# Coping with heat



## Sage (Jul 12, 2021)

Dealing with a month of upper 90s and several days above 100.

I've cut back on trimming the sides. Still topping but leaving extra on sides to prevent sunburn.

Watering a little more frequently but not quite as much each time. Trying to keep the surface from cracking. I have a lot of clay and it will really crack open.

Everything is very dry. Gophers have showed up lately. Good thing it's fenced, deer moving in too. Haven't had a bear lately. Still have cherry trees! Quail are into the cherry trees and cause a lot of damage.


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## Sage (Jul 12, 2021)

Add smoke to this!


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## srcorndog (Jul 12, 2021)

How large is your vineyard? If you have a few vines you can mulch my vineyard I just mow my trims toward my vines they provide a lot of nitrogen


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## srcorndog (Jul 12, 2021)

Sage said:


> Add smoke to this!


location in the USA


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## Sage (Jul 12, 2021)

SE, Washington state.


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## srcorndog (Jul 12, 2021)

7B zone should be close to my zone in West Georgia muggie and rain off and on


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## Sage (Jul 12, 2021)

Zone 5 here


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## Snafflebit (Jul 12, 2021)

Sage said:


> SE, Washington state.


Are you growing own-rooted or grafted vines?


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## Sage (Jul 12, 2021)

These came from a commercial grower. Not grafted but I don't know what the specific variety is. Just purchased from them for my zone and weather\altitude.


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## Obbnw (Jul 16, 2021)

My tempranillos have shut down in the heat, very little growth. The malbecs are still growing fast. I put temp sensors under the canopy's last week, the Malbecs are consistently at least 5 degrees cooler than the tempranillos.

Seems like we have been 10 degrees above normal all summer. Over 100 expected again this weekend.


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## Sage (Jul 16, 2021)

Sprayed and watered a couple of days ago. All are very be healthy and growing. I'm resisting the urge to trim the sides.

Cabs, Carmenere, and Syrah have what appears to be small crops. Particularly the Syrah looks smaller. Merlot have a good crop. I trimmed and trained the Merlot a bit differently. Left runners to the top wire. Full of grapes now!

This all goes exactly the opposite of what I was expecting! We had a cold streak of extremely cold weather after I had pruned. I figured the long runners would have any buds frozen. I will try that on the other varieties. Probably do 50% on each.

We are still predicted to be high 90s for 2 more?? weeks. That's as far out as the forecast goes.


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## Sage (Jul 31, 2021)

July 31, virtually not a day under 95. Forecast looks like a little relief coming next week. Heavy smoke for the last 2 days from fire 12 miles away. Fire fighters could really use some relief from this weather.

Had a brief rain a week back....and a lightning strike 1\4 mile above us on the hill. Neighbor kid pounced on it and had it basically out by the time the fire department got here (9 miles out of town). Just a smoldering tree when they went up. Grass around it was out. Dodged the bullet!


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## Obbnw (Jul 31, 2021)

My tempranillos started to turn. 1 single grape on my Malbecs has some color. Probably 7 to 10 days ahead of last year.

Similar heat here, but the next 2 weeks look cooler, only ; ) high 80s today and low 90s...


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## Obbnw (Aug 2, 2021)

Big thunderstorm last night, 1.5 - 2.5" in 30-40 minutes. Today a bunch (10-15percent) of the Malbecs split open. 

It seems like the greener ones split the most.

Anyone have this happen? Do they seal back up with a scar? Will the scar impact flavor? 

Definitely looks like some will shrivel up.


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## Sage (Aug 3, 2021)

Bummer! Probably, you'll lose those. Have you been watering? Sounds like a growth spurt cause by the extra water. Cherries do that too.


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## Obbnw (Aug 3, 2021)

I thought it was a growth spurt too, and was surprised since I've been watering more this year.

I spent some time on the internet today, sounds like it is more of a rain soaks through the skin problem. Which also seems weird. Plus, because of my soils (clay), location (next to a concrete driveway), and the rate it came down most of the water ran off before it could soak in.

We also had some hail with it that probably contributed to the damage.
Photos of the good and the bad.

I'm glad it is not my livelyhood. I can't imagine the stress of farming.


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## balatonwine (Aug 4, 2021)

Obbnw said:


> We also had some hail with it that probably contributed to the damage.



The first photo looks like direct hail damage to me.

Been there.









Storm Damage


The weather this year has been unusual. This spring I saw our first frost damage, and then the rest of the spring was wetter than normal. And then last week we had a monster storm come through. Ver…




stcoemgen.com


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## Obbnw (Aug 5, 2021)

balatonwine said:


> The first photo looks like direct hail damage to me.
> 
> Been there.
> 
> ...


I read your link, thanks. Very similar damage. 

After looking at your link I did look for holes in leaves from the hail. Found more than expected, the hail was small and didn't last long.

The only good thing is the damaged grapes are drying up and since I destem by hand it'll be pretty easy to separate the bad grapes.


