nothing else.

So I added 4 tsp of yeast nutrient and did a 2 oz yeast slurry of Lalvin RC-212 yeast. I also transferred the juice into one of my 6 gallon buckets with a spigot and added an airlock.

This is the first time I've used a pure juice bucket and wondered what else I should have done.

Thanks,

Bob


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## ibglowin

I made a Mosti Mondiale All Juice Sangiovese. It was not fresh like yours but in a bag in the bucket. I always use my 7.9G plastic primary to ferment my kits in and then transfer to glass carboy for long term storage. I have 2 of the 23L Vadai barrels that I ahave been using for the last year. I run each kit through the Vadai for 3-4 months to concentrate and give it some micro oxidation then back to the glass carboy for another 3-4 months until I get around to bottle at around 8 months out.

Sounds like you did all the right things. I usually ferment to dry in the bucket then transfer to glass. I just lay the lid on top for the first 5 days or so until fermentation has slowed way down and then snap the lid and add the airlock at that time. Keep us posted on how this turns out!


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## vinividivici

I guess I better remove the airlock and loosen the lid! 

Thanks!

Bob


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## ibglowin

So, I got tired of everyone else having grapes to tend to and me not having any!





I placed a small order (and I do mean small) yesterday with Double-A Vineyards for 3 Noiret and 3 Corot Noir vines. These are listed as hardy in zone 4 and I think I am more like zone 5 so hopefully they will thive. I don't have much room. I am on 0.34 acre lot in a subdivision but have a huge backyard, most of it is Bluegrass in the middle with the perimeter completely landscaped with perennials and shrubs as well . The area I am looking to plant them in is in my larger side perennial garden that has a drip running through it (this is the desert southwest after all). Where should/could they go in this pic? 

This photo was taken back in 2001 so things have grown up and more stuff has been added but thats the nice thing about perennials, they can be easily moved or taken out with a shovel! The garden runs North to South as luck would have it so a straight line either in the upper or lower area should work? I was thinking no Trellis or either Head Training or Vertical Cordon Training? Our soil is volcanic. Not alot of organic, lots of volcanic rock/boulders under it all and very well drained. Usually a little on the sour side (basic). What adjustments should I make off the bat?






If these do well I plan on sneaking in more vines while the SWMBO isn't looking next Spring.Hopefully get maybe 15-20 vines going down the road all total. Not enough to do much with but enough to perhaps play with someday down the road. Maybe make some nice Grape Packs at least!

I have a copy of Vines to Wines so that is my current Bible but all comments or suggestions will be much appreciated!


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## xanxer82

Good luck!


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## Scott

When she notices more and more vines just say,


my goodness will ya look at how these things spread






Happy growing


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## ibglowin

I think they have an amazing underground root system!


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## xanxer82

I can't wait until I own some property to start planting.


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## grapeman

I'm looking at the edge of the grass next to the walk! If the garden runs north to south, then the fence will shade the vines in the morning. If the vines were moved over to the grass they won't have shade-GOOD. Keep them two feet away fron the walk, add a second row two feet the other side of the walk, buld a trellis over the top and run the vines up and over the trellis for a covered walkway.???????


Try to get the pH to about 6.5, but don't fret too much over it.


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## AlFulchino

i am very happy for you...!

you might consider a cheap investment in a Hi-Lo thermometer and see just how well you fit into that Zone 5..and get any other winter temp info for you area that you can lay hands to..TRUST ME..its worth finding out now as to whether every five or ten yrs you are gonna get a Zone 4 winter and you thought you were a zone 5......nothing like losing vines to the snow line to teach you that lesson! 

all that Rich said and add the irrigation feed before you do the planting

lastly..i would consider getting rid of the tree etc and put in a THIRD ROW!!!!! 

well, how about one MORE thing....if you are a really dry climate, then i would consider ANOTHER ROW going east west at that back fence..i know that this is not customary...but as dry as you likely are and as sunny as you likely are then i think you can do a leaf management thing to bring in a crop from more vines

six vines???? ha...i bet you will have 30 in there...no!...forget that...i see you having 50-60 in 4 yrs or less

after you get set up it is minimal effort to handle extra vines

call me when you start singing and talking to them


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## ibglowin

Rich, Al, thanks for the responses






That fence you see would actually shade the vines from the hot afternoon sun in the Summer. That fence is on the West side of the property. Our sun is meaner than most others due to the thin altitude. Much more UV light......






I am thinking I need to just till up all that water sucking Kentucky Blue grass that you see and just xeriscape the entire center of the yard with rows and rows of grapes!



Of course my better half might not be too happy.......

My other big concern once things get going is this.........







This is what happens every few years during the monsoon season in the desert southwest!





Hail storms that pop up in the afternoon and dump 2-3 inches of hail in about 5-10 minutes and then move on leaving a path of garden (and vineyard I would guess) destruction in their wake.......


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## xanxer82

maybe you can rig up some bird netting to keep the hail off the vines.


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## grapeman

There are types of bird netting that will afford hail protection.


You will be a better judge of the layout of your lot than we can be from a picture or two. Good luck with the project. Hope the vines grow well.


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## Bert

Good Luck....I hope you can make it work......I really enjoy what you and people like you can do.....Go for it.....


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## AlFulchino

i agree w Xanxer...if you know a storm is around, you could lift it over...heck, some poly would be quick enough

ya know if your sun is that strong then the pergola thing is a good idea...other areas of the world must be a bit like yours and provide the proper answer for what you need

i know this is out of left field but will say it anyway...i have always thought of you as a happy person...hope to one day sit down and share a glass w you....and being what i think you are, your answers for your vineyard will always be found in simply pursuing your dream...step by step...as the need arises, the natural curiousity will lead to ask the right questions and get the answers you need.....

its gonna work this new vineyard...and i cant wait to see all the pictures

hey..what about a bocce court in bewteen the rows..or under the pergola


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## ibglowin

Hey Al,

I think the older I get the happier I get, something about not sweating the small stuff in life (and it's ALL small stuff!)





Would love to share a glass (heck, make it a bottle!) with you some day.





This past year has taught me so much more about savoring every minute you have in this life. Back in August I lost my best friend of 30 years to a stroke at the age of 59. From the outside he looked to be the picture of health. 6'2" and thin as a rail. He got up out of bed one morning and hit the ground. I watched him pass from this earth from a brain hemorrhage in just 2 days.....





That lesson (among some others) has taught me to live each and every day to the fullest (and) like it's your last one on earth as you just never know what cards your going to be dealt in this life.

Raise your glass.

Salud!


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## OilnH2O

I'm glad you're going to do this as well -- and that last picture shows a lot of potential, I think. (Aren't there some vineyards over by Chimayo or Truchas at about the same altitude?) It appears the picture is looking almost straight west (toward the national forest, if I've got it oriented right). So there should be lots of sun -- and early morning sun exposure (for those cold nights at your altitude) might be a consideration. It seems one could back away from the fence far enough that shade wouldn't be an issue from a setting western sun. As for hail, I figure it's like all those possibilities (late frost, early snow... bad cell phone service) those of us who live in the mountain west just have to put up with to be in God's country!





You know, a SWMBO can come around pretty quickly sometimes if she is able to casually refer to "our vineyard" on those days when she has the girls over for tea and they ask, "what's all that out there in the yard?"


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## ibglowin

The problem with these Summer storms in that they happen or have a chance to happen every single day from about July 1st to about August 31st. Every day during this time of year we get moisture that we normally don't get except this time of year pumped up from Mexico. 

When it combines with the afternoon heating and the mountains you get the rise and lift of warm and cool air masses. As the rain falls it often can rise back up and freeze, then fall, then rise. The more it does this the bigger the hail gets. 

Most of the time you just get a quick heavy 10 minute rain that can dump 1/2 inch then it moves on down the road. Every now and then you get pea sized hail but every few years your luck is guaranteed to run out and your going to get pummeled hard with some of this stuff......










So I would have to put a tarp over each vine (once they mature) every afternoon for 2 months.......... Almost an impossible task. The one day you miss its almost a certainty that a storm will hit! 



Al Fulchino said:


> i agree w Xanxer...if you know a storm is around, you could lift it over...


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## grapeman

Here is one type of hail netting that would remain on all summer. 
http://www.fingerlakestrellissupply.com/products/hail-netting/


There is also a side netting product with a small mesh heavy weave netting that affords protection.
http://www.fingerlakestrellissupply.com/products/gintec-shade/gintec-pro-guard-grapes/


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## ibglowin

Yep, good catch! 

La Chiripada Winery is located up the road about 40 minutes towards Taos. They have a few acres of grapes onsite but most of their stuff is sourced from our state mecca for grapes down South in Demming where 450 acres of grapes are planted. If they get hammered it just doesn't look pretty at the winery but the grapes are safe 400 miles away at much lower altitude.

You do have the orientation correct. They would get hours and hours of sun and then get shaded from the afternoon/late evening sun (hottest part of the day). Its all going to be an experiment. Win, lose, draw it will be an adventure and thats why we do this stuff, right!




OilnH2O said:


> (Aren't there some vineyards over by Chimayo or Truchas at about the same altitude?)  It appears the picture is looking almost straight west (toward the national forest, if I've got it oriented right).  So there should be lots of sun --  and early morning sun exposure (for those cold nights at your altitude) might be a consideration.  It seems one could back away from the fence far enough that shade wouldn't be an issue from a setting western sun.


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## ibglowin

That could work! 

Great find Rich! 



appleman said:


> Here is one type of hail netting that would remain on all summer.
> http://www.fingerlakestrellissupply.com/products/hail-netting/
> 
> There is also a side netting product with a small mesh heavy weave netting that affords protection.
> http://www.fingerlakestrellissupply.com/products/gintec-shade/gintec-pro-guard-grapes/


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## OilnH2O

Gee, from the claims on the website, if that netting could stop *deer* and *hair loss*... it might be the "Next Big Thing!!!


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## grapeman

For an extra shipping charge, they will throw in free wine making with the netting


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## ibglowin

Well I started the process of planting yesterday! Will post pics later when all the vines are in. I only got half to less than half way through yesterday. I am digging with a post hole digger (powered by me.......)





My problem is the wonderful volcanic soil that resides in northern NM. You dig down 6-8 inches and run into basaltic rock almost every time in some form and size:







I need/want to get down around 18" in order to get my post sunk good. I am using 2x2 Redwood and am planning on head training (no wire trellis) but am open to suggestions due to my space limitations.

Anyways I am wiped out today. Only got 9 vines in the ground and at least that and more left to plant. I will have vines in every nook and cranny before my SWMBO realizes my diabolical vineyard plan!





Bwwaaa ha ha ha ha ha!


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## grapeman

The first thing I would do would be to plant the vines so they can get growing. Then I would try to sink a test steel fence post so you can use a sledge hammer on it and hopefully drive by some of the rock. Depending on the depth you can get, put them about every 3 vines. Then you can get some trellis wires up. I don't think head training will work very well with Corot Noir and Noiret as they are fairly vigorous. Good luck hiding the whole yard going into a vineyard......... You can always say the aliens did it









She'll be callling immigration!


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## ibglowin

They are actually growing pretty darn well in pots at the moment! The Double A vines are still afraid to show me the buds but I think they are starting to swell finally. We finally got some warm weather over the weekend but we still had a low of 34 on Saturday morning!





This continues to be one of the coolest Springs on record and I have lived here for 25 years now. On the brighter side, the winery is staying around 63 degrees still and its now mid to middle of May. I may be able to forget about an AC unit if this keeps up and we get into the monsoon season. The 9" of attic blanket above the winery has really made a difference in temp swings compared to what it used to be like.


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## fivebk

I'm glad the soil here is a nice sandy loam. I wouldn't have a vineyard if I had had to dig post holes through the soil you have. Good luck and keep us posted.

BOB


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## ibglowin

It wouldn't be fun if it was EASY!






I am really hoping that the volcanic and chalky soil will add some nice flavor to the grapes and (someday) wine down the road. These are some of the same characteristics of the Red Mountain, WA AVA. 

Some of the best vineyards in France are planted in the worst (rocky) looking terroir. Its those minerals that will be soaked up by the vines and impart wonderful flavor (hopefully!)


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## AlFulchino

amazing...now i have a question...can the vines root thru that volcanic rck?


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## ibglowin

Thats the $64,000



as they say!

Its not solid rock, just enough to keep you from an easy dig straight down.....


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## gaudet

Looks like kryptonite on those rocks..........

As far as the Aliens did it, how far from Roswell are you???


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## AlFulchino

this may call for some dynamite!


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## ibglowin

Roswell is about 325 miles South of me. I am way up North, much higher elevation (~7000ft, close to Santa fe) in the enchanted part of the state as I like to say!







gaudet said:


> Looks like kryptonite on those rocks..........As far as the Aliens did it, how far from Roswell are you???


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## ibglowin

Finally got around to taking a few pics of the vines this morning while it was still cool out. I suppose at this point in time we actually have a "wine garden" so to speak. Since I am not sure totally about the viability of these vines in our soil I was hesitant to tear out a nice mature perennial garden. So if these guys do survive and thrive in our soil I will be moving things out down the road. I plan on running some wire or wires next year to form a trellis when things grow up and reach the top of the 2x2 post. All vines are on the drip system.

Not sure exactly what needs to be done this first year as far as pruning so any help there would be much appreciated. Also some vines have more than one shoot going, some vines as many as three. Do these extras need to be cut off? What is the best method to secure the vines to the post? Lots of questions for sure.

All in all most vines seem really happy at the moment. I have 30 total vines with a nice mix of Marquette, Corot Noir and Noiret. All cold hardy and supposedly tolerant of our Winters.

Stay tuned for more as they say!


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## gaudet

Those look mighty healthy. Wish my climate allowed for a better variety, but I don't have enough real estate to accommodate enough vines to make a substantal enough grape crop like that. Nice job Mike.


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## ibglowin

Better gardening through Miracle-Gro!


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## gaudet

Or better living thru chemistry


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## AlFulchino

those pictures are GREAT...this is what i do....so its just my opinion.....i leave all the foliage so get as much photosyntheis going right now and into the rest of teh year....the extra leaves will be worth it..esp in s a dry clime....going forward later in the season you will be able to see one or two shoots that are the viable trunk prospects for next year....but they will bettter for all the leaves you leave on this year....the only leaves worth removing this year are ones that cause terrible air flow or shoots that run parallel to the ground and inches away from the ground..but anything six inches and up...all the juice you can stor into the roots this year mean one heckuna trunk and maybe cordons too for next yr...also this is your one nest chance to get the vines established in that soil

keep me posted brotha!


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## Runningwolf

Mike they look awesome!


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## Wade E

Looking good there Mike!


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## grapeman

As they grow in length and start to tip away from the post, just tie them loosely to the post. They sell all sorts of material you can use, but some of the cheapest and easiest to use is the green plastic tape used for tying plants up-imagine that! You can also use twine, but keep it loose to allow for growth.


Do like Al says and just let them grow this year. Next year you prune off what you don't want and begin the vine structure.


They are looking good. Keep it up, gotta keep the babies growing!


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## ibglowin

Each vine will be hand fed a bottle of Miracle-Gro every few weeks!


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## AlFulchino

i wouldrefrain from applying moisture to any leaves unless you are positive it will dry soon after applying...no real good comes from leaves being moist for any real length of time....

also on the aspect of tying vines, a Rich was mentioning......loosely tie because the vie wants to be free to grow...if IT senses restriction then it points the juice elsewhere and that means extra growth in a different shoot..and that thwarts your intentions

****

ok so now we have Mr Mike checking on his wine before hugging the wife and family dog....now its gonna get worse...after he checks on the wine when he comes home and goes upstairs to hug the wife and fido he will position them so that he can see out the slider to view his vines.....he will be hugging in body but eyeing the vines in spirit

what can i say?


----------



## ibglowin

Yep, first thing I do each morning now, go outside and and check on the vines and make sure there all OK. We have a few cottontail rabbits that make their way into the back yard every now and then even though its fenced.

As for moisture staying on the vines, that will never be a problem here! The humidity yesterday at 5:00PM was a whopping 4%.... June is our hottest driest month until the monsoons kick in. Even then humidity is only 30-40% unless we get a shower. But still good to know to be careful.


----------



## AlFulchino

as gentle as miracle grow is..it is still a salt..never apply when vine is moisture stressed....apply water first....to let up some water...later hit w a miracle grow like product


----------



## ibglowin

Is there a better product on the market more suitable for the vines? 

I am using just the standard MG as it what I keep around the house. I think it's 20-20-20.


----------



## AlFulchino

its fine....honestly.....just salt based...in our greenhouses we use an organic product also liquid based...called Daniels....that way if we have an issue w something not being watered and in wilt down mode we dont blast it w our scotts salt based fert and burn the leaves...if you are on top of your vines then salt based wont hurt at all....i use a salt based granular 5-10-5 or 5-10-10 in the vineyard


----------



## Runningwolf

Mike, how much time did you spend on photo shop with those pictures? I didn't see a single weed in any of them.




They look awesome. What made me think of it is I just came back from a long ride through the PA/NY wine country and all of the rows are either tilled or just high weed sprayed with round up. I went up to Walkers and they're pressing cherries now.


----------



## ibglowin

It's June, hot and dry in these parts with no real rain since March or April. Wait until July and the monsoons come, then with the relief from the heat the weeds will spring up like, well weeds!


----------



## ibglowin

Thought I would post some updated pics of the vines so you could see how they have faired to date. Most look good to very good. A few seem to be struggling and not producing any new growth in spite of being hit with a shot of fertilizer every 3 weeks. 

One vine has some type of eggs on the underside. Not sure what those are. The same vine has a few bad looking leaves. 

We have been in Monsoon hell the last month now. Humidities are way up and we get rain about every other day on average. We should start to dry out towards the end of the month leaving all of September with warm days and cool nights/mornings.

Enjoy!


----------



## AlFulchino

what kind of eggs are those..they dont look like lady bug eggs..but there are so many varieties

vines look great..what does your wife say now that you admit the first thing you do is look at your vines each day?

keep that tie loose...especially next year when you are trying to keep what you train...tightness ...even remote tightness triggers the vine to grow elsewhere

love the grasses and perennials!


----------



## ibglowin

Hehehehe "wine garden" for sure!

I have no idea what kind of eggs those are, I'll keep an eye on them and see what they turn out to be I guess.

Until I wake up in the wine garden I still look at my wife first in the AM Al!

I have not used any spray of any kind so we are still (except for the Miracle Grow) sorta organic.....

My Dahlia's are finally coming on strong with all the rain and humidity. They likey the rain!


----------



## Runningwolf

Mike, I love the garden pictures. Plants look great! We also do a lot of grasses in our gardens along with a huge variety of day lilies, hostas and heath and heathers.


----------



## Waldo

Plants are looking great


----------



## grapeman

The garden all looks great. The vines look happy and healthy.


I think I would remove the leaf. Those kinds of eggs are almost certainly a chewing beetle or some sort. The problem with monitoring is that they will all hatch and scurry away before you see them and then they will be all over chewing the garden up.


----------



## ibglowin

Thanks for the input and encouragement guys!

I think I will "remote" them today into the arroyo about 100yds away. Can't do much damage there.


----------



## ibglowin

Kept the vines watered this Fall while we were having a nice warm dry spell. We have had 2 good snows in December with the last one about 7" on Thursday.

Today we have the coldest weather of the year and a real cold snap with this mornings low temp of -7 degrees. Its "warmed up to -3 ATM. The vines have a good layer of leaves at the base and about 5" of compacted snow.

We will test the cold hardiness for sure!


----------



## AlFulchino

and what are your vines rated for as far as low temps?


----------



## ibglowin

Marquette is rated to Zone 3, (-30)
Corot Noir is rated to Zone 4, (-20)
Noiret is Zone 4 (-20)

I am in Zone 5A

I should be good to go by the charts.


----------



## Randoneur

Al Fulchino said:


> keep that tie loose...especially next year when you are trying to keep what you train...tightness ...even remote tightness triggers the vine to grow elsewhere




Mike, you will find you can use that to your advantage later. I've had vines that are unbalanced, all growth to one side. You can force growth to the other side to balance the vine on the trellis by nicking the cambrium or choking the cordon slightly with trellis tape. 


I'm sure Father Al and Appelman arethe experts on this, ask them for advice if you have an unbalanced vine.


----------



## ibglowin

Good to know for next Spring which seems a loooooong way from now as I look out the window at my snow covered vines..........


----------



## ibglowin

We have had much warmer than normal weather the last week or so. We set records a few days. Unfortunately the wind has come to spoil the party..... 

Its ~ 66 degrees outside ATM but the wind is howling like a freight train. We have a front moving through and we will cool down quite a bit over the next few days, closer to normal. Spring is our WORST season hands down.







Looks like some of the vines are showing some signs of life! Some slight swelling and perhaps a hint of sap starting to flow.


----------



## grapeman

They will be off and growing before you know it!


I actually got out for a while this AM to prune before opening hours for the Tasting Room. I racked wine between customers.


----------



## ibglowin

Man no rest for you my friend!


----------



## OilnH2O

You're still pretty lucky, Mike. Others comtemplate... "Red? Or, white?" YOU get to contemplate "Green? Or, Red? And what goes best with that? Red? Or white???"


----------



## ibglowin

Ha! I am a RED Chili addict hands down. I do love a Green Chili Cheeseburger however!


----------



## mpt1123

Hello:
I'm a little confused. I planted my first vines a week ago and everything I read says not to fertilize in the first year. Your vines look great and you're using Miracle Gro.
Mike


----------



## ibglowin

I did fertilize about every 8 weeks. Our soil is pretty bad and wanted to give them some help. We will see if it hurt them or helped them in a few weeks.

We are still getting a few light freezes every few days. They look like they are just starting to swell a bit. Our average last frost is May 7. We are supposed to get another front through tomorrow so probably another light frost on Friday AM......


----------



## ibglowin

We have signs of life! Lots of swelling on many and bud break at the very bottom on a few like these. Perhaps we will make it through the -17F freeze after all. Lets hope we don't get any more freezes.


----------



## grapeman

Did you prune them back at all this year? If you got that cold, some of the buds may have been killed. The small diameter vines can benefit to cutting back to a few buds in their second year. Those growing at the bottom take off when you do that and form a nice trunk for the future. The Marquette really benefits from it. 


Good luck with them this year! Looking good.


----------



## ibglowin

Haven't trimmed anything yet, was waiting to see if I had any signs of life. Is it normal for bud break to occur from the ground up like that? Or is that a sign that the vines has died back to the ground? Some vines have swelling like they may pop open further up the vine in a few days.


----------



## Randoneur

Mike, 

Bud break should be at the very end of the vine first, not at the base. You can check by pruning back a few inches at the very top.If you cut it off and there is no green then you are cutting dead wood off the vine. It won't hurt to prune back a little at a time to see if you can get to the green wood. The only problem with the buds at the base, like you have, would be if you are on a root stock. If so, the buds could be from the root stock and not from the varietal vine. If your vines are own rooted they will be fine and grow like weeds this year. I've had own rooted vine die back to the ground and come back stronger than ever.


