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Thanks Guys. I don’t know what the year will hold for any of us, but good to know. Learning curve.

Hi Everyone, I live in the PNW, 50 miles north of Seattle. I have kept a good journal for the vinyard since 2019 when I started planting. In 2020 and 2021 I had buds breaks on my Merlot vines in mid April, with good growth and showing the baby clusters by May 12th or so. This year (2022)... all...

Hi All, I was pruning my merlot vines last month (February) and just for the fun of it, put 4 cuttings in a vase of water. The buds started swelling and opened up last week. It’s March. Outside the vines don’t bloom until April. There are NO roots coming out of the buds under water (see...

Hi All, Got to answer my own question. I looked at my journal for the past 2 years. Harvest was September 24th with no science involved, (they just looked ready). This year I have a refractometer and watched the brix levels go up as the fruit matured. I harvested today… 19 clusters off my 5...

Hi All, I live in Washington State and my refractometer says Brix is at 18-19. We were considering going on a vacation for 15 days at the end of September. If I opted not to harvest until I got home mid October, what would happen to the grapes if they are 2 -3 weeks past optimum harvest? Dave

Moved to the vineyard forum.

score0 Today at 8:00 AM Add bookmark #1 Hi All, My tiny vineyard is doing well this season, my 5 year old Merlot is doing exceptionally well… I think. Couple of questions for you veterans. The clusters are all growing, several are what you would expect (like in the you tube videos from Napa)...

Hi All, My tiny vineyard is doing well this season, my 5 year old Merlot is doing exceptionally well… I think. Couple of questions for you veterans. The clusters are all growing, several are what you would expect (like in the you tube videos from Napa) and, then there are some that have a mix...

Hello Everyone, Might seem like an odd question... but I have reviewed "kit" instructions and they say "add yeast, or "sprinkle the yeast...", which is in a packet included in the kit. Say someone has a 20 vine harvest, or maybe a 3 vine harvest... how much yeast do you use? Is there a ratio of...

Hi All, The small hobby vineyard is finally producing enough to make a go for a small batch in 2021. Starting to put together the tools. Are the $20 units from Amazon doable? What would you recommend? Thanks - Dave

Hi All, Was watching a video about growing grapes awhile back and I'm sure it was table grapes. This fellow had crazy good vines and crops growing and showed how he "plucks" the suckers from the vines. Little growths that start in between vine branches or "Ys". Sorry don't know exactly what to...

Hi All, My wife planted flowers in the big pot and the raised beds where the 2 year old grapes are being trained. I know it’s not standard... a real vineyard master would probably have fired her. But... this is a back yard hobby mixed in with the rest of the garden. Your thoughts on whether or...

Hi All, Probably a couple years away yet for my own grapes. I'm going to dive in this year and get equipment. Question is do I get a 6 gallon equipment kit and a couple lugs of grapes or get a wine making kit with the juice included? Dave

Well this year I expected big things out of my 4 year old Merlot vine. Pictured is the 1 cluster I got last season. Looks like it should I think. Here are 2 pictures of the 2 clusters that are on the vine this year. What happened? I'm bummed to say the least. I'm in the PNW north of Seattle. We...

Hi All, My wife has 2 varieties of table grapes in giant pots (got them from Costco last year), things grew like jack and the beanstalk. I had a 3 year old Merlot in the same size pot which only grew about 1/4 compared to the table grapes. Here's a question I have not been able to answer by...

Greetings All, Another new guy question. So much to learn. I've watched many of the starter/hobby YouTubes and they just leave the wine in the Carboys until bottle time. I see you can get small oak barrels. Does anyone do this? Dave

Hi All, I have 3 established Merlot vines in the garden (4 years old this year). Last year I only got 1 cluster from each, obviously hoping for a better 4th year yield. Question is... what's the least amount of clusters or vines that you've heard of to jump in and make small amounts of wine? Dave

Hi All, I trimmed my 4 year old Merlot Vine last month just a couple weeks before budding and just for the fun of it stuck 4 of the trimmings back into the dirt. All 4 of the trimmings have 2 buds each which have almost all opened up now. My question is will these produce any fruit, or are...

:hMy wife sniped off another 1/8" and found green in both. So now we wait and cross our fingers.

Super Noob here, be patient. The wife took a snip 1/16 from the top... looks pretty gone to me.