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## treesaver (Aug 14, 2021)

Yep, that's hail damage alright. I've had berries split in half before, and seeds sticking out. Some of them will heal, some not! Yeah, the life of a farmer!


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## Sage (Aug 16, 2021)

Maybe today is the last day of extreme heat. 100 today and forecast is to 70s - 80s next 10 days.

All but Cabs look good as far as the crop goes. Watered yesterday and started leaf thinning. Saw one cluster with a little color on a Syrah. 2 weeks earlier than last year.


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## Obbnw (Aug 21, 2021)

We went from hottest June and July on record to one of the wettest augusts ever. Seems like my place is approaching 6" ( includes the Aug 2 deluge).

My brix/ph ratio is the best its ever been. Usually our ph is really high, 3.8 to 4.2. The tempranillos are at 18-22 brix and ph looks about 3.2.

Don't know if it is all the rain bringing down the pH or if it is the heavy crop load. Looks like 15-20 lbs per vine.

Hmmm.

A few of the vines are confused too, they are flowering again.

I'm sitting in the garage watching it rain.


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## Sage (Aug 22, 2021)

We got a little rain, probably around .10 inch. Did some pruning and started leaf thinning. Starting to see color on all the varieties. Some real nice clusters on Merlot and Syrah. Cabs, some small clusters and not a lot clusters. Carmenere, good clusters but scattered areas. 

Overall, good crop on Syrah and Merlot. Carmenere, small crop. Cabs, very small crop.


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## Sage (Aug 22, 2021)

I forgot to add that I tried a different pruning system on one row. That's where the photos were taken. I left some long runners to the top wire. From what I can see, Merlot really liked it and Syrah did also but not quite as much. From the very first planting, I had trained the first Syrah plant in the row that way and had been watching it. Decided to try it and did a couple vines last year and then a whole row this time.


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## Sage (Aug 23, 2021)

The odd duck. Not sure what got into this one Syrah. Everything else is just a spot of color here and there. Then there's this....


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## Obbnw (Sep 5, 2021)

I want to pick my grapes. The tempranillos slowed way down and the Malbecs are catching up. I think I picked too early last year so this year I'm letting them hang. Maybe another 2 weeks if I can hold out. 

Bought extra buckets and carboys today anticipating a big harvest. Hopefully I'll find something to keep me busy next weekend so I don't wander aimlessly up and down my row of grapes dreaming of my harvest.

On a related note saw another thread listing prices per lug (36 lbs) of just over $1/lb. How can anyone make any money growing grapes?


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## Sage (Sep 5, 2021)

Those last week's are hard to resist going for it. Just go by the numbers and taste!


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## treesaver (Sep 14, 2021)

When the seeds turn brown, your within a month! After that do a random brix check in the vineyard. My biggest problem is always insects. Wasps are always a plauge, but this year, some kind of moth was sucking the berrys dry, all of a sudden. I sprayed as soon as I found them, but it was amazing how much damage they did in a days time!


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## Sage (Sep 14, 2021)

Did a taste test and checked the seed last Sunday. Getting sweet, seed just starting to turn brown. Only the Carmenere had a distinct green be taste.


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## Obbnw (Sep 26, 2021)

So far I've picked about 350 lbs over 3 weeks. Still have about 150 to go. 

What is interesting is yields are huge, but brix and PH are good and taste is very good. 

I'm going to end up averaging over 25Lbs per vine with the biggest vines over 40lbs. PH is lower than any previous year and brix is generally higher than previous years, brix ranges from 23.5 to 25.5 for 6 gallon batches, Ph 3.6 to 3.9 (low for my site) TA from 4.5 to 6 which is also similar to previous years. I'm not doing a traditional trellis system. Vines are about 6' apart but are 10' tall and have fruit at 3 or 4 different levels and the big plants extend 10' over my garage door. 

I saw adverse effects from the June heat wave. Flowering started before the heat wave and finished after. The clusters which set during the heat wave were thinner. I do have the advantage of picking over several weeks. I had some vines where I picked the lower (riper) grapes 2 weeks before I finished picking the higher clusters.

Anyway I have high hopes for the wine. First 2 batches seem very good (primary and secondary fermentation are almost done.

A few pics.

The tannats are from 2 year old vines, only allowed a few clusters. They were exceptionally dense clusters and tasted much different than the malbecs and tempranillo.


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## Sage (Oct 11, 2021)

Sitting on 19-23 Brix, depending on variety, and looking at a 29 degree forecast tonight. Only one cold night forecast then back up. Might be harvesting on Wednesday and Thursday.

I'll wait and see what the vines look like!


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## Sage (Oct 14, 2021)

Well, waited 3 days to see what the 26 degree morning did. Merlot took it pretty hard. Will start picking today when the rain stops. All of the others did get a frost burn and are close enough. Will completely harvest everything tommorow.


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