Good luck with them


----------



## grapeman

Mike I will guarantee they are own rooted vines. I know the grower personally and he doesn't graft.






You can cut them back a bit Mark said and see if they are green. The Marquette will be fine, although they may have died back a bit. Quite often these hybrids will begin growth at the ground first because of the extra heat of the soil. I would wait a few days if you like and see if some of the upper buds pop out or not. If not, just cut back leaving 2 or 3 good shoots growing at the bottom. Don't cry too hard as you cut them. Those few buds will be 8 feet long in a couple months and much thicker than they would be if you leave all of the current growth.


----------



## ibglowin

Thanks for the quick reply's Rich & Mark! 

We had a very warm day today and here are a few more pics of other vines that went crazy in just 8 hours. I can easily tell my "grafted" vines from those that were not. I only have 6 grafted vines from "Double A" and they have a 1" thick root stock! The others are pencil thin.....

Looks like the Marquette is turning into the leading early bird winner. Coret Noir and Noiret are coming along behind nicely. Lots of swelling and a few more buds breaking open in just a short time today.


----------



## patc

Hey mike great pics!!! Just curious are those pressure treated supports your using? just curious because they look like it and if so you might want to replace them


----------



## Runningwolf

Nice pics Mike. Thanks for sharing.


----------



## ibglowin

Redwood (au natural)







seagrape said:


> Hey mike great pics!!! Just curious are those pressure treated supports your using? just curious because they look like it and if so you might want to replace them


----------



## patc

Good going! they sure looked pressure treated to me, wouldn't want the arsenic to interfere with the taninns of the grapes


----------



## grapeman

Seagrape most treated posts are no longer using arsenic in their formulation. They used CCA. At least here in NY it is banned from use in PT. Now you need to flash with copper instead of aluminum because it reacts with it and eats the al away. ACQ-C (Alkaline Copper Quat Type C) is used here.


----------



## Scott B

Look great


----------



## patc

appleman said:


> Seagrape most treated posts are no longer using arsenic in their formulation. They used CCA. At least here in NY it is banned from use in PT. Now you need to flash with copper instead of aluminum because it reacts with it and eats the al away. ACQ-C (Alkaline Copper Quat Type C) is used here.


















Good to know!!!!! Thanks for the information


----------



## Randoneur

Now that you vines have made it through the winter and you know they will grow - you can expand and get rid of all these green weeds growing in your yard.


----------



## ibglowin

I have thought about it but this guy.......






Would be extremely sad. We have to play fetch 2-3 times a day. Sometimes he just runs circles around the yard to run off excess energy. Sometimes he just lays in the sun in the grass. 

I want to come back as a pampered pet in the next life!


----------



## OilnH2O

Looking great, Mike. You're farther along than we are, but even at your elevation our "last frost" dates are similar. Yesterday we had a 20 minute snow/gropple shower that covered the green grass! Ah, spring!


----------



## ibglowin

Our ave last frost is May 7th. We had snow on Mothers day one year...... 

Probably safe this year! They are really starting to bust out all over now. I keep whispering easy, easy not too soon.........


----------



## ibglowin

Here comes our setback. 80% of the vines have bud break to some extent and the low tonight is supposed to be 24......

I bought trash bags to pull down on the post and cover those vines that have budded out.

Hope it is enough!



Not sure what else I could possible do.


----------



## grapeman

Rent a Chinook to hover all night!


Good luck Mike. That is cold!


----------



## Runningwolf

Mike you sure are getting cold. Thats really not an issue up here in the Northeast. Even though were getting a late start we're getting tons of rain and can't get out to even cut the grass.


----------



## ibglowin

I need some of those vineyard fans for sure! I have a couple of house oscillating fans I could put an extension cord on and turn on in the morning...

This has been a WINDY and crazy Spring. One week unseasonably warm, the next unseasonably cold. Just North of me about 45 miles they got 16" of snow yesterday. Today we got rain, sleet and then blowing snow this afternoon. The front is moving out now and tomorrow is forecast to be super cold with the rest of the weeks lows near 30.....


----------



## Waldo

I can send you a few of these damned tornadoes for fans Mike!!!


----------



## grapeman

That would surely mix up the air Waldo! I was crossing my fingers, toes and eyes for you the last couple days.


----------



## ibglowin

Glad to hear your still hunkered down safe and sound Waldo!

May I send you some cold air to push that moist air out and on down the road? Digital thermometer on the North side of the house clocked in at 24 this AM and I put another out in the garden area where the vines are away from all structures for the most part. It got down to 22 about 6 inches off the ground.





Bags seemed to stay on over night. Good thing I anchored them down with some rocks as the wind continued to howl most of the night. Seemed to finally die down around 2:00AM.

Will take the bags off at lunch and take a peek for damage but it might night be evident till tomorrow.


----------



## grapeman

Not to discourage you but at 22 degrees even with a cover, they are likely to be frozen. They will just send out another set of buds in a while, so they will grow. I'm hoping for the best!


----------



## ibglowin

You are indeed wise Appleman.





Just returned from a quick trip to the house and pulled off the bags an all buds are......





Oh well glad its only the second growing season.

I had one bud that had shot up 8" in 2 weeks from the ground. Bet you can't guess which variety that was!


----------



## grapeman

Now that is just plain sad.






You are right, I can't guess which variety it was- but probably a vinifera rootstock!


----------



## andy123

I'm way down down south but we get cold sometimes.We dont use plastic for cold protection. For precious yard plants we use old sleeping bags or shipping blankets.Most plants need wood steaks to support heavier blankets. Commercial citrus and strawberry growers keep the irrigation on and ice mounds on the plants but protects them down to about 24'F.


----------



## ibglowin

One of those Marquette (Frankenvine) you sent me. Not on vinifera rootstock I was assured!







appleman said:


> You are right, I can't guess which variety it was- but probably a vinifera rootstock!


----------



## grapeman

Nope not on rootstock then! 


By the way, this last year's Marquette is tasting especially good this year! We had it alongside some St Croix Vineyard Marquette last week at a tasing and over half the room preferred mine over that one. It is Peter Hempstad's vineyard and he is the one that released it. That lets me know I can make a fair wine



.


----------



## ibglowin

Heres hoping I can produce a worthy vintage as well a few years down the road!


----------



## ibglowin

Todays low brought to you once again by Mother Nature is 24........


----------



## fivebk

They had my area forcasted for frost last night, but temps stayed just above that" WHEW "

BOB


----------



## grapeman

Thatsa colda..............


----------



## ibglowin

Supposed to warm up (yea right) after today and should be back to normal temps by the weekend. Poor little vines don't know what the heck they should do!


----------



## robie

We are still going down into the twenties most every night in Colorado Springs. It is supposed to warm up today and stay in the 30's at night and 60's by day for several days.

I have a friend who bought 10 acres just west of here. I'll help him plant one acre in grapes vines, not this weekend, but next. That should be fun.


----------



## ibglowin

I figured if we were getting hammered this far South you must be as well. The forecast is really looking better each day for the rest of the week!


----------



## robie

Yeah, this weekend is supposed to be in the mid-70's.
I am really looking forward to that!

This morning I turned my sprinkler system on (again); maybe I will be able to leave it on for awhile this time.

Here, May is a very up and down month. We have had snow flurries several days in the last couple of weeks.

June usually is pretty nasty with days in the 50's for the first half month. After that it is summer till September, then Indian Summer till mid-November. We don't have a Spring, really, but man do we have nice Falls!

I love it, though.


----------



## ibglowin

June is our hottest driest month. Our one month of true Summer weather where its worth it to have a pool membership to one of the local subdivision pools. Monsoons hit in July and August and we get clouds every afternoon and rain several times a week. September and October are to die for gorgeous as you know. Spring is just plain miserable. Worst season of the year for sure. We just try and survive March, April, May. Wind, wind, wind, late freezes, wind.......


----------



## robie

Retirement is comin'! Then we can live where ever we want. I'll likely stay here, hoping each year I can spend a few of the winter months in California.

I guess you'll be heading for Washington State.


----------



## ibglowin

Would love to but oldest daughter out in LA is looking more and more like wedding bells and kids in the next few years. SWMBO is wanting to stay close.... 
Perhaps rrawhide and I will become grape growing neighbors some day!


----------



## rrawhide

that would be great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!









the blends that we could come up with would be winnners I am sure


how about ibglowin oaky white? _the special white made from the scrapings of unknow grapes_


rrawhide


----------



## ibglowin

Hmmmm. What about moving from Los Alamos, NM to Los Alamos, CA! About the same size town and only 130 miles from Hollywood, CA. !


----------



## OilnH2O

Gee... we were thinking about moving to NM for winters!


----------



## ibglowin

Winters are great here! Short compared to Montana for sure! Lots of SUN. A few snow storms up here in the northern mountains. Great skiing. With the high altitude the sun feels so much warmer so it can be pretty chilly outside but the sun will keep you feeling toasty. Spring is my least favorite season for sure!


----------



## ibglowin

Mother nature continued to just mess with me the last few days. Friday AM at 2:30 the freeze alarm went off out of the blue. Got up, looked at the clock and it was 34. Plenty of time to drop further....... 

Threw on some clothes and dragged pot after pot of geraniums, basil, dahlia's into the winery. Had planted some already in big heavy pots so covered them with a heavy quilt. Went back to bed, got up at 6:30AM and looked at the temp, it was 40.......... Like I said just messing with me for sure this Spring.

Saturday morning was 36 degrees for the low, today 42.This has been the coolest May on record so far and its not over. Vines are for the most part budded out and budding back out after the hard freeze 3 weeks ago.

On a brighter note the winery is staying nice and cool all on its own with out the need for any AC!

Bought Tomatoes for the garden yesterday come on warmer weather!


----------



## Scott B

In East Texas the low is 70 with the high of 90. 


Sure would be nice to be in the Mountains of New Mexico next month when it will be over 100 here!!!


----------



## ibglowin

Its been a while since I have posted any pics. We suffered through the worst fire in the history of New Mexico in June. The monsoons were pretty much a no show the whole month of July but they arrived towards the end and are here big time the whole month of August. I feel like I am living back in Houston for goodness sakes its so humid outside but the grass and garden are loving it as you can see. 

The vines have come back pretty solid after the coldest winter on record as well as a killing freeze on April 21. I guess these guys are going to make it if they can make it through that heck of a first year! 

Have just over 30 vines total of Marquette, Corot Noir and Noiret. The Corot Noir and Noiret and doing the best with the Marquette some are doing well and others not so vigorous at the moment. 

A few low clusters escaped my eye sight somehow and managed to bloom without me seeing them so I let them go just to see how they would ripen and timeframe. Looks like they are only a few weeks out from fully ripening. 

Cant wait for next year!


----------



## Wade E

Great pics Mike, glad your terrain is faring better now!!!


----------



## Runningwolf

Looking great Mike. Where's the Dahlia's? I love those flowers but the moles kept eating them when I planted them. Plus, I hate having to have to dig the tubers up every fall. Around here they would freeze in the winter.


----------



## grapeman

The children are looking great Mike. Keep up the great care for my little babies.


----------



## ibglowin

Those are out front and are just now starting to grow like weeds. Hopefully in a few weeks I will have a few more in bloom and will try to take some pics. I don't know if I told anybody about my dahlia "experiment" this past winter. I decided to try and see if I could winter them in the ground. I bought a large tarp and cut it to fit, laid it on top, then waited for the wind to bring down the pine needles in the fall from my two large ponderosa pines I have in the front yard. I got enough pine needles to have a good 6-8 inch blanket on top of the tarp. I think it would have worked had we not had the 2-3 days of -21 degree cold temps in February. Normally we have 0 to -5 maybe a few times but nothing like what we experienced. The end result was one tuber out of like 40 survived so had to start over with what ever I could find from Costco, Home Depot, Lowe's, Farmers Market........



runningwolf said:


> Looking great Mike. Where's the Dahlia's? I love those flowers but the moles kept eating them when I planted them. Plus, I hate having to have to dig the tubers up every fall. Around here they would freeze in the winter.


----------



## ibglowin

I think they are doing quite well all things considered. Definitely a labor of love!







appleman said:


> The children are looking great Mike. Keep up the great care for my little babies.


----------



## Runningwolf

Mike so you also have to pull the tubers in. Thats just more then I want to do every year and then you have to tag each one as to what it is. We got ours from grower on the internet and had picked colors and sizes based on where we were going to put them. If you didn't tag them you would never know the next year as you know. Beautiful flowers though.


----------



## ibglowin

Dan,

Who do you order from online? I used to use a place named Connell's up in Seattle but they closed up shop after about 30 years and I have yet to find a place with good high quality tubers AND service in the US. Found a great place in Canada but not going to mess with the import fee's etc....

I usually dig in the fall each year, put the tubers in a plastic bag (the soil must be dry or mold will set in) and then I fill up the bag with cedar shavings. I put these in the garage in an old laundry basket and cover with old blankets and quilts to keep them from freezing in the deep of winter as the garage will get into the upper teens at times.

Even with all that work I still lose 30-40% of the tubers sometimes to mold or dry rot.

Another labor of love but its rewarding to have the neighbors walk by and marvel at them in August plus you have no shortage of cut flowers in August and September!


----------



## ibglowin

Is this normal? Its almost the end of August and I walked out to the garden to check on the vines and spotted this unusual sight on one of them.......







This was not there last week, just formed over the last few days. Is it normal for a vine to do this in late Summer?


----------



## grapeman

Absolutely normal. That is a summer lateral shoot that formed after the rains came and regrowth started. Prune off the clusters to keep the vigor in the vine.


----------



## ibglowin

Will do. Thanks much!


----------



## hannabarn

WOW! Ask a question and you get an immediate answer from an expert! What a great forum this is! I am always impressed by Appleman's advice.


----------



## ibglowin

My one nice cluster. And no I have not gotten a Brix level on it!




So far the cotton tails and the birds have ignored it.....


----------



## AlFulchino

to protect you could place a paint strainer type bag on it if you like...note the missing berry area...in the future you will want to note this because there are essentially two reasons...non pollination or disease issue...i guess you could say there is a third...birds, but you will have seen the berries for most of the yr...wait, there is a fourth  you ate them!


----------



## Waldo

Im betting my money on the fourth Al..And he thought we wold not notice..HA !!


----------



## Bert

Oh he wouldn't do that...


----------



## ibglowin

I honestly have no idea what happened to the bottom missing grapes in that pic! This cluster is very close to the ground so a cotton tail may have munched it. 

I have eaten a few off a couple of other small clusters and they are sweet and the skins have a bit of a tannin bite to them but not over powering by any means I wish I had enough to do a TA on them, very interested to see what kind of chemistry numbers develop but I guess that will have to wait for next season!

20 more of those and I would have the making for a decent grape pack!


----------



## AlFulchino

well we have all heard of Peter CottonTail...now it is Mike CottonTail...eating his own grapes on the sly ....i have two bugs bunny visiting my vineyard.....looks like future chicken cacciatore.....after u process all our broilers, turkeys and pheasants...

Mike i have had several New Mexico folks in lately..when can i tell them that you will be licensed?


----------



## ibglowin

Ha! 

Still trying to work on saving up $2,000,000 so I can make $1,000,000 in a winery!


----------



## Brent2489

HmmmmmI thought it was $5M.


----------



## ibglowin

Anyone ever seen anything like this? Seeing them on the vines. Some type of a small worm. Very colorful as you can see. I can't see any damage to the vines and have seen them on the vines off and on most of the Summer. Seems like there are more now due to all the rains we have been having as of late.


----------



## Runningwolf

Cute little buggers aren't they?


----------



## TomK-B

Looks like they might be young caterpillars of the Monarch Butterfly.


----------



## ibglowin

Yikes!

Western Grapeleaf Skeletonizer......

Western Grapeleaf Skeletonizer


Checked all the vines this afternoon. Only on one vine. Killed about 10 of the little suckers. You could see the damage easily on some of the leafs.

B**tards!


----------



## TomK-B

YUCK!!!


----------



## OilnH2O

Wow, Mike.

Where do you think they came from? From that UC Davis stuff it sounds like only California -- obviously they are in New Mexico, and at your altitude too... Keep us all posted!


----------



## ibglowin

Lots of Kalifornians have Santa fe as a second home in the Summer.....


----------



## robie

I'll bet UC Davis would be interested in knowing they have made it to New Mexico, since according to the article, they apparently haven't even yet covered all areas of California.

I'd drop them an email and a photo.


----------



## ibglowin

I just sent an email with that pic to the New Mexico state viticulturist down in Las Cruces. Well see if I get a reply.


----------



## rhoffart

Chateau update? and new vineyard pic's?


----------



## ibglowin

Everybody is happy and green still. Vines have grown a bit more on the trellis. Growth has slowed way down the last month or so. We are forecast to potentially hit 33 on Saturday morning with this front that is moving through as i type this. Winds are gusting 25-35 mph right now with sprinkles that should turn into snow in the high mountains tonight.

This weekend will more than likely be it for the vines as well as my Dahlias!


----------



## grapeman

The temp hit 33 here this AM, better than the 28 predicted. I will probably get down there tonight since they say 34 here. There was frost on the truck windshield this AM, but no damage yet.


----------



## ibglowin

Some dahlia snaps before they freeze this weekend........

They started off very slow out of the gate even on a drip system. Once the monsoons came in July, August time frame they grew like weeds. They seem to thrive on humidity in the air not just in their root system. Enjoy!


----------



## rhoffart

Very nice. Looks like you have a green thumb for sure.


----------



## TomK-B

Wow, definitely a green thumb!


----------



## Runningwolf

Awesome Flowers and pictures I love em


----------



## AlFulchino

just beautiful!


----------



## Bartman

Those dahlias are awfully pretty, but are you sure you can/want to take credit for them, instead of your wife? I don't know many "Real Men" who can grow flowers that pretty (and are willing to admit it publicly)...


----------



## Runningwolf

Bart, only a real man would be man enough to post something they did so beautifully. Have you not seen the pictures of my yard in the past?


----------



## Bartman

I knew I would stir up some reaction!


----------



## rrawhide

com'n on Bart, show us yur yard!!!!
huh
huh
huh


great job, Mike


rrawhide


----------



## Scott B

Mike - Great looking flowers!


----------



## Randoneur

That is beautiful. Good photography too.


----------



## ibglowin

Thanks guys, we dodged a bullet for another week. 

Got down to 32. Tomatoes are toast but the dahlia's and geraniums plus the grape vines are still hanging in there!


----------



## Robert123Carr

Great job. Growing flowers, making wine, I think it goes together. Its all about making something beautiful from very little.


----------



## ibglowin

With the forum merge I combined my vineyard thread from FVW. Here are some pics from the end of Summer 2011 that were not showing up. Looking forward to Summer 2012!


----------



## grapeman

They look great Mike.

You might put a carriage return after every couple pictures so it doesn't go off the screen and hide pictures on you.

Are the buds starting to swell at all yet?


----------



## ibglowin

Ha! I wish I could do that, I used to do that over at FVW but you cant do that here as the pic's are all listed as attachments with no way to adjust them that I can see (let me know if I am missing something simple).......


As for buds I don't think they are swelling just yet but by the end of the week they certainly may be as the entire week will be sunny and ~60 for the high. This mornings low was a balmy 32. They say we have a BIG front moving through on Sun/Mon that could drop a foot of snow of us. I love Spring snows as they can be big but they melt so fast that I usually don't have to shovel or plow!


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## SpoiledRotten

Just went through this thread and Mike, I must say that you have done a fantastic work with that garden. It's beautiful! I just planted 4 muscadine vines at two corners of a swing arbor that I built a few years ago. I'm planning on putting trellis on the sides and top for the vines to cling to.

Should be nice sitting in the swing with the "ceiling fan" running and grapes hanging down all around us.


----------



## ibglowin

Thanks Randy!

I have ~40 vines planted most are in the side garden area but I have a few around the patio as well by the house. My trellis will be a TWC (top wire cordon) system that will more than likely end up looking like spokes on a bicycle wheel the way the vines went in. I have a nice little bench in the corner of that garden that is shaded by an ornamental apple tree in the afternoon. Its a nice place to sit with a glass of wine and watch the vines grow in the evening and dream about a harvest and crush someday that I don't have to drive 600 miles RT to accomplish!.

Haven't told SWMBO yet but I have my eye on the 5000 ft2 of Kentucky Blue in front of the garden. I think I could save a boatload of $$$ by plowing it all under and planting more vines on a drip system. It cost me ~$150 a month in water to irrigate that stuff in the Summer before the monsoons hit in mid July....


----------



## saddlebronze

Go for it man! I am thinking about my front lawn as well if I can get it by the war department. 20 yards of topsoil coming this weekend to add to the clay in the test plot. Daddy's gonna be busy with the backhoe this weekend!


----------



## Wade E

Looks beautiful Mike!


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## Runningwolf

Mike the gardens look great. We played around with ours just a bit tonight.


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## ibglowin

Man it is to die for nice outside this afternoon. I turned on the drip for just a little bit. 

Time to plant the Dahlia's!


----------



## TJsBasement

Mike them flower pics are amazing. I read your thread and it's just great that your plowing thru the weather and coming out with great results. I wish you all the best.


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## ibglowin

Thanks!

Can't wait to see what they do this Summer. Am hoping they take off like weeds!


----------



## ibglowin

*If April Snow Showers........*

Bring May grape flowers........

Its going to be a good year! Been snowing like mad the last 2 hours. Supposed to continue through the night. Much needed moisture as always for this part of the country. Got down to 32 this AM. Vines have been swelling and running sap for the last week or two but no bud break still. Hopefully this will shut things down just a bit. Supposed to warm back up in a few days though and probably be in the 60's by Wednesday.


----------



## OilnH2O

You had a beautiful morning, though, this morning (as I went by on 285). By the time I got to Chama the flurries started and by Pagosa Springs the flakes were so thick and heavy I thought I was back in Montana! But, as every farmer says... "We need the moisture!"  

What a great place you have!

- Dave (SLC tonight; home tomorrow)


----------



## ibglowin

Hey Dave,

Drive safe my friend! Slippery roads this morning for sure. Snowed all night and still snowing this AM going to work. Had to walk the dog with an umbrella or I would have been soaked for sure! Temp only dropped to 34 so the roads are clear but a sloppy mess. Lots of snow/moisture fell last night for sure. A really good thing to have going into fire season.


----------



## grapeman

Where are the pictures Mike?


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## ibglowin

Here you go, one from the golf course looking Northwest.


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## ibglowin

*Looks like a freeze tonight for sure!*

We currently have 40 degrees at 5:00PM and its starting to snow......

