Breaking Ground!!

[9CourseWineMusician]

Blume,

As ever, so full of insight and very helpful! I fear the specter of planting many varietals, however the logic does make sense, as far as determining what varietal(s) will best suit me.

Thank you, also, for your wishes of luck and ideas. They are greatly appreciated!

 

[9CourseWineMusician]

D-dub!

Wow, that was quite the helpful post. I had no idea (perhaps I haven't gotten this far in my reading yet) that it would take such intensive research into JUST THE GROUND. I understood it would take some semblance of investigation. However, the way you've outlined it seems to be relative and easy to follow. Thank you!

 

[blumentopferde]

Go to google research and price - trellising, irrigation, rootstock, pierce disease, beneficial plants, vitis vinifera, hybrid grapes, row orientation, soil types, soil amendments, systemic pesticides, white-grey-black-brown mildew/rot, micchorizea, cover crops, composting, growing organic, budbreak, grafting, rootstock again, hybrid varieties, american varieties, pruning. And each one of those subjects has sub-categories.

One more thing:

As you're aiming to a commercial scale you should also get familiar with agricultural machines - which ones will you need? What can you do by hand? What will be mechanised? Which row distance and which trellis system will be suitable for mechanisation? What costs do you have to expect? Which licenses do you need to handle them?

Lots of research and lots of invenstments to be done... So you better start small, with one variety and only a few plants in your backyard, get familiar with pruning, spraying and winemaking, and the rest will come step by step...

 

[dwhill40]

9CWM, My advice is novice since I planted in March 2013 but here is a pic of the results. Cab growing on a mountain top in north alabama.

Oh well the link doesn't work but I posted some photos in my gallery. The rainy year with the sandy soil was perfect. I call it an experiment still. Starting small figuring it out. Maybe the day will come when it will become obvious that I need a winery

 

[9CourseWineMusician]

Blume and D-Dub,

Thank you again, my friends, for all of this wonderful advice! It really helps!

D-dub, it looks like you are well on your way, my friend! It looks amazing! Also I didn't know there were 'mountains' in Alabama Good stuff!