Champlain Valley - Grapemans' vineyard - Planting to small winery

[grapeman]

We had a second day of sun today so I played hookey for a while and went out to snap a few pictures. First of all- blue sky.Then the grapes and vineyard.

These couple are my rooted cuttings from Double A

Please ignore the grass and weeds in these pictures- been too wet to get rid of yet. By the way the tractor tracks are from where I sprayed them last evening.

These vines came from Double A as rooted cuttings- the ones at the beginning of the post shown on the pickup hood.

Look close above- yes those are fruit buds showing- three on this plant. I have been picking them off when I get the chance.


Finally, the spinning jenny from stringing the last row of wires- in this block. I have 5 more rows to set posts and string the wire as I get the greenhouse rooted cuttings planted. Actually I may just put in the stakes this year and put the trellis wires in next spring. We'll see.

 

[bilbo-in-maine]

Richard - Very nice! It is amazing to see the "beach sand" you have for
soil, so different from mine here in coastal Maine. It is really fun to see
the small plants, same height as mine and I suppose Masta's too. It will
be fun and interesting to watch them all grow (with any luck.) Conditions
so far this spring have been cloudy, wet and cool here. We need HEAT

Bill

 

[masta]

Guess what....more heavy rain for us today and showers on and off through Saturday!

 

[grapeman]

Turn the heat on!

The weather is finally straightening out up here. We actually are having some pretty fair weather and boy are the vines showing it!. It's been sunny at least part of the day most of the week. Today we are having a banner day- Sun and a high of 94 degrees. The vines have about doubled in size in the last few days. I set out another 25 rooted cuttings yesterday of Chardonnel. There are about 50-75 Frontenac that are almost ready to go. I hoed the vines this morning and harrowed between them and they look good. Many of the vines have reached the first trellis wire set at 20 inches.


Side note:


I am having help with pruning the Concord and Niagara vines I already had growing. Their growth has been very vigorous with all the rain and I figured I would have to trim them pretty soon. A couple nights ago there were pointy two toed footprints in the vineyard. The pruning fairies had visited and viola, the vines were trimmed up nicely!

. Guess I will have some very complex tasting venison this fall.

I wonder how that would be with some Mojjo spices on it- mmmmmm.Edited by: appleman

 

[grapeman]

How are everybody's vines fairing with all the rain here in the east? If ever there were perfect conditions for fungi and mildew, it would be this year here. Luckily I haven't seen much yet, even though it rains almost every day and has been in the upper 70's to 80's. The vines seem to like it though. I will have to post some more pictures if it ever stops raining. Most vines are at leat up to the first wire and some are approaching the second- getting near the top of there training poles. I can't wait for a couple more years to pass so I can try some of the fruits of my labor.

 

[NorthernWinos]

Appleman...
Love the looks of your new vineyard....are those apple trees beside the vines???? Your going to have lots of grapes in a few years.
To all of you who are starting a vineyard, or just a few grape vines as we have, I can't stress enough to build a very strong, well braced fence...the weight of the vines and fruit become amazing and even our over-built fence sags under the weight.
I was not able to prune my vines this spring and this is how an overgrown vine can become...

These are some 6 year old Beta vines [very hardy, Concord type juice grape].

Our end posts are braced very well and it is needed as the wires can sag from the weight.

Even a young plant can put a lot of weight on the wires...

This is a young Valiant vine...[also a hardy Concord juice type grape]
We have one vine at each wooden post, spaced 8 feet apart and each vine is tied to a post....they grow together at 8 feet and can become very dense with foliage. I think the rows are 10 feet apart, need to get air movement through them.

Our tender grapes are grown on a strong wire panel, tied to a post, the panel is untied in the fall and laid on the ground...have had good luck with the tender ones so far [3 winters].Tho, I found that we need to use taller panels and hope to change them next spring.

This is an Edelweiss vine [a white table grape] It is growing on a 3 foot by 5 foot piece of hog panel...hope to be able to cut them off and tie them to a 4 foot tall by 8 foot wide cattle panel next spring. As you can see this vine an all the garden is suffering from lack of rain and a gross lack of care and pruning.





I went out to do some much needed summer canopy pruning and found some ....TENANTS..

d
Looks like a Robin has started another small brood...

Usually we just have House Wrens living in the grapes and raspberries....

They are very cross when I go out to pick the raspberries and sing and chatter the whole time I am out there....
Their nests are lovely delicate little ones...

I usually find 2 or 3 each fall when I prune the raspberries....they are made of about 50% horse hair. The nests are so cute, some years I put them in the Christmas tree.

So, guess the summer canopy pruning will be watched closely by the Robins and House Wrens...always nice to have some company while you work.

Edited by: Northern Winos

 

[grapeman]

Thanks NW. Yes those are apple trees next to the vineyard. It is a mixed block of 15 varieties-everything from Mac's to Northern Spies and even some newer varieties. They all do pretty well up here, but some of the more dwarfing rootstock are showing signs of decline. I may have to replace them in a few years. If the grapes do well, I may replace with more of them.


You say your vines are suffering from lack of rain? How many inches you need. We can spare you 20 or so about now. More gully washers again in the wee hours of the morning today.

 

[NorthernWinos]

Thanks  NW. Yes those are apple trees next to the vineyard. It is a mixed block of 15 varieties-everything from Mac's to Northern Spies and even some newer varieties. They all do pretty well up here, but some of the more dwarfing rootstock are showing signs of decline. I may have to replace them in a few years. If the grapes do well, I may replace with more of them.