Luckily the vines are still shut down, no bud break but some bud swelling has begun. I do have some shoots that sprung up from the roots of a few vines. They have grown as much as 3 inches already. Not sure if I should cover those up as they are on small vines that didn't do much last year or leave them exposed. They look really strong like they could take off and grow like a weed compared to the growth on the vine from last year.

Hope this is the last hurrah for this season, we are supposed to be back in the 60-70's by mid week.


----------



## grapeman

I would cover those with something light to try to protect them. They could act as a nice trunk replacement later. Maybe some linen.

We had some snow flurries this last week and Mount Mansfield in VT is still pure white from fresh snow even after the temperature raise the last few days. Supposed to be 85 on Monday!


----------



## ibglowin

I will cover them, they look really healthy and may grow more than last years on those vines in short notice. 

Its currently 32 and snowing like crazy!


----------



## ibglowin

Dodged a bullet last night. Only snowed for about 20 min and then it quit but the clouds stayed all night long and the temperature climbed to 35 and held there all night long. Monday morning may be colder as its clear and been a very cool day today. On the upside the winery is super cold today. Carboys had been creeping up to 59 degrees. Now back down to a happy 55 degrees!


----------



## OilnH2O

Rain last night and down to 34* here -- and on the way to church was surprised to see the snow line only a few blocks above our house -- maybe 400' in elevation! 
Hunker down!


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## ibglowin

31 degrees this AM. Not too bad. Should warm up nicely after today they say! I saw on the weather that Deming where the grapes are grown in Southern New Mexico was also reporting 32. They have to be in full bud break/bloom down there as they have had weeks and weeks in the low 80's......


----------



## robie

Don't you know Deming is sweating it!!! Not good news for them. Maybe they will be OK at 32F, I don't know enough about the vineyard end of things to say.


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## ibglowin

*Houston:*

We have BUD BREAK! 

Back from Las Cruces tonight. Was NOT prepared for almost 90 degree weather after last weeks cool snap. Happy to report that all vines are either budding out are fixing to POP! They seem to have grown smarter over the last year and they just knew it was toooooo early to go "for lift off". Looks like smooooooth sailing all this coming week which should get us through the last average frost date.

Looking for some NUCLEAR growth this season. Its all about the terroir right!


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## OilnH2O

PICTURES, Mike!
I think we're in the middle of bud break here, too. Amazing, isn't it? You're at, what? 7000 +/- ? And I'm at 3300... but a few miles north! Oh, and 86* !


----------



## ibglowin

I am at ~6500. I will take some shots in a few days after we have a bit more growth to look at. 

They definitely look sturdier and like they really know what they are doing this year as opposed to last year!


----------



## ibglowin

OK,

Took a few snaps yesterday afternoon just to make snow boy "Runningwolf" even more jealous! 

We are supposed to hit ~85 degress today then cool back down to a much more closer to normal 70 for the rest of the week.


----------



## grapeman

All of us in the north here ar Green with envy! Of course if we were that green here right now, they might turn black after they froze!


----------



## ibglowin

This has been a picture perfect Spring for us....... It doesn't happen very often for sure! 

We will have apricots, cherries and apples this year out the wazzooo! (LOL)

We only get apricots about every 5-6 years as they are the first thing to bloom in the early Spring and they almost always get nailed by a late killing frost.


----------



## grapeman

Are you sure you are past all killing frosts for the year? This has been one crazy spring! Here's hoping you have seen the last freeze for the year.


----------



## ibglowin

May 7th is our average last frost date so technically no! I was telling Dan that we have had 6" of wet snow on Mothers Day weekend on a couple of occasions in the 26 years I have lived here as well. 

Looking at the 10 day long range forecast things look just fine (as in not even close to freezing). 

Never say never as they say!


----------



## rhoffart

Very nice Mike, we skipped spring here. I have about 2 feet of vines on the ones I planted this winter. Are you getting grapes this year?


----------



## ibglowin

I hope to get a few harvested here at the house and then I am up in the air as to whether to give local grapes another try or make the long trip back to FVW again..... It all depends on how well the harvest is down south and if they can accommodate me after shutting me completely out last year. Hopefully FVW will forget the nightmare of last year and order again. Tonight I transferred my Malbec and Cab Franc out of barrels and back to Carboys and then transferred two more back in. These have been in for 4 months ( I waited 3 months to finish MLF, it was COLD in the winery!) The taste test is quite amazing for 7 month old wine. The acid levels are perfect, the oak is just about perfect. Its still young but man they are in a whole different league compared to the Deming fruit I bottled 2 months ago. They (the 2010 Deming wines) turned out pretty good IMHO for a first effort but this batch is looking way ahead in so many ways. I would like to think its the winemaker and how far he has come in another year  but....... 

I think the fruit has something to do with it as well!


----------



## Mike89T

ibglowin said:


> OK,
> 
> Took a few snaps yesterday afternoon just to make snow boy "Runningwolf" even more jealous!
> 
> We are supposed to hit ~85 degress today then cool back down to a much more closer to normal 70 for the rest of the week.


 
Ha! We hit 100 last week here in the Phoenix area. I'm so not ready for summer.

::


----------



## ibglowin

I love Scottsdale! .......

In January!


----------



## saddlebronze

I was in Arizona last week hitting wineries and it was hot! Ended the week in Mesa where it was 104 on Saturday. Glad to be back in the Northeast where it was snowing yesterday. The wine in AZ was good, but about 10X a bottle over what I can make it for in the lab here.


----------



## ibglowin

Very "boutique" industry in AZ thus the $$$. Did you stumble across Caduceus by chance?


----------



## ibglowin

Little cool front came through yesterday afternoon. Temp this AM was 37! Felt chilly but I think were OK and looks like it will just warm up more as the week progresses. Vines are looking good, the more mature vines are definitely slower to break bud than the younger ones. I have a Marquette up by the patio that is way father along than those in the wine garden. I suspect the temps are a little warmer up by the house. Everybody is looking happy and ready for the new season!


----------



## grapeman

Mike can taste the grapes now!
Looking good there. I'm glad the buds haven't opened much yet here. It was 27.9 here this AM after 26.4 yesterday and 30 the night before that. We are expecting a warmup again now.


----------



## ibglowin

Saw your post about your low temps and was hoping you were behind me! That would have been terrible! I hope the older the vines get the slower they break bud!


----------



## OilnH2O

And how are YOUR babies handling the transition to... uh, "warmer" temps??!!


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## ibglowin

*Thunderbolt and Lightening! Very Very Frightening!*

Funny you should ask. The front that has been lolly gagging around since Monday morning finally decided to push through last night around 8:00PM. We had a wonderful rain last night that dumped around an inch or so with no hail thank goodness. Lots of thunder and lightening as well through the evening. This morning on my drive in to work there is snow up on Pajarito Mountain (the ski hill) at around 10,000 ft. Temp this AM was 39. Talk about some great sleeping weather! I grabbed my camera this AM and took a few quick snaps to show the progress to date. You can tell a Marquette from a Corot Noir or Noiret from 10 feet (or more) at the moment as the Marquette has fully busted out leaves and shoots and the Corot Noir and Noiret has tiny leaves still, not much if any shoot development but clusters are already forming on what has developed to date. Everybody looks happy and healthy. I hit them all with a little dose of fertilizer this weekend to help them get going. I may have to do some cluster thinning on some of the vines! 

Very excited for the Summer. Our oldest daughter is getting married this Summer (August 25th) and she decided she wanted an out door wedding at home in our backyard. The vines will be the back drop for the ceremony. The grapes should be just about ready to pick by then, perhaps a few weeks away in mid September or so. Should have around 75-100 guest on hand. 

I think I have the wine covered! I will order up some special labels for the occasion to put on the bottles we choose to drink. I have 6G of Gruner Veltliner and 6G of Sauvignon Blanc that will right at 6 months old by then so hopfully that will be good to go. Otherwise I have a good amount of Pinot Griego, Chardonnay, White Rhone Blend, and of course loads of 2+ year old red wines. More later!

Her are some pics from this AM.


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## grapeman

Those babies are growing right along. That should look great for a backdrop for the wedding. Have a great time hosting it and "getting rid of her". Errrhh, I mean giving her away!


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## Rocky

_Very excited for the Summer. Our oldest daughter is getting married this Summer (August 25th) and she decided she wanted an out door wedding at home in our backyard. The vines will be the back drop for the ceremony. The grapes should be just about ready to pick by then, perhaps a few weeks away in mid September or so. Should have around 75-100 guest on hand._ 

Mike, not sure why but I had a picture in my mind of you as Steve Martin in "Father of the Bride" when I read your post. Congratulations and I am sure it will be the event of the season. Take lots of pictures for us.


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## ibglowin

Thats one of our favorite movies and have watched it many times. There will be moments for sure that will seem like a cameo from the movie. It should be an interesting few days as the groom and his family descend on little "LA" from Beverly Hills (Big LA). The groom while not working in anything to do with Hollywood has HUGE Hollywood DNA in his veins from his paternal grandfather and grandmothers side. We just hope they don't come in and try to take over the big day...... 

The bride and groom both want a "California Casual" affair for the guest while the bride and groom will be decked out in proper wedding day attire. It will be a catered affair with a small marquee as well. Stay tuned!


----------



## OilnH2O

Pictures of _that_ might be a FIRST for the Grape Growing and Vineyard section of the forum!


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## ibglowin

We had a cool front push through yesterday morning after trying for 2 days. We had winds the last 2 days in the 40-50mph range. This AM the low was 35 for a short period of time but looks like everything survived without any damage (including my tomatoes!) Here are a few updated pics of the vines and clusters forming up nicely. Hoping tomorrow is a warmer morning than today and not a colder one!


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## grapeman

You have bloom!


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## Wade E

Looking good there Mike, if all goes good how much production do you expect from it all?


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## ibglowin

The Marquette is definitely a week or so ahead of the Noiret and Corot Noir. The buds on the Noiret and Corot Noir are much larger in size. Have a few bees buzzing around the vines as well. 

Nice day today. Lots of Sun. No wind and perfect temps. Fired up the big ol Smoker Pit for the holiday. First time in years. Have a Pork loin (marinated in blackberry chipolte for 48hrs). A small center cut pork tenderloin as well for those who don't like the heat. 2 nice racks of Baby Backs with a nice rub. Cooking over a mixture of mesquite and pecan. Have some friends and family coming over for dinner this evening. 



grapeman said:


> You have bloom!


----------



## ibglowin

I have about 32 vines. I should be able to get at least a gallon of finished wine out of each vine once they are all mature. Some look to be their now, others will take another year. They had a tough first Winter that set most of them back. Some more so than others, all are healthy and growing like crazy this Summer. 



Wade E said:


> Looking good there Mike, if all goes good how much production do you expect from it all?


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## vinividivici

Looking good!
Bob


----------



## ibglowin

*Frost Damage?*

We got down to 35 on Monday morning for a short period of time. It took a few days but I am seeing what looks like a little damage from that cold snap. Not much really only on 2 vines. At least I hope that's what it is, it sure looks like a little leaf burn. I am not seeing any progression or any spread over the last couple of days. There are still plenty of clusters!


----------



## Julie

yes it does look like frost damage and glad to hear it is only on 2 vines.


----------



## grapeman

The nice thing about grapevines is they compensate for light freezes well. You won't even know it happened after a while.


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## ibglowin

*Got Marquette!*

The Marquette is a happy camper with the warm sunny weather we have been having the last few weeks. June is our hottest month traditionally until we get the monsoons in July and August. The Corot Noir and Noiret and doing well but waaaay behind the Marquette in development. Some pics taken this AM of the progress.


----------



## Runningwolf

Looking really good Mike.


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## vinividivici

*Grape Envy!*

Mike,

I hope to have similar clusters on mine next year (year 3). How old are yours? They look great. 

Re Corot Noir, mine are coming out of the growth tubes, very vigorous growth. The Frontenac, OTOH, are about 8-12" high. Both planted this past
April.


Bob


----------



## ibglowin

This is their third leaf. The pic of the loaded Marquette vine had no clusters last year. This year it exploded so much that I may need to cluster thin there are so many clusters.


----------



## grapeman

Looks great Mike. My Marquette are in full bloom now, behind yours by a couple weeks but growing explosively.


----------



## ibglowin

*The monsoons are here!*

W0ot!!!!

Right on schedule (beginning of July). Started out as a nice 5 min shower that kept on for 10, 15 minutes then got really heavy and my heart started to pound as pea sized hail started to fall. It stayed light and little and never got any bigger or heavier. Rained for about 45 minutes straight. At least an inch. I could see the grass and garden greening up right before my eyes. We are looking good though the weekend as well! We have not had any measurable rain for 2 months so it is a welcome sight for sure!


----------



## robie

Monsoon has not started yet up in my area. Everyone is in high anticipation mode, though.

Isn't rain amazing; one can water all day and see only a slight green-up; it can rain for 10 minutes and everything greens up nicely.


----------



## winemaker_3352

robie said:


> Monsoon has not started yet up in my area. Everyone is in high anticipation mode, though.
> 
> Isn't rain amazing; one can water all day and see only a slight green-up; it can rain for 10 minutes and everything greens up nicely.




That's the truth too!!! I stopped watering my lawn years ago for that very reason.

Plus - here in MO - the hot humid summers we get - it actually strengthens the root system - it forces the roots to go deeper.

If you water all day - the roots go to the water - which is usually 2-3" deep.


----------



## ibglowin

This morning everything looks 10X greener. My dahlia's have been struggling through the heat the last month or so. This AM I swear they grew 6" overnight and the foliage is now DEEP green instead of a light green. I have not even fertilized them. I shut off the sprinkler and drip system. I think it cost me $7 a day to water!


----------



## ibglowin

*Got grapes? I do!!!!!!*

Things are looking good. Vines are loving the humidity for sure!


----------



## Runningwolf

Looking good Mike, happy to see you're finally getting some water.


----------



## ibglowin

Water helps for sure!


----------



## winemaker_3352

Very nice Mike!!!


----------



## grapeman

Those Noiret are coming along now. How are the Marquette?


----------



## ibglowin

The Noiret were slow out of the gate but have now caught up and past the Marquette in size and color. The dark green grapes are Noiret. The light green are the Marquette. The Corot Noir are lighter green as well but they also seem to have caught up and passed the Marquette. That last pic is Marquette.


----------



## ibglowin

*Ruh Row Raggy!!!!!!!*

The wedding is six weeks from tomorrow and look what's happening on some of the Marquette! The Noiret and Corot Noir all have no signs of verasion and those are all up front where the wedding ceremony will take place. Hoping I have ripe grapes but hoping I don't have to pick them all before the wedding.... Rich, how long before these grapes would reach their peak and need to be picked? Not all Marquette is looking like this thank goodness, this one vine is leaps and bounds ahead of all the others for some reason though. Its in the back so if I do have to pick them it won't be all bad.


----------



## grapeman

Some of these posts sneak through on me lately as somebody posts them after I have clicked the new posts button and then I don't refresh. Just saw this.

Those will probably be ripe before the wedding, but Corot Noir and Noiret ripen quite a bit afterwards. I would say you will be just about perfect for the wedding. I would net them to keep the birds out though. You guys are making me nervous with your early ripening grapes!


----------



## ibglowin

Seems like each day now another Marquette vine shows signs of version starting. Its exciting and sad as the wedding is still 6 weeks out from yesterday. Thats good for getting the house and yard in shape but bad for early grape ripening...... 

Where would you recommend as a good source of netting since I don't need all that much. I seem to remember Father Al had a bunch he wanted to sell but I only need about 150ft or so!


----------



## grapeman

Give Spec Trellising a call and see if they have small rolls. Lowes carries 14 foot in short lengths of over the top netting. Remember for side netting to double your row length to do both sides!


----------



## OilnH2O

Keep us posted on what you find - all I can get at Lowes is 14' square.


----------



## ibglowin

Wow, Can't believe the deal I just got. I posted my need for some netting in the NM Vine and Wine Society page on Facebook and got a response back within an hour from a guy in ABQ who has some he is not using. Best part is I just have to go pick it up. Can't beat free!


----------



## robie

What luck! You must be living right, Mike. 

That last photo is really nice. A few days into verasion, grapes are really nice to look at.


----------



## ibglowin

I must have 4-5 vines now in full verasion. All Marquette of course.

Best thing I ever did was join the NM Vine and Wine Society. I am now hooked up and dialed in with most everybody in the state via that society. If you have something similar in your state it is totally worth it to join and network with other growers and winemakers in your area. Great source of information as well as equipment. I had no idea my neighbor down the street had a walkout basement with 100L Stainless Flex tank, bladder press, you name it. They had all the equipment but were a little weak in their chemistry knowledge. Its a win/win partnership for us both in the end.


----------



## OilnH2O

Well, you DEFINITELY have the chem knowledge! Maybe we should all start trolling our neighborhoods with signs: "Show me your grapes!"


----------



## ibglowin

*Getting close on some vines!*

Update on things, the Marquette is just about ready to harvest. I noticed some very guilty looking birds hanging around the vines these days. I can't tell if they are snacking on grapes or not. If they are so far its not too noticeable. I made a quick trip to ABQ on Sunday afternoon to pick up my free bird netting. One of the old timers of the NM Vine and Wine Society had some used stuff that he said had some tears in it but there are some good sections as well so I should be able to cobble enough together to cover the vines by this weekend at the latest.

I picked up an inexpensive refractometer from Amazon and pulled it out yesterday after work. I took four sample berries from 4 different Marquette vines. I zeroed the refractometer with distilled water. It was just a touch off from the factory setting. The very first berry from a vine way in the back of the garden (which is a very sunny and hot location) came in at 25 Brix! 

I thought holy cow, I need to pick them all today. Then I checked 3 other vines. They are all in slightly cooler and a little more shadier areas. They came in around 19-21 Brix so they will need a little more time.

The really cool part of this whole quick little experiment was to be able to test each grape, get a Brix level and then eat what was left and see what it tasted like in the mouth. 

The 25 Brix grape was pure sweetness. No tart at all. The 19-21 Brix grapes were all sweet but nowhere near as sweet at the 25 Brix grape plus they had a slight tart taste to them still. 

At some point I hope to have a calibrated mouth and won't even need the refractometer!

Will post some pics perhaps this evening,


----------



## ibglowin

*Pics!*

Some of the shots around the wine garden this afternoon.


----------



## Scott

Nice looking grapes, aren't they only two year old vines?


----------



## ibglowin

This is their third leaf so yep, just two years old technically. Some vines are loaded, others not so much. Definitely a labor of love.


----------



## grapeman

I thought I posted yesterday on this, but it isn't here.

I noted that you have a lot of variability within the cluster so be careful to let them ripen as much as you can without raisining too badly.

Also I consider third leaf vines a full three year old. The first leaf is the end of the first year as they were grown for about a year or more previous to leafing out.


----------



## ibglowin

Sounds good to me Rich. Looks like the Noiret and Corot Noir are starting to turn this week as well. Not sure how much will make it to the wedding. It is 4 weeks away still this coming Saturday. May have to go buy some plastic grapes from Hobby Lobby or Michael's.........


----------



## ibglowin

I picked 3 vines yesterday evening. Brix was 25, 25, 24. Have 3-4 more about 21-22 Brix so maybe by this weekend. We have high pressure ridge over us this week so no monsoonal moisture and HOT temps predicted so another great ripening week for the grapes. Corot Noir and Noiret are way way behind the Marquette but are now in full verasion. Have a few stragglers that are not showing any signs of verasion. Warm Spring + warm Summer = early ripening!


----------



## grapeman

I realize you can probably only pick some days, but Marquette will go to 28 brix without losing too much acid. What is the pH of them that you harvested?

Corot Noir and Noiret will be a few weeks behind so maaybe you will still have some on the vines for the wedding!


----------



## ibglowin

Have to admit I have not checked pH. Was going by the article in Feb 2012 Winemaker Mag that said Marquette will top out at 25 Brix with about 10-11 grams acid and a pH ~3.2

PM me if you can provide some additional guidance on the chemistry!


----------



## grapeman

You can do better than that. See the page from U Minn
http://www.grapes.umn.edu/marquette/enology.html


----------



## ibglowin

*Verasion continues on the Noiret and Corot Noir!*

Things are moving along. Been another warm week in the garden. Had a nice 0.4 inch soft rain late last night. Had a free light show (lightening) thrown in on the side for about 45 min. Not a good evening to take a stroll for sure.


----------



## Brew and Wine Supply

Nice clusters....


----------



## robie

Those are really pretty, Mike. Your hard work and patience is working for you!


----------



## ibglowin

Thanks guys. That 5000 sq ft of Kentucky Blu in the back yard had better start worrying!


----------



## ibglowin

*Well, well, look who showed up to the party.......*

A full month earlier than last year. These guys are about my only real pest. How do they find the only grape vines within 30 miles. Do they crawl....

These are Grape Leaf Skeletonizer's. Aptly named as they can strip a grape leaf to its skeleton in nothing flat. Must have been 50 on this one vine. Not seeing any on any others but will be on the lookout daily. It was fun "taking care" of the little buggers!


----------



## SpoiledRotten

Beautiful crop, Mike! The worms can definitely be pest, but at least they aren't ugly worms.


----------



## Brew and Wine Supply

ibglowin said:


> A full month earlier than last year. These guys are about my only real pest. How do they find the only grape vines within 30 miles. Do they crawl....
> 
> These are Grape Leaf Skeletonizer's. Aptly named as they can strip a grape leaf to its skeleton in nothing flat. Must have been 50 on this one vine. Not seeing any on any others but will be on the lookout daily. It was fun "taking care" of the little buggers!



Send them to Wade, he can use them for fishing


----------



## ibglowin

They are kinda cool looking aren't they. Guess they come from eggs laid by this guy (whom I have not seen flying around.....)


----------



## OilnH2O

Mike, are those guys native? Or one of those imports from... ???

(I don't want to mention any lack of problems here... but I'm going to knock on wood anyway!


----------



## ibglowin

I think they must be "imports"......

I netted all the vines today. I had a Robin that was intent on eating all my grapes. First time I have wanted to shoot something in a LONG time! Everytime I went out in the back yard that guy flew up from a vine like he was caught red handed. The final straw was when I caught him and he dropped his grape mid meal. Baastard! I am all netted up this evening.


----------



## ibglowin

*Got Net?*

Had to net the vines yesterday. One Robin (at least I think it is only one they all look the same) was wreaking havoc. I worked most of the day in the back yard so was keeping a pretty close eye on things and caught her with a grape a couple of times. Took brix levels again on the remaining Marquette. Still below 25. Am wondering how much effect the daily watering has on them brix wise. Will it drop big time a few hours after watering them?


----------



## grapeman

If you are watering heavy, the grapes take it up and dilute the total sugars in the grapes. The total solids remains the same, but if the grape weight grows because of water, the soilids (sugar) goes down overall.

The grapes in those pictures aren't even close to being ripe yet- way too many green berries.


