Champlain Valley - Grapemans' vineyard - Planting to small winery

[ibglowin]

Oh, so now you try and back peddle to make me feel better! Even if those are a year older geese louise! My Marquette are TINY in comparison. The Noiret and Corot Noir are sorta close to that size. I am picking Marquette tonight if they pass Brix test! We have another warm week ahead so everything will be gone I think by wedding day.....

 

[OilnH2O]

It is amazing to me, Mike, to think you're close to picking! Still green up here!

 

[ibglowin]

I picked 3 vines yesterday evening. Brix was 25, 25, 24. Have 3-4 more about 21-22 Brix so maybe by this weekend. We have high pressure ridge over us this week so no monsoonal moisture and HOT temps predicted so another great ripening week for the grapes. Corot Noir and Noiret are way way behind the Marquette.

 

[grapeman]

I ordered another 5000 feet of netting yesterday afternoon as we will need to start netting soon. I think I will build an applicator to go onto the tractor like this one. It would make life much easier. The downside is it takes 4 people to use it properly.
http://www.plantra.com/BirdNetting/BirdNettingVideo.aspx

 

[GreginND]

That netting applicator sure looks nifty.

 

[Wade E]

That netting app is awesome, cant you get one of those apps for a smartphone? LOL I must say there is nothing better then grapes maturing on the vine and pics of them! Its just romantic!

 

[tfries]

I made an applicator based on the one in that video. Used 2" PVC, some rings and other stuff. Total cost was about $20. I already had the Carry-all it is attached to. There is a chain on the boom that connects to the frame to hold it in place over the top of the vines. Our netting is 1700' long.

 

[ibglowin]

Very nice!

I made an applicator based on the one in that video. Used 2" PVC, some rings and other stuff. Total cost was about $20. I already had the Carry-all it is attached to. There is a chain on the boom that connects to the frame to hold it in place over the top of the vines. Our netting is 1700' long.

 

[grapeman]

Good job tfries. I was just headed out the door to buy another carry all. I can't buy the steel for the price they charge for the assembled thing. I will use steel to build the cage as in the video. I have used PVC pipe the past few years to apply the netting, but my arms get tired holding it up. This will let the tractor do the work.

 

[grapeman]

We got the applicator finished yesterday all but a paint job for it. That will wait for a few days until after we use it. We tried it out this afternoon and netted an acre in around an hour without ever using such a contraption. One of the boys said"Now this is the way to put the netting on." as he rode the machine paying the net out as I drove along. We had one boy on each side sprading the net out as we went and let it drape to the ground. We will do the rest in the trial section tomorrow. It is just in time also as veraison is taking on a frantic pace and the grapes turning more each day. Some are around 15 brix at color change. I hope we can delay harvest a few more weeks.

I will get some pictures of it soon and see if I can get one while using it to show how it works.

 

[grapeman]

At the risk of eye injury to you, here are a few pictures which includes me and my son Rick.
First up is Marquette on Scott Henry (2 pics). Notice the upper foliage and shoots going downward also and the fruit is in the middle.

Next a pic of St. Pepin with one small closeup of one spot on one out of 4 cordons using 4 canes-one each for trunks and cordons. Then the whole vine.

Rick with TWC

Then Marquette on the backside of the Mod GDC Marquette.

 

[ibglowin]

Holy cow you could walk under the Marquette in that last pic. Looks like the top is over 7-8ft!

Grapes are looking excellent. You are definitely behind me in Marquette ripening.

Any guesstimates on harvest yield this year?

 

[grapeman]

We are both vertically challenged and only about 5'6". The top wire is around 6' 8" so the fruit hangs a nice height to pick. We only began veraison about 8-10 days ago but still ahead of a typical year here. The Mod GDC looks to be around 30 to 35 pounds per vine right now or about 10-12 tons per acre - more than normally should hang to ripen, but hey, this is a trial and I am not artificially influencing things by thinning a lot. Just some leaf pulling and hedging where needed. They all began with a similar bud count per foot of fruiting wire.

 

[ibglowin]

That's like 2g finished wine per vine or about twice normal....

You better have some good help this Fall at harvest!

 

[grapeman]

Yes it is, but that is only 3 rows of that system for now out of a couple acres. Overall yield will be about half that or so. I will likely be using that training system for the new almost 4 acre vineyard so in a few years I will certainly need more picking help. We routinely get about a gallon and a half per St Pepin already, sometimes 2. That's why I cringe when I hear people say you can't ripen over 4 tons per acre. Why take the crop off when it may not be needed. That's why my trials push the envelope. If I can do it with 2500 GDD, then other areas can also.

 

[grapeman]

Here are some pictures of us installing netting on the training systems trial this evening.

 

[Runningwolf]

Great pictures Rich. That is really cool how you install the netting. I've never seen that before.

 

[ibglowin]

Nothing but net!

Very nice set up.

 

[robie]

I was curious what to do with long netting when one goes from one row to the next. Looks like you carefully bunch it up on the ground and move over one row.
That's pretty neat.

No doubt that device you made has made stinging the netting much, much easier and cuts down on lots of snags.

 

[Scott]

How does the un-netting go? Same process but backwards?