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I sprung for the Hudson Never Pump 4 gallon backpack sprayer. I certainly think it was worth the investment.

My Riparia vines are in varying health. The ones that are healthier tend to have larger leaves. I've heard that the waxed bakery paper bags work to protect grapes, but I've not tried these myself. For reference, I went out and took pictures of the different varieties I have in my vineyard for...

I'm located in Warrenville in Northern Illinois, not far from the City. Any Vinifera variety in our area would have to be grown in a greenhouse. The most recent winter we had would have killed most Vinifera varieties. I have cold hardy varieties in my vineyard, but I will be using all of them...

Looks like a Riparia leaf to me. I've got Riparia everywhere, and they all have the leaves shaped like those. There are a lot of MN hybrids with Riparia in them that have similarly shaped leaves. Itasca and Frontenac have leaves that are almost indistinguishable from Riparia. It's definitely...

I keep the weeds in the row to help control the vigor on the vines that are more mature. Late frost in April didn't get the Petite pearl buds which were mostly buttoned up.

Excellent news. Your vines are moving along then. I got my Petite Pearl from NE Vine Supply and they're in their 3rd leaf this year. I've been happy with them. Good luck and fair weather to you this growing season!

Hey there! The Short answer is that shoots above the graft will be the selected variety. Shoots from below the graft will be the same as the rootstock (like 101-14 or 1103P). In looking at your pictures I'm not able to identify a graft union. I've only handled grafted Vidal Blanc, and the...

I was thinking that was a possibility due to the near non-stop rain we've gotten. It does sit on one of the lower areas in the vineyard, but there are other vines of the same variety that are lower which still are healthy. We're looking at 4 more days straight of rain coming up.

This is most unusual. I came out the other day, and one of my Vidal Blanc vines that survived the winter suddenly started wilting. It is in a row of other Vidal. All of the vines suffered severe bud loss from the -38 F night we had, but the ones that survived are looking healthy with minimum...

They look like black rot spots, but they're too close to the edges. Black rot typically has those spots, but randomly on the leaf. I'd bet a fungus of some kind is your culprit. Good luck!

That is Grape Cane Girdler. I've got them as well. https://entomology.ca.uky.edu/ef208 I've found that Sevin will control them as well. My second year nearly all of my new shoots were affected until I sprayed. Then the third year I barely had any.

What are those green spots on your celery?

It looks like I must revise my statement on Possums in Illinois as well. Our benevolent betters in Springfield have determined that to take one without the governor's blessing is poaching, and violators will be sent to the county keep to have their left hand struck from their wrist. More...

I had trouble getting the possums in the DPs. I had the Mini Marshmallows in them because that is how the raccoons kept having accidents. (my SKS spear has seven notches in the handle.) I tried a cat-food and marshmallow mix one night, but woke up to a feral cat in the trap. Go figure. I manged...

Unfortunately, Army regulations in 2004-2005 were lame, and don't allow you to bring home your bounty weapons other than Bayonets. Otherwise I'd have a nice SKS and my very own fully auto chinese made AK-47. I probably would have tried to keep the FN-FAL we had in our private "platoon armory" as...

I'd say since you've got buds coming out on your future cordons you're fine. You'll probably see more action as more time passes. And yes that looks like Phomopsis (or Anthracnose, I have trouble telling the difference.) You'll want to get a fungicide spray rotation going, especially with how...

I didn't use a capsaicin commercial spray. Instead I boiled a combo of peppers (chili, crushed red, and cheyenne) and combined it with a bit of soap to get it to stick. I sprayed those on the berries. For commercial repellants I tried the Bonide Granules. That didn't seem to have any effect at...

I tried capsaicin spray and repellents last season with no result. It seems once they are aware of a food source there is little that will deter them. If your grapes aren't near a building, fence or other growth that raccoons can climb, I've been told by some folks that you can run a small...

I do think the culture is changing. A lot of people in my generation are in to the whole local thing. I see the appeal. There's something nice about being able to see where your products are produced for niceties like wine. On Illinois, the distributors are a big problem. When I was first...

I always told people that it was illegal and if they wanted a bottle just to bring me empties. I was at the point though where I would want to produce more, but really didn't have the money to sink into the hobby. So because I was giving bottles away, my batches would vanish less than a month...