----------



## ibglowin

Yea, those are the Corot Noir and Noiret. Not worried about those at the moment. The Marquette seems to be stuck. I checked them again on Friday and none were over 23 and some were still 20. I just have no data points on the effect of a daily watering on the brix levels The Marquette look like they are ready to be picked but brix numbers show otherwise......


----------



## ibglowin

Shut off the drip yesterday and hand watered the tomato plants. Took brix levels. Marquette came up to ~23-24 so looks like I may just need to shut off the drip for a few days to push them up a notch or two more. Either that or pick now and they will probably dehydrate a bit (in the fridge) between now and the time the Corot Noir and Noiret is ready (about 3 weeks maybe) Did test brix on one of the Corot Noir vines that is much further along than the others. It was around 20-21 brix. 

I noticed the Marquette grapes have 3 seeds and the Corot Noir only had two on the one I tested/tasted. Could be any easy way to identify any vines that got mixed up along the way. Ripening time also seems to be helping along the way.

The seed color on the Marquette is definitely brown. No green at all. I think they are ready!


----------



## ibglowin

Got the Marquette harvested this weekend. Got the Brix up to 26. Probably could have reached a little higher but was giving them too much water. Got about 2 gallons overall. Will combine this year with the Noiret and Corot Noir. Looks like I may have 6 -7 gallons of grapes when all is said and done. I would say only 50% of the vines had any real production on them this year so hopefully next year will be 2X this year.


----------



## grapeman

Next year I would expect 4x the crop at least Mike. Those young vines made really small loose clusters. Expect them to tighten up a lot an be much fuller.


----------



## ibglowin

That would be great! I had a fair amount of "buckshot" berries this year. 

Am thinking/hoping it is just from a young/immature vine and not a nutrient deficiency issue.


----------



## ibglowin

Well the grapes made it to the wedding on Saturday which turned out spectacular! Took Brix levels yesterday and we are at 17-20 depending on vine. We got about a half inch on Friday and I have shut off the drip to see if i can get them to finish out. They look pretty ready to me!


----------



## BobF

Nice. Wish I could grow grapes here ...


----------



## vinividivici

Your vines "be glowin"! Picture perfect. Is this early in the season or normal for your location and altitude?

Cheers!
Bob


----------



## ibglowin

This is my first harvest with these vines so no real clue. I suspect its a few weeks earlier than normal (like many parts of the country) but then who knows, nobody else to my knowledge is growing these specific types of cold hardy grapes in Northern NM. All the vineyard/wineries at my altitude are growing old school cold hardy stuff or vinifera noble.


----------



## grapeman

They are getting close now Mike. I still see some pink in a few, so they will ripen a bit more.


----------



## ibglowin

Thanks Rich,

That PDF on Noiret and Corot Noir was very helpful. Nice to see 20 Brix is as high as they go for these 2 varieties.


----------



## ibglowin

Well harvest for 2012 is in the bag! errr the refrigerator!

Shutting off the drip was the trick. Brix shot up from 17-18 to 20-21 in 3 days with a big burst of late Summer heat that started on Sunday. We have been full Sun, very dry humidity and ~88 degrees for the highs this week.

Total first harvest is 12 gallons whole grapes/stems for the 30 vines. I would say I really only had fruit on about 50% or 15 vines as the others are just still to immature. Next year look out!

Break down is:

2 gallons Marquette
5 gallons Noiret
5 gallons Corot Noir

I will crush/destem on Friday! should take about 30 seconds......


----------



## grapeman

Good luck with the ferment there. Glad the grapes made it to the wedding and then you got some from the birds.


----------



## robie

Yep, next year!!!


----------



## ibglowin

We crushed and destemmed the grapes this morning while it was cool. Ended up with about 4 gallons of crushed/de-stemmed must that is sitting in the winery for a bit settling before looking at the chemistry this afternoon. Definitely takes longer to clean up than it does to set up and crush/destem!


----------



## Deezil

Mike, you have such nice hands for working a vineyard - i never woulda guessed! 

Nice lookin grapes though, share the Chem when ya can


----------



## ibglowin

SWMBO is camera shy especially early in the AM! (LOL)


----------



## ibglowin

Well call it dumb luck or rookie luck but somehow this 3 varietal blend is looking pretty darn amazing for a cold hardy grape!

Brix =22.0 (SG=1.090)
pH =3.38 (pure juice)
TA = 7.5 G/L

Must temp is 60F at the moment so still letting it warm up a bit more before pitching the yeast.


----------



## grapeman

Good luck with the ferment. Yep, you have a hand-models hand!


----------



## Wade E

Mike, I have a pair of nail clippers you can norrow, jeesh! LOL. LOOKING good there buddy!!!


----------



## ibglowin

Well we finally got all the pics rounded up from the wedding and thought I would post a few. Notice we have some small future paparazzi in pic #5....

Really was quite an event in the end. All the hard prep work was worth it!


----------



## ibglowin

Couple more pics that wouldn't fit the first time.


----------



## winemaker_3352

Very nice Mike!!!


----------



## Rocky

Very nice, Mike. Your daughter is lovely! Looks like a wonderful time for all. I am wondering, since you are one of the "gourmet-est" on the forum, what you served for the meal. Also, what varieties are in "Ryan's Red" and "Kate's Tuscan?"


----------



## ibglowin

Ryans Red was a Merlot/Cab blend. Katies Tuscan Blend was a Super Tuscan. All 2010 wines that went through the barrel and had extra tannin added. The Bride and Groom opted for "gourmet pizza". We booked a place out of ABQ that does catering and is getting rave reviews. 

Firenzie Wood Fired Pizza. They bring a mobile wood fired oven on a trailer and backed it up in the driveway. We pre-selected 6 different pizza's for the evening and they just kept bringing them out all night long basically. They started off with some appetizers right after the champagne toast, then they had 2 different green salads (one with gorgonzola, one with shaved asiago and parm) along with insalata caprese as well. I had the two red blends on the tables along with an assortment of whites. We ended up going through 1.5 cases of red and about a case of mixed whites. All seemed to be very well received.


----------



## robie

Great job and super photos. Now all you have left to do is wait for the grand kids to show up.


----------



## Rocky

Love wood fired pizza! That is the only way to make it. I am thinking of having a wood oven constructed off our patio for pizza and bread. Sounds like they had a great wedding. Please pass on our best wishes for a long and happy marriage. Do you have any other children, Mike? We have one daughter and I remember how I felt when she got married...suddenly very old!


----------



## ibglowin

We have two more daughters......

Ugh! No serious relationships at the moment. 

I would suspect these two will be punching out a few in a couple of years at the latest. I will be spending lots of time in California after that I suspect! LOL


----------



## robie

TWO MORE TO GO! "Ugh" for sure.


----------



## Runningwolf

Great picture Mike. I already to you on fb I really like the photo with the glasses.


----------



## grapeman

Thanks for sharing "The Day" with us in the form of pictures. Did you have a photograpehr or just do your own pictures since you have such great equipment (or should I say cameras lest somebody turns that into something dirty). I bet there aren't many guys that plant a vineyard years ahead to hold their daughters weddings in!


----------



## Julie

Very nice, Mike. What a great gift to give to your daughter, to be able to have her wedding there. By the pics your hard work really paid off!


----------



## ibglowin

Thanks guys! Luckily we had plenty of family and friends volunteer for photo and video duty. We had one dedicated still photographer as well as our youngest daughter (who took the B&W Champagne glass shot). 

I have a coworker who shoots video for the high school sports team and he had not one but two HD camcorders (one still the other he was behind). Since the bride is a Television Video Editor in real life she will have fun making the cuts for her own big day. 

I think I was honestly suffering from exhaustion by the end week! Feeling back to normal these days thank goodness.


----------



## OilnH2O

Beautiful.

It is hard to think that is the same backyard I saw last spring! Then it was just the idea for a "backdrop" but... WOW. Watching how it all came about, and the concerns it was peaking to early -- looks like it couldn't have been better! That is great - and the kids in the neighbor's playhouse are a treat, too! And, the black and white pic of the glasses could be framed!

Mike, the whole set-up looks wonderful. Our best wishes to the new couple! And, to Mom and Dad too!

Dave


----------



## ibglowin

Thanks much Dave, it was a pretty good Summer I must admit!


----------



## Wade E

Great epread Mike! Your daughter looks gorgeous as does your yard!


----------



## tonyt

robie said:


> TWO MORE TO GO! "Ugh" for sure.



I always say that everyone should have a daughter and one may be enough!


----------



## TJsBasement

Looks like you guys had a nice time, thats great to be able to have an event like that at home and yet it still look extremely professional and top notch, well done. Best of luck to them crazy kids.


----------



## ibglowin

I forgot to mention I found the perfect use for all those sample corks that Lafitte Cork sent out to me awhile back before I placed my custom cork order. If you recall they send like 150 corks out but the catch was the corks are not waxed/lubricated making them impossible to insert/use. The box has just been sitting in the back of the winery for awhile and my wife (the wedding planner BTW) sent me a link to some really neat place card holders. 

Anyways I was on it immediately and had 60 knocked out in a few hours with a miter saw and a bench top vise. Here is the link to Wine Cork Place Cards if anyone ever finds themselves in a similar situation. They say you can use "used" corks as well but quite often they are not always very round anymore once they are pulled out of the bottle unless they sit for a long time and re-expand. You can see them in the photo of one of the dinner tables. 

I think they were a nice touch and many people took them home as a memento from the evening as well.


----------



## robie

Cork place card holders - That's a great idea and a nice touch for the wedding.


----------



## winemaker_3352

Yeah that is a great idea - thanks for sharing!!!


----------



## M1wino

Very cool looks like it was a success


----------



## saddlebronze

Looks like you all enjoy life and that is what it is all about. Would rather be at that wedding than anything inside. Grapes make it perfect.


----------



## fivebk

Very nice Mike, 

Your hard work paid off. Been there and done that ( Three daughters, Marriage, Grandbabies etc, etc, etc.... )

I hope your wine from home grown grapes turns out to be the best you have made to date!!!!

BOB


----------



## ibglowin

*Pressed!*

Time to press my little first vintage. 8 days in Primary. SG = 1.000. Ended up with 3 gallons which was nice as I happen to have an empty 3 gallon carboy waiting in the wings. Added some Opti Malo Plus and CH16 MLB into the carboy just now. will wait 48 hours to rack off the gross lees. Temp is 68. We had a morning low of 44 today. Fall is in the air for sure. It was nice to have help from "Jack" the Winery Retriever!


----------



## Runningwolf

LOL good luck trying to get the color off your hands. It usually takes a week for me to wear it off. Great pictures, Mike.


----------



## grapeman

Wash your hands with k-meta, it helps, but the color doewsn't come out all the way. It is your official badge of honor! Looks good Mike!


----------



## ibglowin

Thanks guys. Excellent color on these grapes! This was a nice little warm up for my 900lbs of grapes on order from CA in a few weeks. I am working with a club out of Denver this year. No 1500 mile round trip to pick up grapes! One of the club members lives in ABQ and will bring down not only his grapes but mine as well. I have to drive 20 miles to pick them up! 

I hope they are good quality. They use this grower/vineyard (Lodi region) each year and they keep coming back so hopefully some decent fruit. Price is right to boot. No markup. Getting 6 lugs Cab Sauv, 6 lugs Syrah, 6 lugs OVZ, 6 lugs Petite Syrah, 3 lugs Riesling.


----------



## Deezil

You're a few years ahead of me, looks great!
Cant wait to see how you manage the 900lbs though 

Living in washington, you'd think grapes would be easy for me to find but my search goes on (havent made it to the east-side yet )


----------



## ibglowin

No shortage on the other side of the mountains if your willing to drive a ways.


----------



## Deezil

You made me check craigslist...

$1/lb Riesling here i come, and im gonna blame you the whole damn way!


----------



## ibglowin

Ruh Roh Raggy!

You have access to crusher/de-stemmer and press!


----------



## Deezil

I wish... Might have to come up with something other than my 2 hands (bucket-in-a-bucket or something maybe)


----------



## ibglowin

Trust me you do not want to do this without proper equipment! 

Find it, borrow it, or rent it unless your doing like one gallon!


----------



## grapeman

You don't need equipment when you are young and manley like Manly. Just get a big tub, dump the grapes in it, put on some shorts, roll up the socks and crush away. Then you pick all the stems out by hand and ferment away on the reds. Whites will be trickier such as the Riesling! 

Have fun, but like Mike says, find a bit of equipment to make it easier and more enjoyable.


----------



## Wade E

Mike, I used a big scooper and a press bag with my press and it made life a lot easier and cleaner That looks like its going to be a nice batch there! Keep us up on how this goes please.


----------



## ibglowin

MLF is going like crazy as of last night. Much more active at 68F than 63F like last year. Lees are compacting nicely. Will rack off tonight.


----------



## robie

ibglowin said:


> MLF is going like crazy as of last night. Much more active at 68F than 63F like last year. Lees are compacting nicely. Will rack off tonight.



I had a similar temperature issue last year. I held the temperature of the MLF right where the MLB instructions dictated but not much activity. Finally, I raised the temperature up by about 4 degrees F and MLF really took off.


----------



## ibglowin

Which MLB did you use?


----------



## rrawhide

Mike - beautiful daughter - beautiful wedding. Looks like lots of fun for all. Ya did good, papa!!!

rrawhide


----------



## ibglowin

Thanks Rich! One down, two more to go..........


----------



## ibglowin

Here are some pics from my 2012 crush with California fruit sourced from Lodi. I went in with a club out of Denver this year. I only had to drive 30 miles to Santa fe to pick up my fruit. Much better than driving to Dallas like last year! Cost was a fantastic $1.15lb with shipping to Denver. The club buys direct from the Vineyard so no middle man. I did 6 lugs of Cabernet Sauvignon, 6 lugs Syrah, 6 lugs Old Vine Zin, 6 lugs Petit Sirah. Almost 900lbs total. 

The grapes arrived in two loads so things were split up so lots of set up and clean ups over the last few weeks. We even had a wedding to go to in Seattle last weekend but luckily our youngest daughter was able to house sit, dog sit and grape sit! She was able to do the punch downs for me while we were gone. Lots of work! 

I am going to take half of the Petit Sirah and make a port out of it. That stuff was 26 Brix and just inky black! Should not have to fortify too much to get it to 19% ABV. Everything is pressed and settling in the winery now. Will introduce MLB probably this weekend.


----------



## Bartman

Mike, 
If you're not going to spend the big bucks on a motorized crusher/destemmer, you should at least rig an 'exercise wheel' for your dog to run on so you can really get that crank going! The poor thing looks bored since he wasn't part of the excitement this year.


----------



## robie

Bartman said:


> Mike,
> If you're not going to spend the big bucks on a motorized crusher/destemmer, you should at least rig an 'exercise wheel' for your dog to run on so you can really get that crank going! The poor thing looks bored since he wasn't part of the excitement this year.



Oh, I think he has the right idea - he fiddles with the clusters while the daughter turns the crank! 

Your puppy is like mine, there for moral support only (and to keep the birds, rabbits and squirrels from stealing any grapes)!

Looks great, Mike. If you do this every year, you are bound to get really, really good at it! 

How's the Jack Tone holding out?


----------



## grapeman

Mike I didn't see you cranking that thing at all! Quit slouching boy! Or else rig up a motor on that bad boy.


----------



## ibglowin

The women decided that handling the grapes would stain their nails.... LOL

Felt bad about them cranking but they didn't want to touch those sticky things!

Definitely looking at hooking up a motor for next year. I found your pics from WP. That motor is now $200! I am wondering if a 3/4 HP Swamp Cooler motor would work. Only $95!



grapeman said:


> Mike I didn't see you cranking that thing at all! Quit slouching boy! Or else rig up a motor on that bad boy.


----------



## ibglowin

Jack just wanted to play fetch all morning since that's his favorite thing to do. He did manage to eat a few grapes that slipped out. Had to watch him close as they are dangerous for dogs to eat I found out!





robie said:


> Oh, I think he has the right idea - he fiddles with the clusters while the daughter turns the crank!
> 
> Your puppy is like mine, there for moral support only (and to keep the birds, rabbits and squirrels from stealing any grapes)!
> 
> Looks great, Mike. If you do this every year, you are bound to get really, really good at it!
> 
> How's the Jack Tone holding out?


----------



## grapeman

The motor would probably work alright. I chose the motor I did because it was plenty big enough, had a built in switch and the right size to fit my mounting bracket I had made. I would never be without it now.


----------



## OilnH2O

I like that press Mike - looks like the 35 I didn't get! The crusher destemmer looks like a motorized one that was on sale as well - but I did good just to get the press! Great pictures - but I think your storage room is going to have have an add-on! 

Oh. Wait. It already IS an add-on, isn't it??!


----------



## ibglowin

That's the #30 Press and the crusher is a manual one but you can add a motor. Rich has done just that so I will be pickin' his brain next Summer for sure to get the right size pulley and belt. Just need to have a bracket fabricated for it.

My winery is BULGING at the seams right about now since I have all of 2011's crush in the barrels as well as bulk age plus now all of 2012! Never fear Xmas is near so the racks will be dwindling soon. 

That #30 press is just perfect for my 20G primaries. I can move them around easily enough and the entire primary will easily fit into the press (216lb of fermented fruit)


----------



## Runningwolf

Mike great pictures. I had a small batch to crush yesterday (about 600 pounds) and chose to use the small crusher like yours only with a motor. I couldnt believe how quick it went. Gret pictures there buddy and I like the dog!


----------



## OilnH2O

Yeah - that #30 looks sweet -- but they weren't available anywhere -- but... a #25 is better than a #0 -- or, an "naught!" So, I'm happy!


----------



## ibglowin

I got mine from good old George last year. I bit the bullet and ordered both the press and the crusher all at the same time. I felt like I got maximum use out of both this season for sure!


----------



## bellmtbbq

Any updates on the homegrown blend? I'm considering ordering 15-20 vines from Red Dog next week. I'm down to Marquette, Noiret, and Corot Noir. Read all the literature on them but was was interested in your opinion as you grow all three. I'm pretty sure I'm doing 8 Marquettes, and 8 of one of the Cornell varieties. Thread is amazing! Thanks


----------



## ibglowin

I added about an ounce of med toast French Oak beans about 3 weeks ago. The wine had a wonderful aroma before the beans were added. I will bulk age through the Winter and cold stabilize in the garage this January or February timeframe.


----------



## bellmtbbq

Very cool! Are the beans like compressed oak pellets? Any advice on the varieties from my previous post? Thanks again


----------



## ibglowin

This is my first harvest of estate grown grapes. All 3 are supposed to make a very good wine. Of the 3 I have tasted Marquette and was very happy with the flavor profile of the wine. Very much like a Pinot Noir. Many of us have ordered vines from Double A Vineyards. If you haven't looked at their website I would also check them out. Top notch quality vines. Oak beans or cubes are basically cut up pieces of toasted oak that get tossed into the carboy to oak the wine much like a barrel does.


----------



## bellmtbbq

Very nice! I was debating between grafted Pinot Noirs and the own-rooted Cornell/Minnesota varieties. I'm familiar with Double-A but I'm comfortable with Red Dog and their prices are fantastic.


----------



## ibglowin

Man what a difference from last years bud break. Last year we were busting out all over on this date. This year I still have sticks in the "Nano" Vineyard.....

Good thing as well as we got down to 24 degrees yesterday morning! Todays low was 48. Gotta love spring in the desert southwest......


----------



## ozarkhighlands

ibglowin said:


> Man what a difference from last years bud break. Last year we were busting out all over on this date. This year I still have sticks in the "Nano" Vineyard.....
> 
> Good thing as well as we got down to 24 degrees yesterday morning! Todays low was 48. Gotta love spring in the desert southwest......



Last year my nebbiolo had budbreak April 1 this year April 21 . I've also spent two nights this year building fires in the vineyard fighting off the frost. Got to love the continental climate.


----------



## ibglowin

Well we have some bud break this week. Now hope the freeze warning we are under tonight doesn't materialize!


----------



## grapeman

Good luck Mike!


----------



## ibglowin

*Bucket of Marquette!*

I ordered 6 more Marquette vines from Double A and got them the first week in April. Stuck them in a pot with soil and this is what they look like now. All 6 are happy and growing like weeds. I will plant them next week after we are past our average frost date (5/7). I did a carboy sample of my 2012 "Field Blend" a mix of Marquette/Noirette/Corot Noir. Oh boy, its only ~7 MO old and tasting delish. I bumped up the tannin level with some Tannin FT Rouge and added a couple oz of Med Toast French Oak beans. 

Looking good!


----------



## vinividivici

Nice looking "sticks", Mike! 

Could you explain the Tannin FT Rouge? And how you determined the target tannin level in the carboy? Would be helpful and interesting for us neophytes.

Re the oak beans, do you sanitize them (or any oak additions whatever the shape) before adding them to the carboy? 

Bob


----------



## ibglowin

SWMBO and I flew out to LA (Burbank) on Thursday to spend a few days with our oldest daughter and SIL. They just purchased their first "starter home" in Burbank way up close to the Verdugo Mountains. Man they have some serious hills in "LA"! Our youngest daughter is house sitting and on vine watch. Sadly we did drop down to 26 yesterday morning. She said the vine up by the patio which I took the pic of did look a little burnt but that much of it still looked green. I will have her shoot me a pic later today. Most of the vines out in the "Nano" Vinyard were just starting to bud so I think they should be OK.

Bob,

Tannin FT Rouge is a tannin extract product made by Scott Labs. I think it is a little better quality than other tannin extracts. I added it up front in the Primary and picked a mid range level addition that was listed on the instruction sheet. If you like tannin in your red wine (and I do) Cold Hardy Hybrids (like I am growing) can use a bump as they have less tannin normally than their Vinifera cousins. Doesn't mean they won't make a fantastic wine without there use by any means. Its purely a stylistic choice up to the winemaker. As usual any Tannin addition will make the wine less approachable up front/early in the life but should allow the wine to age longer and have a longer finish in the glass.


----------



## ibglowin

Forgot to mention, I do not sanitize the oak beans. They are kept stored in their sealed plastic bag and they are good to go as is. I use about an ounce of oak for every 2G of wine (red). Since I only had 3G and have 6G barrels, none of this wine saw any barrel time so oaking alternatives were the only option really.


----------



## vinividivici

ibglowin said:


> Forgot to mention, I do not sanitize the oak beans. They are kept stored in their sealed plastic bag and they are good to go as is. I use about an ounce of oak for every 2G of wine (red). Since I only had 3G and have 6G barrels, none of this wine saw any barrel time so oaking alternatives were the only option really.



Thanks for the info on both, Mike. As I'm growing Marquette, Frontenac and Corot Noir, that tannin addition might be worthwhile.

