Anyone have their own vineyard?

[Sacalait]

Muscadines grow just fine in Florida, in fact the Un. of Fla. has a large program centered around the growing of these vines.

 

[jwthomas]

Bruno i'm with you there i'v got five acres and i'm going to plant about two acres of it with vines i'm also in the start up stage my land like your's was corn fields at one time and the under grown springs let any thing grow. so good luck to you and your vineyard and to all of us on our vineyard.

 

[Racer]

Bruno i'm with you there i'v got five acres and i'm going to plant about two acres of it with vines i'm also in the start up stage my land like your's was corn fields at one time and the under grown springs let any thing grow. so good luck to you and your vineyard and to all of us on our vineyard.

Have you decided on the variety(s) you'll be planting yet?

 

[jwthomas]

i don't know. looking at the best spot to plant out hear. looking at a few vineyards to fined out what grows best.

 

[bruno]

My how time flies. It's actually over a year since I last posted on this thread.

I got my 1500 vines in this spring. Purchased from Double A. I only lost 26 plants by August which Double A will replace next spring.

My two biggest concerns have been the deer and weeds, but both have been brought under control. The new electric fence does wonders after the deer learn what it is.

For the weeds, they need constant attention. I have bare earth isles between the rows, and cultivate them periodically with a 3-pte. roto-tiller. Within the rows, I spray with Credit Extra with a 4-gallon back-pack sprayer. Thinking of experimenting next spring with a clover-type or orchard grass ground cover. Anyone have any comments on a good ground-cover?

We had a wet spring, then a fairly dry summer. I did not install a watering system because my ground is mainly clay, and holds the moisture quite well. When it did get dry, I did some spot watering using my 30 gallon tow behind sprayer, only watering the rows that were looking a bit stressed.

In the last 3-4 weeks, we have had unseasonably warm temps, and some rain. It has been amazing to see the spurt of growth that these conditions brought on.

With the vineyard in reasonably good shape, on to some other fall activities. Just started 5 gal of plum wine, and 2 1/2 gal of pear.

 

[Racer]

It's good to hear you've had a pretty good year establishing your new vines.As far as what to grow for a covercrop? You need to look at how your site and vines are doing. You said you have clay soil that holds water good. Does that mean that you have a vigorous site? If you do I'd stay away from nitrogen fixing covercrops and go with something to compete with the vines for the water and nutrients. I'm planning on going with grass in row next year because I'm still having over vigorus conditions even after dividing the canopy on my vines.

 

[myakkagldwngr]

Bruno, you don't put up fences to keep the deer out!!! You eat the deer..
Wouldn't some venison go great with a good red wine??

 

[bruno]

I don't have overly vigorous soil - the soil test I had done indicated I needed to add N which I did in the spring. So I guess I could use a cover crop that adds back Nitrogen.

As far as the deer, I have more venison in the freezer than I can handle now. Just wish they would go away.

 

[DesertDance]

We have a small backyard vineyard that we just started last year. I ordered a bunch of cuttings from UC Davis last june, so hopefully we can increase our vines. We live in the hot southern California desert, and this is NOT a wine grape growing region, BUT we are giving it a try with vines that grow in similar climates in Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Chile, and Australia. We have Touriga National, Mourvedre, Tempranillo, Cabernet Savignon clone 08, Malbec, and Perlette. On order, Syrah, Alicante Bouschet, Assirtico, Daphnata, Mandelaria, Charbono, Primitivo, Cinsault, Zinfandel. Our vines are trellised on a cordon spur trellis, and on a drip system. The newer vines will be container grown due to lack of space and head trained. We will be doing a lot of blends and looking forward to it. Until our vines are mature enough to produce, we are practicing on fruit wines.

 

[Wade E]

Have any pics of container grown! Ive never heard of this. Do they stay in there and for how long?

 

[Dhorton]

My father owns ~20 acres in northeast TX, which has pear trees, wild muscadine grapes and dewberries, I have yet to make it down to harvest any of the fruit to make into wine...