Cheers,
Bob


----------



## grapeman

vinividivici said:


> Thanks for the info on both, Mike. As I'm growing Marquette, Frontenac and Corot Noir, that tannin addition might be worthwhile.
> 
> Cheers,
> Bob


 
Corot Noir actually has a fair amount of tannins on it's own- surprising. Noiret does also, but you don't have that one yet.


----------



## Runningwolf

ibglowin said:


> Tannin FT Rouge is a tannin extract product made by Scott Labs. I think it is a little better quality than other tannin extracts. I added it up front in the Primary and picked a mid range level addition that was listed on the instruction sheet. If you like tannin in your red wine (and I do) Cold Hardy Hybrids (like I am growing) can use a bump as they have less tannin normally than their Vinifera cousins. Doesn't mean they won't make a fantastic wine without there use by any means. Its purely a stylistic choice up to the winemaker. As usual any Tannin addition will make the wine less approachable up front/early in the life but should allow the wine to age longer and have a longer finish in the glass.


 
Mike I added 10g of this very tannin to all of my Chilean Reds before I even added anything else.


----------



## OilnH2O

ibglowin said:


> Man what a difference from last years bud break. Last year we were busting out all over on this date. This year I still have sticks in the "Nano" Vineyard.....
> 
> Good thing as well as we got down to 24 degrees yesterday morning! Todays low was 48. Gotta love spring in the desert southwest......



Same thing here - I'm amazed at how similar it is between here and there!


----------



## OilnH2O

How are they coming, Mike? Should be popping by now!


----------



## ibglowin

*2013 Is (finally) off to a start!*

We had a hard frost last Friday while we were out of town visiting our kids in SOCAL. Got down to 26 according to the thermometer. The vine up by the house was toast as you can see but is starting to come back. The vines out in the garden area away from the house are much slower to bud which is probably good. They are just starting now. I am concerned about one of the Noiret vines that had my best and biggest clusters. It is either dormant or dead as it is showing no signs of swelling or budding. I will wait a few more weeks but I may have to keep one of my Marquette vines from Double A for that spot. Very strange to say the least after last year. This upcoming week looks fantastic weather wise with highs in the upper 70's and lows in the upper 40's.


----------



## grapeman

We have had a drastic cooldown the last few days and it is getting worse. They have forecast 28 degrees for Tuesday morning. If it gets that low, I will have a lot of burned vines- and they are looking great right now. Here is hoping it stays above freezing.


----------



## ibglowin

Hey Rich,

I attended a meeting today of the Northern Rio Grande chapter of the NM Vine & Wine Society. The topic for this meeting was Cold Hardy Hybrids. We sampled about 4 whites and 8-9 Reds. I volunteered to bring a bottle of your Marquette that I added some oak beans to when I got them back in November I think. It was easily the best red hands down. There were some good wines but yours was the only one people really raved about and wanted to know more about. Needless to say I think I sold a bunch of vines today. Your St. Pepin would have bested all the whites. 

Good job buddy!


----------



## GreginND

We were down to 28 degrees this morning. Tomorrow's forcast? 89 !!! WOW, From winter to summer in 24 hours.


----------



## grapeman

Mike I think this year's Marquette will be as good as previous year's, but it will need to age a little longer. It seems to have a bit more tannins in it this year. The seeds were a bit riper at harvest and I took full advantage of that. I am going to oak some of it this year also.

There has been a large interest in cold hardy hybrids in recent years and I think some of them make truly good to great wine, especially the whites. Marquette is good as a new hybrid, but Leon Millot is a great early drinker and is an old hybrid.


----------



## ibglowin

We tasted some blends with Leon Millot as well Baco Noir, Chancellor, Seval Blanc and a few others. Wines came from Missouri, Texas, NM and yours from NY. I wished I had a bottle of the St. Pepin as it would have blown them away. This Fall when things cool down I will reorder some Marquette from you and this time some St. Pepin. I don't think anyone has ever tried that varietal here in NM to my knowledge.


----------



## OilnH2O

ibglowin said:


> ... I am concerned about one of the Noiret vines that had my best and biggest clusters. It is either dormant or dead as it is showing no signs of swelling or budding. I will wait a few more weeks but I may have to keep one of my Marquette vines from Double A for that spot....



Mike, even when I replanted some new vines into holes that had "dead" PN from my big freeze several years ago, I left the old vines and just put a rooted cutting in beside them. Several have amazingly come back, even showing nothing for the first year... Either it's my imagination, or these can show every sign of being history, but yet they come back. So... _don't be too hasty_!


----------



## ibglowin

That vine just might, repeat might be showing some signs of bud swell, nothing like it should have by now. Maybe this is the coldest spot in the nano-vinyard! 
I will watch it closely then start trimming it back and see if I see any green. This is a grafted vine I got from Double A (Noiret) so perhaps the graft had problems this Winter. Just doesn't look good. Since its a grafted vine its toast unless something comes back from above the graft. We will keep you posted.

Beautiful day today BTW, the low was 48 and high is supposed to be around 78. Vines are starting to feel safe from further cold damage.


----------



## mgmarty

I have been fighting six Pinot Gris for three years now. This last winter knocked them back to the graft. My zone is 6b and I think the winters are to hard on them. I'm thinking of putting a hybrid in there place next year.


----------



## ibglowin

These are all hybrids most on their own root stock but I did buy 6 on grafted rootstock not realizing I didn't need to. Oh well time will tell and I have a nice new vine to replace it if it doesn't come to life PDQ.


----------



## OilnH2O

When you live in the West, guys, _every day_ is a "beautiful day!"


----------



## ibglowin

*Chateau Michaelena: The Expansion!*

Well it had to happen sooner or later and quite frankly I am surprised it didn't happen before now. I am just flat out of room. The winery/cellar is stuffed to the gills with racks and racks of wine, barrels, full carboys, empty bottles......

My outdoor shed which is an amazing "toy box" and just one of the reasons we bought this house is stuffed to the gills as well. So much that I can't hardly get my mower out without moving carboys out or cases of bottles......

Time for more space! Costco to the rescue! Picked up an 8"x12" Wood Shed for $1100 with $300 instant rebate and free shipping to boot. I have a large side fenced area that will be perfect for this and it will back up to the existing shed so access will be easy. This will hold all wine making supplies for a long long time (I hope!) We are talking Bottles (must have 100 cases or more), Crusher/Destemmer, Press, Empty Carboys, Primaries (Brute 20G).......

Need to prep the site a bit beforehand. Its pretty level but needs a bit of work. I will post some more picks as it takes shape! 







Doesn't look like much now thats for sure!


----------



## Julie

LOL, I love the the way you think, not "I have to slow down in my winemaking." BUT "I need more room!"


----------



## ibglowin

I have got to learn how to say no to free bottles. Its hard as we have some friends that drop off 2 cases ever 3-4 months. Cleaned, and labels removed! How can anyone say no to that!


----------



## grapeman

I thought the first picture was the new shed! LOL- NOT, just a stack of wood for now!


----------



## ibglowin

I wish I could fast forward to that point LOL


----------



## ibglowin

*Marquette growing like a weed and Corot Noir & Noiret in decline?*

So here are some progress pics for this season. I hit all vines last weekend with fertilizer. The Marquette have just exploded with growth everywhere. Thye are finally starting to look like what Rich and others do, shoots going everywhere and growing inches in a day it seems. The Corot Noir and Noiret look like they are fading fast into the sunset. I pulled out the one Noiret a few weeks back it was dead as a doorknob. That vine had just beautiful clusters last Fall. Looks like the Marquette is living up to its potential.


----------



## vinividivici

Looking good, Mike! Re the fertilizer for the Marquette, was it necessary due to poor soil conditions? I know that it's not normally recommended because of the nutrients going to the excessive vegetative growth vs. the root system, trunk, etc. Or am I wrong on that? Wouldn't be surprised if I was, though.

Bob


----------



## Wade E

Looking great there Mike!


----------



## ibglowin

We have horrible soil Bob, very thin, lots of volcanic rock, no organic, little to no nutrients. The Marquette looks quite happy now that they have had some nutrients.


----------



## OilnH2O

Looks good... I'm thinking you have too much grass in that backyard, though. Since you have that new, instant shed, maybe you need to double your production area, too!


----------



## grapeman

Now they are growing Mike. You should see the things grow here now with it hitting the 80s again.


----------



## ibglowin

I wish I could figure out whats going on with the Noiret and Corot Noir. Just weird that they looked happy and healthy last year and this year they are not growing and seem to be fading away.


----------



## grapeman

I guess they both do better on a soil like yours when grafted on a rootstock for droughty soils. Yours were bareroot I believe - I know at least some were.


----------



## ibglowin

The one I lost this Spring was one of my initial grafted vines from Double A. The pic of the vine with almost no growth is a bareroot. Guess we will see what they do. May have to rip em out and add more Marquette next year.


----------



## ibglowin

Been waiting for 3 weeks for that "instant shed" to build itself and no luck still. Need to find some time, energy and motivation!



OilnH2O said:


> Since you have that new, instant shed.....


----------



## grapeman

Have you been watering it adequately Mike? If not set up a sprinkler head on it and water once a day. See if that helps it to spring up. ....................................................


----------



## ibglowin

Its on a drip I have been giving it extra water (by hand) as nothing is happening growth wise since bud break. Have a few tiny leaves and a few clusters but no real growth day to day See the last picture of the most recent pics. I have hit it with a dose a fertilizer twice now.


----------



## grapeman

Sorry, I was referring to the shed Mike. It's that bad sense of humor thing I have.


----------



## ibglowin

Bwahahahahahahahaha! 

Good one, my coffee has obviously NOT kicked in yet this AM!


----------



## grapeman

Stress makes me cornier than normal. I was ready to go get my monthly chemo when I responded. LOL


----------



## OilnH2O

ibglowin said:


> Been waiting for 3 weeks for that "instant shed" to build itself and no luck still. Need to find some time, energy and motivation!
> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *OilnH2O*
> 
> 
> _Since you have that new, instant shed....._





grapeman said:


> Sorry, I was referring to the shed Mike. It's that bad sense of humor thing I have.


Rich, Mike's worried about the shed - I'm not concerned about_ the shed..._ That can be on the back burner until it's needed. I'm concerned about those vines! Thus, my point about _"too much grass in the backyard..."_

He's had the wedding... and the grass is growing great... and takes time to cut! And, obviously the soil there grows stuff (_the grass_). It's simple logic! It seems to me that he should double or triple the size of his vineyard! 

After all, it takes the same amount of stress and angst to worry about 40 or 50 - or even more - struggling vines on volcanic soil, as it does for the ones he's looking at over coffee each morning!


----------



## ibglowin

Dave you are such a *BAD* influence on me says my better half anyway! 

Don't think I haven't thought about it. It would be easy enough to turn the entire backyard into a real vineyard. Problem is those darn kids in SOCAL are turning the screws trying to get us to retire out that way one day soon. It would be easier to sell this place with a beautiful backyard of bluegrass than of grape vines. LOL


----------



## Deezil

ibglowin said:


> Don't think I haven't thought about it. It would be easy enough to turn the entire backyard into a real vineyard. Problem is those darn kids in SOCAL are turning the screws trying to get us to retire out that way one day soon. It would be easier to sell this place with a beautiful backyard of bluegrass than of grape vines. LOL



So you rent it out..

And write into the lease contract that if the grapes die for whatever reason, the lease is terminated.. Then you have automatic-help come harvest time, cause you write that in too 

I'm sure you could find someone in the opposite situation - retiring, to get away from everyone.. And they'd love to sit around and watch the grapes grow, and water them..


----------



## ibglowin

I am thinking (hoping) that we can hold on to this place for the Summer home (and grapes) and just go spend extended periods of time in the Winter out in SOCAL with the grandkids (someday).


----------



## OilnH2O

ibglowin said:


> I am thinking (hoping) that we can hold on to this place for the Summer home (and grapes) and just go spend extended periods of time in the Winter out in SOCAL with the grandkids (someday).



Man... it should be easy for you to get a moving truck to go in that direction since there are about a zillion more headed from there... to YOU! I think you need to read one of those "where to live in retirement" magazines!!!


----------



## mgmarty

I'm seriously considering putting a vine in a pot to travel in my RV! Like a Bonsai or something!


----------



## OilnH2O

Like this?? (Note the bottle on the tongue for passers-by!)


----------



## ibglowin

Man summer is here ready or not. The whole week is supposed to be 90-95 here at the house. This doesn't help the forest fires burning in the Jemez or Pecos wilderness in any way. Vines are growing like weeds and we have grapes setting already on several vines. I am tying and pruning as needed on a daily basis it seems. The drip system is working overtime this week!


----------



## ibglowin

Haven't posted any update in awhile. Summer is moving at a lightening fast speed it seems. The Monsoons showed up early this year for a change. We started seeing some afternoon rains the week or so before the 4th of July and they have not really let up very much. Somedays we get 0.25 inch, somedays up to 1.00 inch, somedays nothing. I fertilized only twice in the Spring and have not fertilized since. I plan on sending some samples out for a Petiole analysis sometime this week just to see how the nutrition is looking. Vines look very healthy, growing like weeds this year. Crop is not huge. That late frost may have knocked down the numbers a tad. Some vines are loaded, some not so much. Looks like I lost a vine that grew like gang busters first two years and this year it budded out then all growth stopped. Very weird. It has sent up a shoot from the ground that is growing like a weed. I will train it up and see what it does I guess. One vine has started verasion! Crazy! Grapes look great as well. No spray program either. Will need to keep an eye out for the grape leaf skelatonizers that show up towards the end of the month or early August.

We have been away quite a bit the last few weeks. In mid to late June we went on a 10 day trip up to Seattle to visit family for a few days, then we spent 3 days in Walla Walla, then 4 days in OR Pinot Noir country. We had preplanned to purchase a new car in Seattle through Costco. That deal went really well so we had a vehicle to travel around in plus we could bring back as much wine as the back seat would hold! 

Brought back 4 cases of "the good stuff"! We picked up a 2013 Honda Accord with all the bells and whistles. We got 37mpg on the highway. Amazing gas milage! Got the 4 cylinder. It has pretty much the same engine as my S2000 sports car so plenty of get up and go when you need it and great gas milage to boot.

Will post more pics as things progress but we are moving rapidly here with the great weather.


----------



## grapeman

Looking very nice there Mike.


----------



## robie

Looking good! It is moving right along. This should be a decent year, with your grapes having another year's grows on them.


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## mgmarty

I have been enjoying a little bit of that monsoonal flow myself here in the dessert state of Utah. Haven't needed to water for two weeks now! Your vines look great! Amazing what a little rain will do.


----------



## vinividivici

Wowza! Picture perfect! Was in OR for two weeks recently while our area got rain every day. Got back to find all my 3rd year harvest clusters covered in fungus. 

When you were in OR, did you get to Hawk's View? Private winery south of Portland, big Pinot Noir grower and superb wine.

PS: change your ID to IBGROWING

Bob


----------



## ibglowin

LOL, the vines be liking the extra humidity and lower pH rain water.

Found out why I wasn't a big fan of OR Pinot. Was not paying enough........ We stayed in McMinnville, OR just about an hour outside of Portland. Really neat little town with nice restaurants and quaint shops. We hit quite a few wineries in the area and the best were in the Dundee Hills AVA. Honestly, you have to pay $40 min for a good OR Pinot and they go up from there pretty darn fast. The 2011's were all really bad, horrible year, stay away. We bought some 09's and 10's back from Archery Summit, Ken Wright, Sokal Blosser, Beaux Freres, Erath and a few smaller wineries with pretty awesome wines like Angela (made by Ken Wright) and Biggio Hamina. Several of the places were by appointment only, private tastings. They be proud of their wines. In WA you could get out of almost any wine tasting with any bottle purchase. Some of these places in OR were minimum of $80 purchase to get out of your $20 tasting fee!

The best meals we had included grilled salmon which was paired with an OR Pinot. That was a KILLER combo!


----------



## GreginND

Thanks for the info. Yes, you are right, the best OR pinots are pricey. Our wine tasting group did a salmon and pinot noir tasting a couple years ago. It was spectacular. We had salmon done at least 5 different ways - fresh, cooked, cold smoked, hot smoked, etc.


----------



## blumentopferde

ibglowin said:


> Honestly, you have to pay $40 min for a good OR Pinot and they go up from there pretty darn fast.



$40 for a good Pinot Noir, from where? Oregon?! How much land do you get for that price? Oregon, I'm coming! ;P


----------



## ibglowin

At least you don't pay any sales tax on that wine or a nice meal out either. No sales tax in that state. Oh and you can't pump your own gas as that's too dangerous for us lay people.


----------



## blumentopferde

what I wanted to say:
How much is an acre of land in Oregon? If you sell wine for 40$ per bottle the purchase of the land including costs for the setup of the vineyard will most probably pay off with the first yield!


----------



## ibglowin

Take that you [email protected]&#'ing Robin's!


----------



## vinividivici

*Looking Good!*

Harvesting soon?

Can you please check out my problem batch on this thread:

http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/f5/fermentation-gusher-good-bad-31726/index2.html

Haven't had any replies yet. 

Thanks,
Bob


----------



## ibglowin

*Bud's are Busting Out All Over!*

No stopping it now I suppose….. We were quite cool all last week with ridiculous winds, some snow up in the mountains. We had forecast for freezing on Wed and Thu and I brought all my tomato plants, house plants in and put some *BIG* beach towels on the grape vines that started to bud but no freeze. Friday I didn't cover anything up but at 2:30AM the freeze alarm in the bedroom window went off (set for 34 degrees) Had to get up and bring every thing in I could and cover the vines with the towels. It got down to 28 and the towels seemed to work. Saturday and Sunday were Chamber of Commerce type weather. We actually had our first Patio dinner of the Spring on Saturday. No wind, warm temps. perfect evening. Yesterday it got up to 80 degrees! Wind came back but it was so warm by the afternoon I had to turn on the AC unit in the Winery. It was up to 68 already. AC unit pulled it down to 63 degrees in short order. I stuck a digital thermometer in the unit to see how cold the air was coming out of it. 34 degrees!


----------



## mgmarty

Yep. Same weather here. I lost a few shoots to the frost though. Next year I'm going to bring in another sprinkler. 


Baco Noir and Seyval Blanc in Utah


----------



## OilnH2O

Wow, Mike - I'm amazed at how far along you are at 7000 feet! Those look great - how did they winter?

-Dsve


----------



## ibglowin

Hey Dave,

We had a mild (and sadly) very dry Winter (again). I watered about once a month on average to give them some moisture. Everything is looking pretty good with some vines much further along than others. Some are just now starting to swell. It looks like I lost another of the first vines I planted on grafted rootstock. I have lost one each year now for the last 3 seasons. I also planted 6 new Marquette last year. They did not grow more than 2-3 feet tall but all of them are coming out now and looking like they know what to do this year. Another front coming through tonight/tomorrow........


----------



## ibglowin

*2014 Grape Growing Season is Over…...*

*Obi-Wan: I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of grape buds cried out in terror and were then suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened…….*

Tried sheets with thick heavy towels on top to no avail. Got down to 23 this AM.

Good luck to everybody else still playing the game!


----------



## grapeman

Now that is just sad................

Lower the flag and observe a moment of silence.

Maybe the secondaries hadn't opened yet and the buds will give you some crop. Best of luck to you. You sure as heck need it now!


----------



## mgmarty

Wow that sucks. Froze here two nights ago. Ran the sprinklers. Mine faired pretty well. Better luck next time. 



Baco Noir and Seyval Blanc in Utah


----------



## Kraffty

Really sorry to see that for anyone. On to Plan B for the season.
Mike


----------



## ibglowin

Trying to figure out (outside of moving out of this cold air drainage area we live in) how to raise the temps to save them next year. Smudge pots? Fans? Sprinklers? They did OK with towels down to ~30 (the night before for a short period). Hadn't seen clusters that pretty in 2 years.


----------



## sour_grapes

So sorry, Mike. Wish there was a way to "unlike" a post!


----------



## GreginND

Oh no. So sorry. Looks like a freeze coming for us tonight but our buds have hardly swelled yet so we should be ok. 


Sent from my iPad using Wine Making


----------



## fabrictodyefor

So sorry for your loss! I do admire that you are trying! I'm thinking this is something I'm just not willing to attempt. Tempting!! But at a zone 2 I'm not sure if anything would winter over! This is a very harsh spring for everyone.


----------



## Boatboy24

Oh no! It brings me great pain to see that. Time to invest in several patio heaters and a giant, underground propane tank.


----------



## ibglowin

I am definitely going to look into smudge pots for next year. I have lived in this area for 28 years now and it "used" to always, and I mean always be safe to plant after Mothers Day. Not any more. Of course look at the forecast for the entire next week. Just perfect……..


----------



## ibglowin

*"I'm not dead yet!"……..*

Well the late bud breakers (Noiret and Corot Noir) decided that they would show the Marquette just how smart they are by being late bloomers……

Who am I to argue with them! LOL


----------



## grapeman

Are you saying the Marquette hasn't bloomed yet? They should about 10 days ahead.


----------



## ibglowin

The Marquette all got wiped out with the 23 degree freeze back on May the 12th. They have started to re-rud but are WAY behind with only a few clusters at the moment. The Cordons on those that had broke bud and got hammered are still not really pushing new blooms/growth. All new growth is coming from the base or up in the center of the vine near the top wire. I have cut into the cordons and they are green and seem healthy. I have been pulling/sniping the growth from the base trying to force the energy/growth up top and out to the cordons but it is slow still. I finally hit the vines with a good dose of fertilizer this weekend and got the drip system repaired and working after the dogs got carried away. I was hand watering before this weekend which was getting really old!


----------



## GreginND

Yes, early budding means greater risks of spring freezes. Nice to see your other vines doing so well. Good luck with the Marquette.


----------



## OilnH2O

That's good news - and will be interesting to see how it all works out. I guess now you'll doubly-sweat an early fall frost. I'm able to let our grapes make it through the first few freezes in September to not pick until October... but it's always touch and go. Knowing your penchant for numbers I suspect you'll have a great analysis of the results when it's all over! 
_
(Now you know why I say, "I'm waiting on global warming to kick in!")_

Hang in there

Dave


----------



## grapeman

Not surprising at all then. I forgot about that freeze. When your first buds-primary- get wiped out, that gets rid of most of the crop. Secondaries are less fruitful and the tertiary ones don't generally have any fruit. One of the downfalls of Marquette is early growth and a late freeze.


----------



## ibglowin

Historically we seem to be more prone to late freezes in the Spring than early frost in the Fall.

I wonder what the protection factor is for ice sheets (how low it will protect) We had 23 degrees on May 12th this year. I could also run some strands of lights on the top wire and perhaps even cover them with blankets/beach towels/sheets……..

The smudge pots look pretty expensive. I have a patio heater (actually 2 of them) but it seems like I would need about 4-5 of them to cover the entire garden plus propane.

The light strands seem to be the least expensive option as long as I don't set anything on fire!


----------



## fabrictodyefor

ibglowin said:


> The light strands seem to be the least expensive option as long as I don't set anything on fire!



I use old fashioned Christmas tree light strands to ward off an early frost and cover with blankets. It seems like we always have a frost early in September and if I can get my vegies through that first one I'm good till the harsher weather comes later in the fall. The lights seem to work!


----------



## ibglowin

I was thinking something like these that are bigger and hopefully put out a little more heat would work well. Target sells ones like this IIRC.


----------



## ibglowin

*Gloom, Despair and Agony on me……...*

Deep, dark depression, excessive misery….
If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all….
Gloom, despair, and agony on me….

The vines had really recovered nicely after our late frost back in mid May. I had been meaning to post some pics of the growth but didn't quite make it in time…. LOL

We got 0.5" of rain last night. Thats always good news in the Southwest especially during fire season. But the bad news is the rain was associated with pea and marble sized hail…..

I have seen worse for sure in the 28 years I have lived here but….. the Monsoon season has only just begun….. Wish it could just "plain rain" here, always has to be loaded with drama it seems!


----------



## GreginND

It's always something. Hopefully you'll recover some fruit from that. It looks like some of your clusters were not damaged.

Good luck.


----------



## grapeman

The bad luck just keeps coming doesn't it? Those leaves sure got shredded


----------



## Runningwolf

Holy smokes Mike. Hope you do better then what it looks like.


----------



## ibglowin

This hit sorta late in the evening for a Monsoon with hail like after 9:00PM.

Every time I go out there I see more and more damage to clusters……. 

I just bought a nice color pot of Petunias for the front portal and it was shredded this AM. 

The Geraniums on the South (back side) of the house were sparred due to the angle of the hail as it came in from the NW mostly.

This is definitely becoming a labor of love/hate LOL


----------



## ibglowin

Oh and on the bright side I have *ZERO* disease pressure!


----------



## mgmarty

Holy mackerel!! So sorry. Starting wonder how commercial winneries do it. 


Baco Noir and Seyval Blanc in Utah


----------



## ibglowin

Shiny new addition to the winery! Fits perfectly underneath my (now) MOTORIZED crusher destemmer!


----------



## Runningwolf

That is a necessity, you'll love. Now to get your totes that'll fit under it.


----------



## Boatboy24

Oooohhh! Very nice.


----------



## ibglowin

Got em. I picked up 2 of the 20G rectangular Brutes back in 2011. They fit perfectly under the chute. 



Runningwolf said:


> That is a necessity, you'll love. Now to get your totes that'll fit under it.


----------



## Mike89T

ibglowin said:


> Shiny new addition to the winery! Fits perfectly underneath my (now) MOTORIZED crusher destemmer!


 
Ooohhhh NICE! Almost time to get it all dirty!

I got to destem by hand yesterday and then used my fists to crush the small amount of grapes I was able to harvest. I'm going old school.


----------



## ibglowin

I (once) de-stemmed close to 200lbs by hand. Even with my wife helping it took us over 8 hours. Never again. LOL


----------



## Mike89T

ibglowin said:


> This hit sorta late in the evening for a Monsoon with hail like after 9:00PM.
> 
> Every time I go out there I see more and more damage to clusters…….
> 
> I just bought a nice color pot of Petunias for the front portal and it was shredded this AM.
> 
> The Geraniums on the South (back side) of the house were sparred due to the angle of the hail as it came in from the NW mostly.
> 
> This is definitely becoming a labor of love/hate LOL



We have gotten hit by a few Monsoons in Phoenix over the last couple of weeks. Even had one with some small pea sized hail. However since I used paper bags to prevent the birds from getting to my grapes the bags also seemed to protect the clusters from the hail. So I guess I lucked out.


----------



## Mike89T

ibglowin said:


> I (once) de-stemmed close to 200lbs by hand. Even with my wife helping it took us over 8 hours. Never again. LOL



Holy Cow! I had maybe 5lbs and it took me almost 15 minutes. I couldn't imagine doing 200lbs by hand!


----------



## ibglowin

Pic of the (now) Motorized Crusher Destemmer on the new stand. A retired mechanical engineering buddy of mine found an old treadmill motor in great condition in the landfill and pulled out the motor and controls. He then machined the flywheel which has a serpentine belt. He manufactured a cover, somehow got my logo on it, installed cotter keys to remove the setup during cleanup and delivered it all the way to me from Las Cruces 300 miles away. Needless to say I sent him home with plenty of wine!


----------



## mgmarty

Everyone needs a friend like that!! Very nice looking setup. 


Baco Noir and Seyval Blanc in Utah


----------



## JohnT

Glowin, 

200 pounds by hand?? Seriously? How long did that take? 


Nice destemmer. The only thing that I would suggest is that you fashion some sort of cover for those gears. Just imagine if you got a figure stuck in there!


----------



## ibglowin

You are absolutely correct. It does need a cover of sorts!



JohnT said:


> The only thing that I would suggest is that you fashion some sort of cover for those gears. Just imagine if you got a figure stuck in there!


----------



## ibglowin

*Bird Pressure Year to Year*

Last year the Robin's tore into what little crop I had and the grapes were just a week or two into verasion. This year we have had a boatload of rain compared to last Summer and we are a week or more further along and there is no sign of any Robin's. I went ahead and netted this week but it sure is weird as I don't know where they went or if they are just so fat and full they don't have to look for food with all this rain but it is sure 180 degree difference.

With a little luck perhaps I will get a couple of gallons. LOL


----------



## jtstar

We have had so much rain up here that I ended up with black rot in my vineyard


----------



## grapeman

Good luck with the crop this year!


----------



## ibglowin

Well the 2014 Harvest is in the…… well refrigerator bins…….. 

Right around 50lbs which when crushed made about 4.25 gallons of must so should get 3 gallons of finished wine at least. The Clusters on the Corot Noir and Noiret and getting bigger with each year. Marquette are getting larger but berries are much smaller. Brix on the Marquette were around 24. The Corot Noir and Noiret around 18-20. Final Blend was around 21 and I bumped it up with some simple sugar to around 23.5 pH was 3.35 and TA around 8.7 g/L Will see where it all settles to after the 71B yeast does it magic on the acid.

Here is a link to the newly automated crusher in action. This is a repurposed treadmill motor and electronic control module. A serpentine flywheel and belt turn the wheel. The speed can be adjusted up or down easily with a turn of the knob. Was nice to try it out this week before the 900lbs from California hits next weekend!

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tT34ZZOGBVo[/ame]


----------



## grapeman

Hey Mike, just dump that little bin in all at once! The crusher will take it as long as it doesn't bog the motor down. We dump 30 pound or so lugs in and they are through the destemmer and crusher in about 15 seconds or so each. If the stems are long and wrap around the shaft a bit it may take a little longer but not much. But then again you probably were just feeding them so slowly for dramatic effect!

The grapes look great and the numbers are good overall.


----------



## GreginND

OMG - 6 minutes to crush those grapes? Just dump them in - should take about 20 seconds!


----------



## rhoffart

Very nice Mike ... looks good.


----------



## ibglowin

LOL yes, I will next weekend for sure. I wanted to see how this guy would do before next week so was taking it easy to see how the motor performed. It never slowed down. You can remove the whole assembly by pulling two cotter keys. Makes for easy clean up. I used this crusher for the first time with my 2012's and they turned out fantastic. It's nice to work with the same fruit year after year. 

You know what to expect and you know how to tweak it with minimal effort and worry.


----------



## oregondabbler

I just finished going through the life and times of Chateau Michaelena. The bug to grow your own wine grapes has gotten into you but good.

Makes no difference if its 2 vines or 2000, they become an obsession. Each year is a roller coaster isn't it? Enjoy the wine from your own grapes. They look mighty fine. 

I'm not the first to say it but you have a beautiful garden and the grape arbor sets it off nicely.

Enjoy


----------



## ibglowin

Thanks much it has been a journey. I have just enough to play with and learn. Perhaps some day they will mature enough to make all I need for a year. Time and Mother Nature will tell!


----------



## OilnH2O

Looks great, Mike! As we watched your video, my wife Jeri said "why doesn't he just dump them in?" And then we read Rich's and everyone elses posts and just laughed. We harvested and crushed today - wonderfully warm weather the last few days including 90* and then, front came in today and it's 57* - not going to get any better.

Fun, ain't it


----------



## ibglowin

Next year I hope for no late Spring freeze and 12 gallons worth!


----------



## OilnH2O

Just curious - 
How many "growing days" did you get? (days between frosts?)


----------



## tonyt

Looks like fun Mike. I wonder how much I could grow in my 1 acre back yard if I didn't live on the golf coast.


----------



## ibglowin

tonyt said:


> Looks like fun Mike. I wonder how much I could grow in my 1 acre back yard if I didn't live on the golf coast.



Plant Muscadine's Tony


----------



## ibglowin

OilnH2O said:


> Just curious -
> How many "growing days" did you get? (days between frosts?)



We had a nice Spring going until May the 9th when it got down to like 23 degrees so..... I guess you start the clock over at that point.

We still have not had a frost although this AM it got down to 38 degrees but will be fine for the rest of the week as well after this.

So I calculate 143 days from May 9th till yesterday. I have plenty of GDD's to ripen fruit. it's the darn late (KILLING) frost that have gotten me the last two seasons. We have had killing frost in Mid May the last two years. Our average last freeze is May 7th so these have been 2 weeks later than usual and very hard frost on top of that.


----------



## OilnH2O

That's actually pretty good, considering your latitude and altitude, compared to here in Missoula at 3000'msl. I had about 104. Like you, here, there always seems to be a hard frost in the first week of May which sometimes gets the newly burst buds. Then, something like that mid-September hard freeze we had a few weeks ago, two nights in a row that required me to use the sprinklers, but the ice protected the leaves and while a few yellowed early (on one of my PN vines) everything else came through great. The commercial guy in the valley (Ten Spoons - I had a link on my thread) said he lost 15-20 percent of his vines and linked that to production loss, so he must have had a harder, longer frost... and he was using a helicopter to blow air!.

I think I lost 50% of my crop last year to birds - even with the netting. This year, I caught at least two flickers in the nets - they got in through small gaps - and blasted them with three firecrackers and they didn't come back. I hope they remember it next year because I think they were the ones that were here LAST year! 

All in all, about half the vines had good production. Maybe 10 percent so-so. And, a few had NO clusters at all... could have been pollination or something, but no baby grapes ever appeared - just leafy and leggy canes.

But... it keeps me thinking, and... out of the bars at night!


----------



## ibglowin

It was a very weird Summer bird wise around here. Had plenty of Robin's in the Spring and early Summer (that got their fill of grapes last year that were only half ripe) so I had already figured on netting early this Summer. When verasion started I started looking around for Robin's. Not a darn one to be seen ANYWHERE. We had a good Monsoon season so not sure where they went to, perhaps happier hunting grounds either higher or lower in elevation. Anyway, each year is a whole new challenge in one way or another with this little "hobby"!


----------



## ibglowin

Our contribution to "Spring" in the Southern tip of the Rockies arrived this AM. An inch or two here at the house and about 6 inches up in town. Low was 25 again. Hopefully this will keep the vines (in the far background) buttoned up a while longer and protected still.


----------



## grapeman

Been in the 60's here all week after the snow Sunday/Monday. Keep it there Mike.


----------



## GreginND

70 degrees here. Buds haven't started to swell yet. It is very dry. No snow this year and not a lick of rain this spring so far. Hoping for rain tomorrow. It's becoming a dustbowl.


----------



## ibglowin

Look out Rich that front is moving East now!


----------



## grapeman

Supposed to be in the upper 30's to low 40's at night, 50's day and rain on and off most of the week. Still got close to a thousand vines left to prune but I am beginning to see the end.


----------



## mgmarty

Holy cow!! 70's here in Utah again!


----------



## jtstar

We got rain down here in Northeast Nebraska


----------



## OilnH2O

ibglowin said:


> Our contribution to "Spring" in the Southern tip of the Rockies arrived this AM...



 I love it!!! (...and understand completely!)


----------



## ibglowin

Dodged a bullet this morning! Got down to 32 after the front moved through over the last couple of days. We got some amazing moisture! Almost a full inch of rain, sleet and….. scrapple (LOL)

Temps look better for the next week with no more freeze warnings. The Marquette is already busting out of the gates as usual with the Corot Noir and Noiret starting to swell and push. Trimmed over the weekend so waited as long as I could. Here's to a good 2015 growing season!


----------



## sour_grapes

Glad to hear you escaped the freeze, Mike. Did you fry any of that graupel up with butter?


----------



## grapeman

Moving right along over there. Good luck with no more freezes there. The buds are beginning to show a bit of swell here but the 60's and 70's coming will speed that up.


----------



## ibglowin

Butter did not help it. Just would not stay together! LOL

This mornings low was 37. Hoping we can make it through the next couple of weeks….. 



sour_grapes said:


> Did you fry any of that graupel up with butter?


----------



## OilnH2O

32 a few mornings ago.
35 yesterday... 
and today... 

But, like Sgt. Schultz, _"I'm... saying... NOTHING!_


----------



## ibglowin

Know just how you feel. Todays low was 40 and the high will be a perfect sunny and 72 with no W…….I……N…….D……..


----------



## ibglowin

Things have busted out this week with more rain on Tuesday and Wednesday. Marquette is looking good and Corot Noir and Noiret are starting to push nicely as well. We could have a light freeze tomorrow morning, I may string xmas lights on the top wires and light them up for a little extra warmth tonight. 

Fingers crossed we dodge another bullet this weekend!


----------



## grapeman

Here is hoping any frost is light and uneventful for you Mike. I hope you finally can get a decent crop there.


----------



## ibglowin

Well the front was slow moving through and we only got down to 42 this AM but tomorrow looks like it might be down to 25!. I strung lights this evening and will place blankets on top of the top wire tonight before going to bed. The last average frost date is May 7th and if we get a hard freeze tomorrow this will be 3 years in a row that we are basically mid May and not only freezing but hard freeze. Today was horrible weather wise. High of 60 and sustained winds all day around 25MPH. Vineyard lights!

Pics after the break as they say!


----------



## ibglowin

Whohoo! Dodged another bullet and only got down to 32 for just a bit right before sunrise. All vines look to be just fine even portions of the vine that were not covered. 

Weather looks good though the week which will "hopefully" keep us safe for the rest of Spring but never say never!


----------



## roger80465

ibglowin said:


> Whohoo! Dodged another bullet and only got down to 32 for just a bit right before sunrise. All vines look to be just fine even portions of the vine that were not covered.
> 
> Weather looks good though the week which will "hopefully" keep us safe for the rest of Spring but never say never!



The vineyard looks so festive! Glad you dodged that bullet. Hopefully tonight will be safe as well. We reached 36 last night in Denver and it could reach 29 tonight. My early garden could have an issue but it is still early enough to recover.


----------



## ibglowin

Thanks,

The wife wanted to leave them up LOL, I know I need to get about 5-6 strands of the large "Tuscan" lights as I could tell they were putting out much more heat than the icicle lights. They have nice clips for the top wire that would make for an easy on, easy off. They usualy have those on clearance at Target at the end of the Summer so will stock up then for next Spring. I hope we are done for the year. I saw where parts of Denver got ~ 9" of snow on Saturday!


----------



## GreginND

OH dear. All of the vegetable seeds I planted last week when it was near 80 degrees are now going to rot. At least my vines were already damaged and not pushing shoots yet. At least we are finally getting some moisture.

*sigh*


----------



## ibglowin

Yikes! You win….. I have purchased my tomatoes, basil plants as well as some bedding plants but didn't put them into pots/ground this weekend. We are looking good for the next week or so if you can believe those long range forecast!


----------



## grapeman

I am on the edge of a tug-o-war stationary front. 85 yesterday cooling to the 50's today, back to 79 tomorrow then 56 the next day and 78 the next and then 52. Make up your freakin mind weather.


----------



## ibglowin

Well...... so this is what vines look like without a freeze wiping out the primary buds! Have not seen you for several years my friend....... First two pics are of Marquette looking lovely. The last two pics are Corot Noir and Noiret which look ginormous in comparison even though the leaf development are behind the Marquette. So excited to have a real bud break for a change!


----------



## grapeman

They have all come a long ways Mike. Say hi to my children from time to time for me. LOL


----------



## ibglowin

Bwahahahaha......

Who knew you would turn out to be a sailor with "little Rich's" in every port! Even though the Marquette probably makes a better wine, the fact that it breaks bud ~10 days earlier makes it a poor choice for my cold drainage location. I will probably pick up a few more Noiret next year to fill in some spots. Guess we are staying put once I retire. LOL


----------



## ibglowin

The Grape Whisperer........... (grow baby, grow!)


----------



## barbiek

They are beautiful!


----------



## grapeman

They are looking great there. One thing I would do is to remove secondary shoots and thus some clusters. With your volcanic soil and low fertility/water, you don't want too many clusters. Here is a picture of one of yours showing a couple circled secondaries. You will notice they look like they are mostly grape cluster. They never amount to much but will take the energy out of areas you want to grow.


----------



## ibglowin

Thanks Rich, have not had any secondary clusters to remove before this year! We have had so much rain have not even really had to water the entire month of May. Looks like we are returning to normal though now with plenty of heat, and lots of clear blue sky.


----------



## OilnH2O

Those pictures are looking a lot different from what I saw a few years ago - you must have expanded beyond the fence! 

Turned off the water here - having lots of monsoonal moisture and no need for anything else in this part of "the range."

Dave


----------



## ibglowin

LOL Yea, those are all from the front row of vines. They seem to be doing great and trunks are getting bigger and bigger with each passing year. No idea how much I will get this year but it sure is exciting to see them loaded up for a change after the last two years with late killing frost.

Now we just have to pray that the hail that comes each year along with monsoonal moisture stays pea size or less. The fun of farming in the Rockies!


----------



## grapeman

Maybe you could consider getting some of the netting that helps protect against birds, insects and hail. It is a heavier material and can remain attached to the wires all year if you don't mind the look of it in the off season.


----------



## ibglowin

It might very well deflect it but then when its on it makes it a PITA to try and work the vines all Summer long. Today I came home for lunch and it clouded up and rumbled like it was already July and monsoon season. By the time I got back to work which is about 8 min away and 800ft change in elevation it was pouring cats and dogs and had pea sized hail. Not a drop fell down here in the "Banana Belt" where I live.....


----------



## ibglowin

Things are moving along nicely. I trimmed laterals and opened up the canopy a bit today to get more airflow. No disease pressure. No spray program. Nothing but the vine, the sun and the water coming together to produce something special.


----------



## ibglowin

Latest pics from the wine garden. Talk about two different varietals and ripening times especially this year. The Marquette looks almost ready to go and the Corot Noir and Noiret look to be a month or more behind. Hope to let the Marquette hang for as long as possible so the rest can try and catch up!


----------



## ibglowin

Couple more


----------



## fivebk

Mike, 

Your grapes look great! I miss not having my grapes to work with. I was able to harvest a few St Croix grapes the year after the flood, which did result in 7 bottles of wine of which only 4 remain. I have room for 12 vines,but am not sure with the neighbors in town whether it is worth trying. You know with spraying and all.
If you ever have an extra bottle just laying around and Don't know what to do with it, I would love to try your wine someone.

BOB


----------



## tonyt

Looking good Glowin.


----------



## ibglowin

Hey Bob,

Good to hear from you! I have had back to back poor harvest the last two years (due to late frost) so I am due for a decent one! Hoping for 6-12 gallons of finished wine. These grapes are turning out kind of like a Syrah with a lot of rocks funk to it since they are grown in volcanic basalt rock. I will definitely have to get your coordinates and send you a bottle soon!


----------



## OilnH2O

ibglowin said:


> Things are moving along nicely. I trimmed laterals and opened up the canopy a bit today to get more airflow. No disease pressure. No spray program. Nothing but the vine, the sun and the water coming together to produce something special.



That's my plan - only thing we're adding is a little smoke. Would be nice if that kept the yellow jackets away!


----------



## ibglowin

Tell that smoke to stay in Idaho where it belongs. Less oak needed I guess!


----------



## mgmarty

I'm trying a little California smoke here, but its not doing any good!


----------



## joeswine

Nice pics,.,..


----------



## ibglowin

*I would fail miserably as a migrant farm worker!*

Finally got the Lodi grapes all pressed and settling so now I have a minute to harvest the "Estate" grapes! I started around 10:30 and quit at 2:30 so 4 hours and I picked 4 lugs or about 120lbs........ 

I finally have enough crop to actually keep varietals separate and with my new windfall of collapsable grape lugs I have something nice to put them in! I will try and get a shot of all the grapes tomorrow when I finish up I have two more rows!

I can't believe the clusters on the Corot Noir and Noiret, jeez some are double and weigh in at a pound a piece or more. In comparison the Marquette are sooo tiny it hardly seems worth it. I guess that berry size to skin ratio makes up here.

Here are a few picks before harvesting.


----------



## mgmarty

They look fantastic! Good luck with the rest. Post some numbers when you can.


----------



## grapeman

Both the Corot Noir and Noiret have great clusters. Corot Noir is looser and wider and the Noiret has nice long Clusters, but are a bit tight when fully formed. Brix doesn't get as high as with the Marquette, but they both make wonderful wines. Glad the kids are beginning to grow up for you.


----------



## jtstar

I blowing what type of netting are you using


----------



## ibglowin

Just the the cheap plastic stuff. It was given to me several years ago and is about done.


----------



## ibglowin

The Harvest is in! Not bad, the Corot Noir and Noiret kicked the Marquette's ask in production numbers. Not sure why the Marquette is not doing as well. Looks like bout 160lbs all together Just finished crushing and destemming. Too much for one 20G Brute so split it up amongst two. Looks like about 8 gallons of must in each one. No numbers yet, letting them settle out for a bit.


----------



## TomK-B

Yeeee haaaa!!!!!


----------



## OilnH2O

*Great Harvest!*

Lookin' good, Mike. Picking mine tomorrow or Saturday...


----------



## ibglowin

Sounds good Dave!

Mine are cranking as I write. Brix of the "field blend" was about 21. pH was 3.5, TA was 0.9. I am using 71B yeast so hoping it will eat a whole bunch of Malic acid and raise the pH up and thus lower the TA down a bit. I did end up chapitalizing with 4 cups of sugar (2 cups simple syrup) in each primary. That bumped up the Brix to 23.5. I have beautiful color and gorgeous fermentation foam when punching down!


----------



## cmsben61

Beautiful pics


----------



## wineforfun

Those look awesome, good work.


----------



## mgmarty

Nice harvest!! Here's to punching down caps!


----------



## ibglowin

Between the 1000lbs of Cali grapes I got plus these I have been punching down caps for weeks on end.....

Looking forward to then end which is finally in sight!


----------



## Steve_M

Mike,
Consider it a workout routine!