 

[DesertDance]

Have any pics of container grown! Ive never heard of this. Do they stay in there and for how long?

Desperate People do Desperate things! Our little vineyard is hidden from the prying eyes of the dreaded homeowners association, and we need more vines to get enough grapes to make our wine. They could make me rip out my vineyard because vines are not on the approved list, so I went to a lot of trouble to establish religious reasons (Biblical quotes in a word doc) for vineyards if that ever happens. I'll claim "religious persecution!" Aside from that, they can't say a word about what I have in containers.

I searched the web and found it can and has been done. Vines can even be bonsaii'd! I am going to contain my vines in those smart root encouraging pots made from landscape fabric. They will need re-potting every couple years, but that should be no problem. This picture is of Head Trained vines that are very mature.

 

[skhnmh]

Good to see you on the boards, since WP went down...

I started a Bonsai pinot noir just a few days ago. Got a great container that was supposed to be a grape themed casserole but cracked during the last firing. I'm excited to see it "take root." Cheers.

 

[DesertDance]

Bonsai Grape Vines

Good to see you on the boards, since WP went down...

I started a Bonsai pinot noir just a few days ago. Got a great container that was supposed to be a grape themed casserole but cracked during the last firing. I'm excited to see it "take root." Cheers.

Hammered!! Very nice to see you here. I just told gregmg about this site. How old is the vine you Bonsai'd? I hope you post pictures of your Bonsai Pinot Noir! How very cool!!

Good luck with it!

Suzi

 

[Midwest Vintner]

we have ~20-25 wild vines, but there's just too much poison ivy and the grapes are at the tops of 20+ ft trees! we do have 2 concords on the property, but something (most likely birds or deer) ate them well before they became very ripe! looking into some kind of netting. we also have lots of wild black raspberries, that are also hard to get without gettion poison ivy.

is there any way to get rid of the posion ivy and not hurt the vines or raspberries???? i hate that stuff!

 

[skhnmh]

We don't get much poison ivy out here, but I do have to keep after the Himalayan Blackberries. I've found that Brush-Be-Gone works the best, but don't get it on the leaves of the grapes. Round-up is a popular herbicide used under grapevines in a vineyard as well, again use care to keep it off the growing parts (leaves and fruit) of the vines.

 

[DesertDance]

Container Grown Grapes

Have any pics of container grown! Ive never heard of this. Do they stay in there and for how long?

From what I've read, they can stay in containers for years as long as you re-pot and freshen the growth medium. I plan on using "root pruning" pots. Google that and you may be surprised.

Hopefully I earned the right to post a picture. I've now posted 12 times. I'll try again! Grapevines, head trained, in containers:

http://www.spanishplants.co.uk/docs/gallery/fruit/Vitis vinfera (grape)-90L-group.jpg

 

[Wade E]

Ok they look cool but they can possibly produce very much like that!

 

[DesertDance]

Ok they look cool but they can possibly produce very much like that!

Here is a link to a blog of someone's actual container vineyard harvest.
http://www.washingtonwinemaker.com/blog/2007/10/15/bonsai-vineyard-harvest-complete/

Granted, the harvest is not as great as in ground, but when you have a lack of space, and a desire for a full vineyard, you do what you can! I'm prepared to freeze and blend!!

I will keep you updated on this container vineyard thing. There are pots that discourage root boundness and circling. Some are made of landscape fabric. They encourage the plants to air prune themselves. You can google the concept and find a lot about it. Here is one of many companies offering this type of product. http://www.rootmaker.com/rootmakersystem.php

Suzi

 

[AlFulchino]

i believe it can be done....one things is for sure..a variety that enjoys to struggle a bit would do fine...will yield be small...sure....but what about a couple of those huge 3 foot tall and 3.5-4 ft wide pots at an entry or out in the back yard near a fence or structure.....i bet it could look awesome