Steve


----------



## ibglowin

That it is! One Sunday my pedometer ticked off almost 20,000 steps when we were pressing and cleaning up stuff afterwards...


----------



## Steve_M

See! That's two days worth of walking in one. Now you can rest. 

Steve


----------



## OilnH2O

OilnH2O said:


> Lookin' good, Mike. Picking mine tomorrow or Saturday...



I've reconsidered... on picking. We've got a great 10 day forecast. I have a trip to Riverside Cali next Wed-Sunday so we've been trying to either do things early so I can be away for 4 days or wait... and what would be best. I am now thinking that I'll pick Tuesday or even Wednesday morning (plane not until late afternoon) and crush with some SO2 and cold-soak for those 5 days - the grapes can be in the cooler garage (it's getting no higher than 60 in there with the door closed) and have the cold packs refrozen by my 'support team.' I think I can keep the grapes on the skins longer, keep the temps in the 50's, and then pitch the yeast when I get back... What do you think?


----------



## ibglowin

I would let them hang if you can Dave. Have you gotten Brix numbers lately? I don't think (IMHO) that a 5 day soak will do you any good. Your not cold enough in your garage!


----------



## ibglowin

Update! I ended up with 11 gallons of wine after pressing. Largest harvest and wine output to date. After sitting on the lees for about 6 days to finish off the carboys were racked down to 9 gallons plus a 1.5L bottle of finished wine. Finally enough to go into a 23L barrel for the first time ever! 

Interesting things happened with 71B. The starting pH was 3.47 and the final pH taken after the last racking was 3.65. Literally perfect. I have pitched MLB in the past and the pH shoots up to ~3.85 and the wine taste kinda flabby. I tasted the wine and its tasting pretty darn good as is for a two week old wine. I think I will forgo MLF as I think the 71B is taking care of most of it anyway and I don't want to have to add more tartaric.


----------



## mgmarty

That's fantastic. Do you cold stabilize?


----------



## ibglowin

The winery gets down to about 50 in the Winter for several months so whatever that cold temp is during the next year or so is what they will be stabilized to for the most part.


----------



## OilnH2O

Great numbers... I was able to get 25.2 brix on my field blend. My pH is starting at 3.65 and I, too, was hoping to not have to do a MLF but I wonder what those numbers will look like later.... I think I'll go take a pH on the must before I press and then again after just to see....


----------



## ibglowin

71B is a different beast compared to normal yeast strains. Once you are reasonable sure you have driven off most of the CO2 through pressing, splash racking etc recheck your pH.


----------



## geek

What was that specific wine you used 71B with? I've only used it in fruit wines so far and maybe a white.


----------



## ibglowin

Cold hardy hybrids that are high in malic acid.


----------



## OilnH2O

geek said:


> What was that specific wine you used 71B with? I've only used it in fruit wines so far and maybe a white.


Really same answer as Mike - mine are mostly Millot, Foch and everything else thrown in. The 71B goes great guns at low (relatively speaking - 60*) temps.


----------



## GreginND

I almost exclusively use 71b for my grapes and fruits. It can be a little slow lag phase if it's cold but it always has finished very strong for me. The only wine I can't get going with it is rhubarb, for some unknown reason.


----------



## derekjames100

Aren't you worried about MLF occurring in the bottle?


----------



## Julie

Why would you think MLF would start in the bottles? If your sulfites levels are good you should not have anything to worry about.


----------



## derekjames100

Julie said:


> Why would you think MLF would start in the bottles? If your sulfites levels are good you should not have anything to worry about.







I thought sulfite levels can dissipate overtime and if you have a sulfite resistant strain(such as vp41) it could take hold when you don't want it to? Mlf in the bottle is considered one of the disasters of winemaking--but maybe I'm wrong. I thought I read that all reds should be put through mlf to negate this risk

However, I tend to worry about low risk issues.


----------



## ibglowin

Just one more reason NOT to rush to bottle. 2 years for me before bottling. If they are not stable by then they will never be.


----------



## GreginND

derekjames100 said:


> I thought sulfite levels can dissipate overtime and if you have a sulfite resistant strain(such as vp41) it could take hold when you don't want it to? Mlf in the bottle is considered one of the disasters of winemaking--but maybe I'm wrong. I thought I read that all reds should be put through mlf to negate this risk
> 
> However, I tend to worry about low risk issues.



Well, all wines contain malic acid and there is a risk of MLF - red or white.

Proper sanitation and sulfite levels are important if you want to prevent MLF. And if you are really worried you can add lysozme to all of your wines.

Point of information - Lalvin 71b does metabolize some of the malic acid, but it is not a malolactic bacteria. It is a yeast. It does not produce lactic acid. It converts the malic to other end products including alcohol. I think some folks are under the impression that 71b causes MLF. It does not.


----------



## grapeman

Good point Greg. Also remember that by dropping the malic acid levels it can also raise the pH very slightly. The combination can leave the wine in a more favorable state to begin mlf if so desired. Take for instance you have some Frontenac that is very borderline for beginning mlf. By using 71B with it you stand a better chance of getting mlf going with the proper mlb. I don't worry at all about using 71B. It is just a matter of determining the best yeast to use with a particular grape grown under certain conditions.


----------



## ibglowin

Well time to post some "Wine Garden" pics for 2016! The Marquette is (as usual) out of the gates as of last week and went crazy with the warm temps we had. We had a front push through all day yesterday and we had blowing cool winds all day up to 40mph sucking the moisture out of anything alive. This morning we got down to 34F of course so we are still not out of the woods but looks like it should warm up slowly over the next few days. Corot Noir and Noiret and pushing good but well behind the Marquette which is why slow and steady wins the race in these parts!


----------



## grapeman

We are just swelling here now Mike. Keep your fingers crossed and you will be OK.


----------



## mgmarty

Looks very nice! It has been a good spring here too. It's sure is nice after the horrible spring we had last year.


----------



## GreginND

Looks great. Mine will be opening this week.


----------



## ibglowin

Another bullet dodged this AM. Little impulse front moved through yesterday. This morning the low was 35 for a few minutes before climbing back up a to 36 before I left for work. As you can see the low temps are never very accurate especially for me as we live in a cold air drainage location close to an arroyo. Think of it as a river for cold air instead of water. Looks clear for the next week or so...... I won't relax until Memorial Day weekend probably!


----------



## geek

Obviously not "Lost Almost"


----------



## ibglowin

Some more pics of the vines as they continue to push and bust out all over after the nice weekend we had. You can really see the difference between how far along the Marquette is compared to Corot Noir and Noiret. Marquette has gone crazy. Baby clusters are forming everywhere.


----------



## berrycrush

How old is your Marquette? My Marquette is in the third year but still has no fruiting cane size yet.


----------



## ibglowin

Planted for the most part in the Spring of 2010.



berrycrush said:


> How old is your Marquette? My Marquette is in the third year but still has no fruiting cane size yet.


----------



## ibglowin

Couple more snaps from this morning. Things are moving along and I haven't even hit them with any fertilizer yet. Marquette 1st pic. Looks like the clusters on the Noiret and Corot Noir (2nd pic) are gonna be huge this year!


----------



## mgmarty

Wow! Mine are doing the same. This, I hope, is going to be a good year!


----------



## ibglowin

Yea, things are looking totally awesome. But hail could wipe out everything in about 10 minutes so I don't get excited really until about August!


----------



## ibglowin

More pics of the explosion from the last few weeks!


----------



## geek

Coming along very nice Mike.


----------



## Kraffty

How many vines total do you have mike, they look great!


----------



## ibglowin

About thirty all together. 3 varieties of cold hardy grapes. Marquette, Corot Noir and Noiret. I just do a field blend each year so far.


----------



## ceeaton

ibglowin said:


> Marquette, Corot Noir and Noiret.



If the grape gestapo made a visit and said you could only keep one of the varieties, which one would it be and why? I have all three of those on my "big list" and I am trying to pair them down. I know your climate is much, much different than mine. I think my location is much more forgiving in Southern PA. I know a few places around here that grow Chardonnay and Cab Sauvingon, but I'd never chance those (we usually hit 0* to -5*F in the average winter, but only for a few mornings).


----------



## ibglowin

Marquette makes one of the best wines hands down but it doesn't work for me in my location as I live in a cold air drainage area and late spring freezes happen more often than not. Marquette breaks bud 10 days earlier so it gets hammered quite often in my location. Noiret is the next best grape and breaks bud 10 days after Marquette so when my Marquette gets blistered by the late frost the Noiret is laughing its ask off at the Marquette for breaking bud so soon. Noiret makes a fantastic wine as well and taste much like a Syrah. My terroir is definitely more suited to Syrah with all of the volcanic rock under the surface. I will not be adding any more Marquette for sure and may be replacing the Marquette with Noiret. Of course Global Warming may make all of this a mute point....... YMMV as they say.


----------



## ColemanM

I will be making my first wine with petite pearl this year. Probably only a gallon but I would put this on your short list too with the 24 brix 6-7TA estimates. Then again, if I win the powerball I will be planting corn, barley and rye and forgetting about the trial and tribulations of growing these damn needy grapes.


----------



## ceeaton

ibglowin said:


> Marquette makes one of the best wines hands down but it doesn't work for me in my location as I live in a cold air drainage area and late spring freezes happen more often than not. Marquette breaks bud 10 days earlier so it gets hammered quite often in my location. Noiret is the next best grape and breaks bud 10 days after Marquette so when my Marquette gets blistered by the late frost the Noiret is laughing its ask off at the Marquette for breaking bud so soon. Noiret makes a fantastic wine as well and taste much like a Syrah. My terroir is definitely more suited to Syrah with all of the volcanic rock under the surface. I will not be adding any more Marquette for sure and may be replacing the Marquette with Noiret. Of course Global Warming may make all of this a mute point....... YMMV as they say.



Can they survive a light frost without damage if you can cover them (the Marquette)? We can get frosts as late as May 15th (I think it was the 18th about 5 or 6 yrs ago) but they are rare and it is only for a few hours in the wee hours of the morning.

Someone has some grapes (about 15 or so plants) on my way to work and I was wondering if they got damage this year because we had a later than normal frost. From what I'm seeing at 35 mph driving past them, there is no apparent leaf damage, but he does tend to them very well and might have pulled the leaves. Guess I should think stop when I see him out and see if he'll answer a few questions. Maybe a bottle of wine might tempt him to hear me out.


----------



## ceeaton

ColemanM said:


> I will be making my first wine with petite pearl this year. Probably only a gallon but I would put this on your short list too with the 24 brix 6-7TA estimates. Then again, if I win the powerball I will be planting corn, barley and rye and forgetting about the trial and tribulations of growing these damn needy grapes.



That is a very interesting grape and on my list too! Will be interested in what you think about it if you do get a gallon or so worth this year. I know it will get better the older the vine gets, but I'd think you'll be able to tell with a first vintage if you are on the right track.


----------



## ibglowin

ceeaton said:


> Can they survive a light frost without damage if you can cover them (the Marquette)? We can get frosts as late as May 15th (I think it was the 18th about 5 or 6 yrs ago) but they are rare and it is only for a few hours in the wee hours of the morning.



We got a hard freeze (22F) on in mid May 2 years ago and I covered them up with blankets, towels you name it. Its pretty easy to cover them with a top wire system and only 30 vines. It did not work. I suspect a light freeze (30-32) you could save them. with the use of lights etc. If you go back on this thread you will see what I did to save them.


----------



## GreginND

I'm still struggling to get my marquette to grow. They were finally budding out on the high wire (this is year 4) but our 28° freeze on May 13 basically killed the vine all the way to the ground. The primary buds and secondary buds are gone. Cordons look lifeless. Only growth from the bottom. They have died to the ground every year since I've planted them. *sigh*


----------



## BlueStimulator

How are the vines looking now?


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## ibglowin

With the heat we have been having things are moving along nicely!


----------



## Pat57

GreginND said:


> I'm still struggling to get my marquette to grow. They were finally budding out on the high wire (this is year 4) but our 28° freeze on May 13 basically killed the vine all the way to the ground. The primary buds and secondary buds are gone. Cordons look lifeless. Only growth from the bottom. They have died to the ground every year since I've planted them. *sigh*



Wow, that is a real shame. I can't believe even the cordons were killed. My Marquettes are in their 3rd year now and they have put out a ton of growth already and at least 20-25 clusters per vine, but I snipped off most all the clusters, I'm leaving a few just to see how the grapes do this year, maybe I'll get enough to make just one bottle of wine ...LOL


----------



## ibglowin

Considering they are cold hardy to -20F it must be that yours had gone from dormant to full growth phase only to be hit by a late frost. I have ben hit with late frost several years in a row in the past and they did not die back to the ground. Only the primary buds were toast and secondary pushed and produced some fruit. That seems crazy!



GreginND said:


> I'm still struggling to get my marquette to grow. They were finally budding out on the high wire (this is year 4) but our 28° freeze on May 13 basically killed the vine all the way to the ground. The primary buds and secondary buds are gone. Cordons look lifeless. Only growth from the bottom. They have died to the ground every year since I've planted them. *sigh*


----------



## BlueStimulator

Looking good


----------



## ibglowin

Its been a HOT and DRY Summer so far and even with watering every few days it seems like the vines are struggling in the heat. We finally seem to be getting a normal monsoon pattern setting up. Its only a month late! Here are some pics I snapped today. We got 0.50 inch of rain last night with more forecast for this week. Hoping things can catch up. Verasion has begun on some varieties the last week or so.


----------



## geek

Were you tempted just to see where the brix is up, early I know but tempting....


----------



## ibglowin

Not in the least LOL. I am watching birds closely now. Might have to net this weekend.


----------



## Johnd

ibglowin said:


> Its been a HOT and DRY Summer so far and even with watering every few days it seems like the vines are struggling in the heat. We finally seem to be getting a normal monsoon pattern setting up. Its only a month late! Here are some pics I snapped today. We got 0.50 inch of rain last night with more forecast for this week. Hoping things can catch up. Verasion has begun on some varieties the last week or so.



That's just awesome. I am admittedly and openly jealous of your ability to grow great winemaking grapes, short of moving, I have no chance down here. The grapes look beautiful and I marvel at the pristine look of your leaves, like they just opened. I'm sure it all looks so good because of your attentiveness to pruning and spraying regimen. Keep up the pic posting Mike, I'm loving it!! Maybe one day.....


----------



## ibglowin

Thanks John! I planted these just wondering what they would do. Knowing now what I didn't know then I would have chosen more Noiret and Corot Noir as they break bud about 10-14 days later than the Marquette. I got 9 gallons of finished wine last year. I just do a field blend for each year. Believe it or not I have no spray program as we have zero disease pressure. Just too dry for fungus. I do have a small downy mildew problem but not enough of one to treat since it only effects a few leaves and not the grapes. These are all Cold Hardy Hybrids that survive our cold Winters. You have the exact opposite problem, no Winter and long Summer. Muscadines my friend, you need to learn to like Muscadine wine! 

Here is a snap from a few years back!


----------



## grapeman

They are coming along nicely Mike. I am just beginning to see a few berries here and there showing some color- exactly the same day as last year.


----------



## Johnd

My in laws have red variety muscadines and also blueberries, I'll be getting about 10 gallons of frozen blueberries from them this weekend. I just can't do the red muscadines, that wild foxy taste abrades my palate. We have a local winery that does them, marginal at best. The sweeter ones are better, but I don't like the sweet wines. 

A friend here in town is going to give me all of his white muscadines, I'm going to bunch press, settle, and try a white from them just to see how it comes out. 

I'm learning to be satisfied with WMT grape growers pics, and make wine from frozen must.....


----------



## ibglowin

Thanks Rich!

We got an inch of wonderful soft rain during the night last night! That makes 1.5" in 3 days and thats a blessing and a LOT for us. Nighttime rains are always hail free, daytime rains have (some form of) hail more often than not due to the added heat in the atmosphere. The vines, my garden, my bluegrass yard and my dahlia's are gonna love this for sure!


----------



## mgmarty

Absolutely beautiful Mike! Here's to a great vintage!! It's so dry here in Utah, I have been watering as well. I'm glad your getting rain, make it move a little further north please!! I wish I had more experience irrigating, I feel my vines have suffered this year. I, like you, really like not having to worry about a spray program!! Ha!


----------



## ibglowin

Getting close now!


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## mgmarty

Nice! There beautiful! Get the press cleaned!!


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## geek

Looking pretty Mike [emoji106][emoji106]


----------



## Tnuscan

WOW!!!! Great job. You are the man. I'm impressed, no I'm shocked, no I'm confused. I have been told you can't grow grapes like that. Think I'll print and share these pictures with some growers I know.

Edit: I hope my post isn't taken the wrong way. Those pictures show your appreciation of quality. If your grapes look that nice , I'm betting your wines are awesome.


----------



## ibglowin

Well the replacement of Marquette with Noiret begins in 2017! 

It (Marquette) may make a fantastic wine but it doesn't do well in my location due to late Spring frost most every year. I also happen to have a large concentration of basalt rock. If fact the entire area around here was formed by a giant volcano (Valles Caldera) that blew up eons ago and the resulting lava flow created all of the finger mesa's in this part of northern NM. So my micro vineyard is kinda like the rocks district in WA state that is now becoming so well known for amazing Syrah's. In fact that is what my wines are coming out like. The terroir from the basalt rocks are contributing these funky flavors that are earthy, meaty, gamey and almost a note of olive tapenade. If it is producing 90-98 point (WS) Syrah's why not grow the cold hardy grape that is most like a Syrah *and* it blooms 10 days later than Marquette? Vines are the 1-X version from Double A an have very nice root systems already.


----------



## TonyR

Look real nice.


----------



## grapeman

Is your ground thawed there? We had another 3 inches of snow here! What a winter wonderland this morning. EVERYTHING was covered in a nice white blanket.


----------



## ibglowin

Oh yea, we have had a warm but luckily wet winter. We got many of the pacific fronts from CA this winter and almost no arctic fronts. The last two weeks we were 15-20 degrees above normal temp wise. I watered the yard and garden/vineyard last weekend. My Marquette vine up by the house/patio looks like it is starting to push as of today. Don't think we have gotten below freezing for a few weeks now. Down in the mid 30's most mornings. Supposed to get more rain later this week.


----------



## Johny99

Wow, nice root growth. Do you trim the roots? I do since there are too many rocks to let me dig holes big enough to array all those lovely ones.


----------



## ibglowin

LOL No I paid extra for those roots, think I will keep them! Since I am replacing vines there is already a hole I dug ~5 years ago. Sometimes I would get lucky and only run into softball sized basalt rock and other times I would run into basically a boulder sized one (at least it seemed) I even used a breaker bar many times to break up the rocks and dig them out piece by piece....... 



Johny99 said:


> Wow, nice root growth. Do you trim the roots? I do since there are too many rocks to let me dig holes big enough to array all those lovely ones.


----------



## ibglowin

I tried to tell Mr. Marquette don't you do it..... don't do it........ He say I am not the boss of him. Ave last frost date for us is May 7th........


----------



## mgmarty

Man, they look great too! If they would only listen!


----------



## ibglowin

I just trimmed the rest of the vines. Everything is pushing now. We have been in the 40's for low temps all the last week or two now with highs around 70-75. Everything is out or in bloom. We are not out of the danger zone for sure!


----------



## geek

ibglowin said:


> I just trimmed the rest of the vines. Everything is pushing now. We have been in the 40's for low temps all the last week or two now with highs around 70-75. Everything is out or in bloom. We are not out of the danger zone for sure!



It sounds like the weather here in CT.


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## Johny99

You could knit him a little muffler

Seriously, you could try sprinklers. We use them out here for cherry blossoms and sometimes for grapes.


----------



## ibglowin

Right now I am focused on Friday and Saturday.......


----------



## ibglowin

Happy Spring.........


----------



## sour_grapes

So sorry, Mike. Hope they are not harmed...


----------



## ibglowin

We are holding at 33 and steady. We have 8-10" now. Mrs IB had to cancel her mani-pedi in Santa fe. Going to get to fire up my snow blower for the first time in several years. 

Thank heavens I got one with an electric start!  Hopefully grapes will be protected by the blanket of wet snow.......


----------



## grapeman

You have some weird weather there! I thought we were bad here but I think that beats us for this year for strangeness.


----------



## ibglowin

Ha! Just wait, this is coming your way next week! Gotta spread the love here.....

The skies are clearing, the wind is back and we are now ~42F and its melting fast. Big question will be how cold will it be in the morning. Forecast are kind of all over the place but we could see ~25F in the morning.



grapeman said:


> You have some weird weather there! I thought we were bad here but I think that beats us for this year for strangeness.


----------



## grapeman

I am hoping that the snow melts quickly there but waits until the next day for you to keep the vines insulated overnight. We are into Sunday morning here now so you will probably be starting to warm up from overnight by the time you read this. I hope this was the last spell of cold weather for you for this year.

Here the last few days have been really warm and have pushed the buds quickly. Normally the American varieties of grapes bud out a couple weeks later than the hybrids but this year it makes no difference. The Concords are swollen just as much as anything else here.


----------



## ibglowin

Well we sorta dodged a bullet and only got down to 30F for a short period just before sunrise and we are already climbing and up to 34F at 0730. I did cover the Marquette with some old blankets. The Noiret and Corot Noir are way behind and just now budding so hopefully they will be better protected.  I will uncover things in a bit and keep an eye on them today looking for damage or lack thereof.


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## GreginND

Oh boy. Crossing my fingers for you. At least Mother Nature provided a blanket to help.


----------



## grapeman

80 Friday here, 72 yesterday and so sunny both days I needed sunblock and still burned and then this AM it was 34 and cloudy and by 11 it was sleeting. I tried pruning but my hands were frozen so I switched over to starting high tunnel construction.

I hope the Marquette pull through but now you are just confirming why you are replacing there at your location.


----------



## ibglowin

Looks like covering them from the top wire and post helped to some extent. Seeing some definite wilting on some buds and then ones next to wilted ones seem fine (at least for the moment). I did have a portion of a Marquette that was left exposed and it is pretty toast. I planted my new Noriet vines in a big bucket several weeks ago and they are starting to bud now. I will wait a few more weeks (just in case) and then start the swap out process.


----------



## ibglowin

Don't like the weather in NM, wait a minute! Yesterday and today. I mowed this afternoon!


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## sour_grapes

ibglowin said:


> Don't like the weather in NM, wait a minute! Yesterday and today. I mowed this afternoon!



That is just nuts! And I thought we had swingy weather!


----------



## ibglowin

One of these vines is *NOT* Marquette! LOL We got down to 34 this AM but supposed to warm up nicely throughout the week and be close to 80 by the weekend. Sunny skies and no precip.


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## mgmarty

Quite a spring we are having!! I had a 44 degree swing here in one day. 37 in the morning, 81 in the afternoon. Lord almighty!! Now it's thunder and lightning, please, no hail!! 
Your vines look good though.


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## ibglowin

Things are starting to rebound and we had really nice weather this past week. I had to water today . All that moisture was gone in 7 days!


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## MeadowStationVines

Wow you weren't kidding, you do have clusters forming all over the place. Looking at your forecast you might want to get your smudge pots ready just in case.


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## ibglowin

Yep and those pics (Marquette) were taken 10 days ago so they are much further along and now developing secondary clusters on some shoots. We had cloud cover this AM but by noon the skies had cleared and the winds are blowing strong and they are very icy for mid May for sure. I will be doing what i can tonight for sure.


----------



## grapeman

Looking good Mike. Things grow much better when it is warm and sunny than snowing. LOL
It was 90 here yesterday and 92 this afternoon and will be 30 degrees colder for a high tomorrow. Do you have whiplash as badly as I do?


----------



## ibglowin

We had one of the *warmest Winters* on record this past year. Now comes Spring and of course it turns into one of the *coolest Springs* on record!


----------



## mgmarty

It was down to 29 degrees this am for a couple hours. High today was in the forties. I ran the sprinkler all night, had some good ice sickles this morning! This has been one tough spring.


----------



## Johny99

We have had the wettest winter on record and now one of the coolest springs. But, lows are in the 40s and no risk of freeze. Nothing like ya'll are going through. Good luck!


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## ibglowin

Well we seemed to have dodged a bullet! 

Low of "only" 36 this AM!


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## ibglowin

And now here comes the snow........ 

We were up to 44 now back down to 37. Too warm to stick and moisture is always welcome here in the Southwest but its MAY 19th! Come on Mother Nature! LOL


----------



## Johnd

ibglowin said:


> And now here comes the snow........
> 
> We were up to 44 now back down to 37. Too warm to stick and moisture is always welcome here in the Southwest but its MAY 19th! Come on Mother Nature! LOL



Looks like you're faring well so far, I'm keeping my fingers crossed, I enjoy (and live vicariously) watching your progress from bud break to wine.....


----------



## Boatboy24

Just be glad you're not in Cheyenne!


----------



## ibglowin

Still coming down....... 

Front has moved out and this is the trailing wrap around moisture. Holding at 38. Tomorrows low is supposed to be 5-7 degrees warmer than today. Springtime in the Rockies


----------



## Kraffty

New Mexico ice wine? Mike


----------



## grapeman

Enough of that white stuff already!


----------



## treesaver

All I get here is rain. Vines call for an inch a week, we been getting two inches a day here lately!


----------



## ibglowin

So on Saturday morning whilst we were in CO it touched 32 for a short period of time. I left everything out as the forecast was for a warmer low than on Friday. Pots all look great but the tomato plants are complete toast and some vine damage but so weird the hit and miss even out in the wine garden away from the warmth of the house and patio. Could be worse I spose.


----------



## grapeman

Ouch. Enough is enough.


----------



## ibglowin

Realized I haven't posted any updates since early Spring. The rest of May was uneventful weather wise and June was HOT and DRY. Grapes are loving the heat and the water I have been pouring on. We dodged a BIG bullet last weekend as we had afternoon thunderstorms develop. As I have said many times. It never just rains in these parts. There always has to be DRAMA associated with rain. That drama manifest it self in the form of hail quite often. It hailed big time up in town which is about 9 miles away. We lucked out as the storms seemed to skirt around me. I watched the radar map on my phone for an hour and huge swaths of magenta were all around us. Good news is no crop damaging hail, bad news is not much rain....... 

Here is what I deal with every Summer........








Hit the vines yesterday with a little more fertilizer.


----------



## ibglowin

Some of the Marquette is starting to turn with all of the heat we have had the last month!


----------



## Boatboy24

You seem to have a lot of 'empty spots' where grapes should be. Is that a result of your late frost, or just typical of the Marquette?


----------



## ibglowin

Some clusters are full others are like that. Could be a nutrient deficiency, not 100% sure. Remember I am trying to grow grapes in soil that looks like this.......


----------



## ibglowin

Marquette is getting close. 18 Brix at the moment.


----------



## stickman

Looking very good!


----------



## grapeman

It won't be too long now.


----------



## ibglowin

A very young red wine (Marquette of course). The 2018 season has begun!


----------



## MeadowStationVines

I logged in back at the beginning of May saw your pictures and was totally shocked as I still had dead looking sticks in my backyard (and still do). Did you make it unscathed through May? Up here it was a pretty uneventful spring compared to last year.


----------



## ibglowin

We had one close call with the Marquette after it broke bud back in April. Got down to ~30 for a short period of time just before sunrise. The Corot Noir and Noiret were still all buttoned up and they came through unscathed. I lost 3 vines over the winter due to we had no moisture at all but I have some Noiret waiting in the wings to replace them. I will try and post a few new pics first chance I get. We are hot and dry at the moment but this weekend it looks like we have a decent shot for some monsoonal rain to kick in which would be wonderful and about a month early to boot!


----------



## Johnd

ibglowin said:


> We had one close call with the Marquette after it broke bud back in April. Got down to ~30 for a short period of time just before sunrise. The Corot Noir and Noiret were still all buttoned up and they came through unscathed. I lost 3 vines over the winter due to we had no moisture at all but I have some Noiret waiting in the wings to replace them. I will try and post a few new pics first chance I get. We are hot and dry at the moment but this weekend it looks like we have a decent shot for some monsoonal rain to kick in which would be wonderful and about a month early to boot!



How 'bout some current photos of the vineyard? It's been a while since you posted the last ones, I'm sort of anxious to see how things are developing...............


----------



## Ajmassa

Johnd said:


> How 'bout some current photos of the vineyard? It's been a while since you posted the last ones, I'm sort of anxious to see how things are developing...............



I’ll second that.


----------



## ibglowin

Vineyard would be false advertising I think. More like a Wine Garden at best!



Johnd said:


> How 'bout some current photos of the vineyard? It's been a while since you posted the last ones, I'm sort of anxious to see how things are developing...............


----------



## ibglowin

Random pics from the backyard and "wine garden". It appears a Spotted Towhee has decided to get ready for some easy picking this Fall.


----------



## ibglowin




----------



## Johnd

ibglowin said:


> Vineyard would be false advertising I think. More like a Wine Garden at best!



Hmmmmmm, you have vines in your yard.......vineyard!!


----------



## Johnd

Cool pics, thanks for sharing, like to see the way the grapes grow. Good to see your insect eaters are multiplying too.


----------



## Masbustelo

In the first red umbrella picture is that a head pruned vine you are showing? If so, do you have a picture of it pruned and dormant?


----------



## ibglowin

Not head trained, I used 2x2 redwood and built a T using them with about a 6' wide top. Work great for single vines around the patio that don't need a trellis. As the vine gets older and heavier I had to reinforce the T with metal post that I zip tied to the redwood. The trunks of Cold Hardy Grapes are not strong enough to do head training IMHO.



Masbustelo said:


> In the first red umbrella picture is that a head pruned vine you are showing? If so, do you have a picture of it pruned and dormant?


----------



## Ajmassa

ibglowin said:


> View attachment 49322



Best pic of the series! Great action shot with the wise old timer in the back looking on.


----------



## Kraffty

looks like you're off to a good start for your 18 vintage.


----------



## ibglowin

If we get through the spring frost unscathed then the only thing we have to worry about is summer monsoon..........


----------



## ibglowin

One of these things is not like the other...... Man this year the marquette looks like it will be ready in another 4 weeks max while the Noirette and Corot Noir look like they will not be ready for months........


----------



## ibglowin

Signs of Spring in Northern NM. Marquette is (as usual) first out of the gates. Noiret and Corot Noir are still buttoned up. Ornamental Apple is in full bloom. Average last day of frost is May 7th. We have had late hard freeze (22F) on May 22nd a few years back. If you look close at the hummingbird feeder (left side) you can see a hummer that stopped by right when I was taken the snap of the vine.


----------



## ibglowin

Well like the song........







It's too late to turn back now.........


----------



## Dennis Griffith

I'm at the same stage as well. The closer we get to the middle of May, the better. I have new vines shipping tomorrow, so I'll be busy this week with them. We have had a ton of rain and I'm hoping to get a spray in soon. I've not been able spray for days and as humid as it is, I'll be growing fungus vs. grapes. Got to stay ahead of the DM here.


----------



## Dennis Griffith

PS. Your grapes look happy and healthy too.


----------



## ibglowin

One of the benefits of growing grapes in the desert Southwest. Literally zero disease pressure.


----------



## Dennis Griffith

In the Ohio Valley region, if it's not been treated for fungus, then it has fungus. That goes for about everything living.


----------



## ibglowin

Dodged a bullet this morning. Late cold front came though yesterday and by 7:00pm it was down to 40F. It was solid clouds as well so I was hoping the clouds would hold some heat in and save us. It did. We got down to 34F this morning around 5:00AM and that didn't stay long. Hopefully clear sailing from here until we reach the Monsoon/Hail season.


----------



## ibglowin

33F for an hour this morning......... Come on Mother Nature it's May the 22nd. Enough!


----------



## Dennis Griffith

Been to cool and wet here. I'm fighting phomopsis now. It's only effecting the Concord vines. I only have a few intermixed to promote pollination or the America variety I grow.


----------



## ibglowin

Wow. I'll say. Good luck!



Dennis Griffith said:


> Been to cool and wet here. I'm fighting phomopsis now.


----------



## Dennis Griffith

Typically it's only DM that I have to worry about. But this year, if it's not raining, then the wind is blowing a good clip (like today). I'd say the weather is in some sort of erratic cycle.


----------



## ibglowin

June bloom! Things are moving along in the wine garden. We got down to 31 for a few hours about a month ago and a couple of the Noiret vines got burnt right at bud break of course. Funny thing was all the Marquette was just happy as could be and suffered no damage at all. We got a nice overnight rain on Monday and the vines are happy happy happy.











Recovering Noiret. More than likely no grapes from these two vines this year.


----------



## Kraffty

@ibglowin Our climates are kind of similar now (except for about 3000 feet elevation) and last week someone told me harvest out here is around late August. I didn't get the reasons this happens but Hail damage to the crops was mentioned. When you you usually pick??
Mike


----------



## ibglowin

Late August to early September. Since I have a couple varieties they always ripen at different times. I try and let the early variety hang a bit longer if possible (also lowers acid levels) and harvest all at the same time. Sometimes I pick and then put in cold storage. Just depends on circumstances with each harvest year.

That 3000ft EL difference also means I am left with cold hardy varieties as my only real viable option as we always get down to around 0F each Winter +/- 5F.


----------



## ibglowin

Well looks like my "experiment" for this year in the wine garden is working quite nicely. Instead of my usual Miracle Grow "bloom buster" that has to be mixed with water and then fed to individual vines I decided to to give the Jobe's Fruit Tree Fertilizer spikes a try. One spike per vine pounded into the ground at the base. They are 10-13-13 and will feed for 60 days. Have not seen the vines this loaded in a long time!


----------



## mainshipfred

ibglowin said:


> Well looks like my "experiment" for this year in the wine garden is working quite nicely. Instead of my usual Miracle Grow "bloom buster" that has to be mixed with water and then fed to individual vines I decided to to give the Jobe's Fruit Tree Fertilizer spikes a try. One spike per vine pounded into the ground at the base. They are 10-13-13 and will feed for 60 days. Have not seen the vines this loaded in a long time!
> 
> View attachment 55337
> View attachment 55338
> View attachment 55339
> View attachment 55340



That's a lot of clusters per vine Mike, are you going to prune some of them off?


----------



## ibglowin

Trick photography! LOL What your seeing is two vines that are only 5 foot apart and I let them grow into each other so your seeing what looks like a boatload of gapes on one vine but there are two and only two cluster per shoot (but a lot of shoots in some areas). I should probably have shoot thinned but not all that worried about too many grapes being produced. These are all mostly Marquette that is very dark in color naturally. Cold hardy grapes do not have an over abundance of tannin anyways so they all get bumped up in tannin at the get go. They are also growing in volcanic soil that looks like this...........







So the wines are coming out with quite a bit of "rocks funk" to them. Meaning earthy, meaty, gamey, olive tapenade aromas and flavors. They are different tasting that any other Marquette of that I am sure!





mainshipfred said:


> That's a lot of clusters per vine Mike, are you going to prune some of them off?


----------



## mainshipfred

ibglowin said:


> Trick photography! LOL What your seeing is two vines that are only 5 foot apart and I let them grow into each other so your seeing what looks like a boatload of gapes on one vine but there are two and only two cluster per shoot (but a lot of shoots in some areas). I should probably have shoot thinned but not all that worried about too many grapes being produced. These are all mostly Marquette that is very dark in color naturally. Cold hardy grapes do not have an over abundance of tannin anyways so they all get bumped up in tannin at the get go. They are also growing in volcanic soil that looks like this...........
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So the wines are coming out with quite a bit of "rocks funk" to them. Meaning earthy, meaty, gamey, olive tapenade aromas and flavors. They are different tasting that any other Marquette of that I am sure!



Well here's what I have to say about that. I know nothing about grape growing, learning about making wine from other peoples grapes is more than I can handle. My hat goes off to those of you that grow grapes and make wine. I only brought it up because I was recently talking to a vineyard manager who told me he only allows a certain number of clusters (or he reduces the amount of grapes on the cluster) per vine. I guess, as they say, a little knowledge is dangerous.


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## ibglowin

Everything I have learned on grape growing has pretty much been from this forum as well. I am not taking this too serious. If I get 10 gallons of finished wine out of the garden I consider that a successful harvest. Not the best soils for sure. One vine can be loaded. The vine 15ft away next to nothing. I am happy to play and learn each season. My biggest problem is not too many grapes, its getting them to the end of August and not ravaged by a huge hail storm. No such thing as a gentle summer rain in these parts. There is always some kind of drama just around the corner every time it rains. 50% chance of hail each time. If it starts will it stay pea size or grow to golfball......... 

I try not to get attached to something I could lose at any moment each monsoon season but I admit it gets harder and harder the more they grow.


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## ceeaton

Mike,
I noticed you were using Miracle Gro & assuming the regular Jobes Fruit Tree spikes. I'd worry a bit in your part of the country since it's so arid and the salts left over from normal non-organic products could build up quite quickly. I see the Jobes Fruit Tree spikes come in an organic version, you might want to try those down the road if you notice salts accumulating on the surface of the soil around your vines. 

This is just something I've recently switched to since I noticed what looks like salt accumulations in the spring on the surface of my garden (when I wasn't using a cover crop). I do use lot's of different organic methods but have used Miracle Gro to feed with later in the summer. Just food for thought, not judging here, just sharing what I've learned.


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## ibglowin

Will look for the organic version of the Jobe's at my local hardware store and check it out. I don't ever see any salt accumulation on the surface more than likely because we have mostly sandy soils so you hit something with fertilizer once and the next time you water its just going down down down into the ground. I probably need a better organic solution to build up the soil long term for sure!


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## ceeaton

ibglowin said:


> Will look for the organic version of the Jobe's at my local hardware store and check it out. I don't ever see any salt accumulation on the surface more than likely because we have mostly sandy soils so you hit something with fertilizer once and the next time you water its just going down down down into the ground. I probably need a better organic solution to build up the soil long term for sure!


I have a couple plots in the yard that I've been doing green manure and peat moss for years. But the last few years I've "run out of time" to properly care for my soil and have really noticed a difference. Water retention (that's the one you're looking for) and breaking up my heavy clay soil seem to be the greatest side benefits, other than healthy plants and lots of worms to fish with. It was just a thought. I've been toying with growing things in coco coir lately with additions of organics (actually Jobes Organic Herb fertilizer, Espoma Kelp, Alfalfa and Bat Guano to name a few) and my tomato seedlings as well as the peppers and other random flowers I started were the healthiest I've had in a long time. Now let's see what happens with the yields to see if I'm fully hooked on this organic way of growing.

Edit: I guess I can't imagine the sandiness of your soil. I just assume that everyone has clay like we do. I just noticed that @jgmann67 was on and it brought to mind that the school district down in his area (and my sister's as well) is call "Red Land". That's how much clay is around these parts!


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## Masbustelo

Wood chips four to six inches deep as a mulch is a miracle product.


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## ibglowin

Sounds good to me but......

Wood chips or any wood based mulch doesn't break down or do much in the desert southwest. They just sit there. They don't break down. There is no humidity, very little rain except for irrigation, very little organic except for what is amended into the soil. I can get all the free treated composted bio sludge from the waste water treatment plant that I want but they say it's not approved for gardens as it "may contain" heavy metals (and who knows what else really). Maybe I should pick up a bunch of "Magic Mushroom" compost at the hardware store and drop a bag on each vine and work it in to the soil layer.



Masbustelo said:


> Wood chips four to six inches deep as a mulch is a miracle product.


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## ceeaton

ibglowin said:


> Maybe I should pick up a bunch of "Magic Mushroom" compost at the hardware store and drop a bag on each vine and work it in to the soil layer.


You just need something organic, period, to help retain what moisture you add. I need the organics and sand to break up the clay and allow the soil to actually drain, and hopefully not become rock hard when it dries. I noticed when I went to see what bunny damage I had this morning in the back gardens that I had a network of cracked ground on my way out to said garden, and it just rained yesterday. It is under the canopy of some trees so I'm sure they take the lions share of anything that falls (one is supposedly a red oak, I think it's an English oak by the way it's speading out and not up, the other is a maple which just digs water).


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## ibglowin

Veraison has started on the Marquette......


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## Dennis Griffith

Same here. Harvest expected in early to mid August.


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## ibglowin

We have had a week or two of hot weather (for us) 90-95F. Has cooled off this week with monsoon moisture moving in and afternoon clouds/rain. I am usually looking at late August or early September. The fun will begin in a a few weeks. I saw a couple Robin's in the backyard yesterday. Spotted Towhee are also big pest. Nets are ready as well as Mr. Owl and Mr. Hawk which work well for a few weeks.


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## Dennis Griffith

Do you build nests for owls and hawks? If so, do they use them readily?


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## ibglowin

No Mr. Plastic Owl and Hawk. They work really well for a few weeks especially if you move them around every few days.


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## Dennis Griffith

Ahh, ok. I have the plastic owl, but have been looking for the one with the bobbing head. I think the birds have caught on to the other one.


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## ibglowin

The Marquette out in the wine garden is not as far along as this Marquette vine growing on the patio close to the house. Makes it hard to time everything. Luckily I have cold storage and can pick and refrigerate if need be. Not my favorite option but it works.


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## wood1954

Nice looking clusters, whats with the white stuff on the leaves?


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## ibglowin

Downy mildew. Shows up around this time of year when the monsoons arrive and our humidity goes up. I do not have to spray as it doesn't ever get any worse than that. Grapes are not effected.


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## ibglowin

Moving along. Brix this AM was 21.5. Seeds are brown. This vine is up by the house and is a week or two ahead of the vines out in the garden. Airforce is still holding up well. I move the birds around about every 5 days. I have nets ready but they are a PITA to put on and take off.


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## stickman

They are looking good Mike.


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## ibglowin

This mornings low temp was 49 degrees. Right now its 86 (in the shade) and not a cloud in the sky. Humidity is back down under 10%. Monsoonal moisture has taken a break for the last few days. Its cooling off fast as soon as the sun sets and with the cool mornings and the fact that they are now roasting green chile' everywhere suddenly Fall is in the air in Northern New Mexico!


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## Dennis Griffith

At what point to you like to harvest? I'm around 20 and need to check again this AM. I am concerned as we are into the 90s again this week and I may lose some berries. BTW, I did find a bobbing head owl (Amazon) and it works very well.


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## ibglowin

I usually shoot for 24. I can hit 25 if I don't water the week of harvest and we don't have any rain. Since I have 3 varieties (most years) the Marquette usually has to hang longer in order to let the Noiret catch up. Or I can pick the Marquette and then refrigerate until the Noiret is ready. I also end up with a pH around 3.6. I do not see the low 3.2's that most people see. I am not sure if its our heat, the soil (basalt rock) or our water (pH=8) or the combination of all 3 but pH and TA are all very much like vinifera each year.

Congrats on the bobbing head owl! I think I may add one of those as well as it would give me a bit more even coverage with 3 birds of prey rather than just the 2 that I currently have.


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## Dennis Griffith

If you get the bobbing head owl, don't forget to put the plastic tab into the back of the owl head. It will be inside rattling around inside. It helps the head move in even a slight breeze. It works far better than the old 'fixed' owl that I have.


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## ibglowin

*Episode IV – A New Hope.........



*


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## Johnd

ibglowin said:


> *Episode IV – A New Hope.........*



Wishing you better luck this year!!


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## ibglowin

Thanks, more than likely we will not be going on a 2+ week vacay during September which should help a lot. Now just hope the weather holds. We got down to 19 degrees on May 21st one Spring sooooooooo






Johnd said:


> Wishing you better luck this year!!


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## OilnH2O

May the Fourth Be With You!
(I have just the beginnings of bud swell - not even bud-break yet!)


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## Dennis Griffith

I'm into bud break by a few days, We are still not clear of frost here yet, so we run the gauntlet like we do every spring (with our fingers crossed).


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## ibglowin

We are looking good for the next 10 days. So good that I planted my Tomatoes this weekend. I have the water walls to protect and help them stay warm.


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## ceeaton

What site do you get that off of? I'm having issues downloading the graphic for my area off of weather underground. We have a few mornings in the low 30's coming up once this wind dies down. I'm worried about my glads starting to poke their heads up, I'll have to cover them.


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## cmason1957

ceeaton said:


> What site do you get that off of? I'm having issues downloading the graphic for my area off of weather underground. We have a few mornings in the low 30's coming up once this wind dies down. I'm worried about my glads starting to poke their heads up, I'll have to cover them.



Looks to me to be from weather.com


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## ibglowin

Yep, weather.com



ceeaton said:


> What site do you get that off of?


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## Dennis Griffith

My tomatoes are still in the cart and not in the ground yet. I can roll them in if it looks to be too cold at night. Planting only Super Sauce and Bodacious this year as it's time to make sausa and marinara.


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## ibglowin

We survived a couple close calls a week or so ago. Two back to back days with lows of 35. Happy to report no damage and now we move on to worrying about hail every time we have a chance of rain (like we had on Sunday evening). Hit the vines with a first round of fertilizer a few days ago and they are responding nicely.


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## Dennis Griffith

Not a good year for us. Lost all of the Cab Franc vines, several America, a Buffalo, and a Sherdian. A couple was due to galling I believe, but will perform an autopsy and I've given the roots time to send up sprouts. As for the Cab Franc; I believe it was too wet and they 'drown'. The thing is most of them showed signs of life during pruning in early March. More rain on the way today.


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## ibglowin

The Marquette is moving along nicely these days with the heat.


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## ibglowin

Moving moving moving....... Keep them doggies moving!


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