You say your vines are suffering from lack of rain? How many inches you need. We can spare you 20 or so about now. More gully washers again in the wee hours of the morning today.

We are in a terrible drought up here in NW Minnesota...April we got .76", May we got 2.66" and in June a mere .79...We are weather watchers for this township in this county, so these readings are from an official rain gauge.....seems 80% chance of rain will give us .05/100ths.We need a good inch a week for our crops, but that sure isn't happening. The crops are living on hope and promisses....No diseases on the roses and grapes tho.... Send us some of your excess, we sure need it...seems a good rain is too much to ask for this year......So it goes.Edited by: Northern Winos

 

[grapeman]

NW


Just the opposite here. We have been in an extreme excess for three months. We are running about 5-6" excess each month. Forget percentage chance of rain-just count on it most days. Saturday there was an outside chance of widely scattered thunderstorms late in the day-they should have said widespread. We had two before noon and another two later in the day and another overnight. I'm glad I have well drained soils here, but I have had to supplement fertilizer this year. At least I'm better off than my brother who relies on the weather for the vegetable farm. He has only gotten one third of the crops in this year and he will be lucky if he gets any marketable crop at all. Around here we normally havesweet corn by the end of July- the few stray plants that came up early haven't even tasseled yet. Ipick tomatoesstarting about July 4, the biggest I have are the size of chicken eggs and my brother just got his planted about 10 days ago.

Pleasefeel free to take some of our rain!

 

[grapeman]

Time to update the vinews progress. Here are some pictures. The first couple show the difference between 1 year rooted cuttings(right side)and this years rooted cuttings- big difference so far. The next ones show progress of vines where I have the trellis build. A couple pictures showing yes I have deer and the results of some feeding(stripped leaves). And finally a picture showing that yes in spite of all the rain, there are some apples, although I havent got the grass under the trees mowed yet, just between the rows.

And just to show they do exist here- a stone.

Edited by: appleman

 

[NorthernWinos]

Wow, you sure are caring for you vines nicely, they are looking great.
I bet the deer enjoy those apples too.We had a early warm spring that sent the wild and domestic fruits into an early bloom, then a late frost........ so the bloosoms froze, didn't think that would bother them, but there sure aren't many apples this year.......just as well...it is so dry that if the trees were loaded as usual it would put a lot of stress on the them.
Your efforts are sure looking good....good luck with all your ventures.

Edited by: Northern Winos

 

[PolishWineP]

We have loads of apples on our tree this year and have been picking them so the tree won't break. It's still quite young and wouldn't hold up to the stress. We've had to keep watering it as we have the same drought you do. A lot of people around here say they get apples only every other year, and that holds true for our trees too. (We lost one to wind last year.

It wouldn't have lived much longer any way. It just wasn't well grafted.

 

[grapeman]

There are some apple tree varieties that are basically biennially bearing, but most bear every year unless they were overcropped. This is why commercial orchards routinely thin the apples either with chemicals, hormones or by hand thinning. Droughts have a tendancy to thin the weak apples naturally, so if too many were left, you may actually get a better crop. Also the following year will also give a crop. You want a moderate amount of apples every year for best results and overall size.

 

[NorthernWinos]

These are our 5 & 6 year old apple trees.......Notice how dry it is here.

This is a tree called Harlson Red, it is a heavy producer and true to it's nature is a bi-annual producer...it and some others only produce every other year due to it's breeding. This would be our most productive tree this year....if the fruit doesn't fall off due to the drought.Some years we have to prop up the lower branches due to the weight of the fruit....we have a hard time picking fruit to thin the crop....that is just to hard to do.

These are our assorted fruit trees we planted last year....apples, crab apples, Bali cherry and 3 kinds of big plums.....on my way to drag the hose out there...They had a good pruning last year from the deer.....the trees we planted this spring have been getting regular waterings and appear to be doing good despite the dryness and heat.

These are a couple of our baby HARDY wine grapes....they were tissue culture vines we got last year, they were so tiny ..just glad they wintered over...You'll notice the strawberries growing between the grape rows..been wanting to get rid of them, but they do produce every year and I get new plants from that patch...next year they die...just too messy and they are in the way.

LOUISE SWENSON

BALTIC AMBER

This is a Swenson Red wine grape, it is fairly tender here. I grow the vines in a fan pattern on heavy wire panel and lay them down in the winter...this is a 3 year old vine and is the first year it has had fruit.

It is so much fun to grow new things, tho this year I am embarassed to show any of our gardens the neglect and drought things are not pretty....

 

[grapeman]

Nothing to embarrased about.

For having a lack of rain, I think your stuff is looking pretty darned good. I especially like the 3 year old vine. Wish I had more like that but only have 5 Niagara and 8 Concords bearing well this year.


I updated pictures on the end of page 3, even included a stone special for Bilbo. Let's see an update on those vines in Maine, Bill.

 

[grapeman]

Well the weather has been great for a while now 80's and 90's with about an inch of rain per week. The only problem I'm having right now is Japanese beetles. They are new to me here-never even seen one here before. I was pulling leaves last night and found 25-30 on some of the upper leaves on the older vines. The new vines have a couple on them here and there. I put some Sevin on the upper leaves last night and only saw three there this AM. Most of the vines are making pretty good growth lately and are in good shape. Some of the Buffalo vines are above the top wire at 6 feet. WOW- they were planted six weeks ago, a foot per week average. At that rate, I may be able to train the 4-Arm Kniffen next year and may even allow a small crop. I'll see how they do this winter!

 

[grapeman]

I took some more pictures today. The weather has been full of thunder storms. The last bad one was Tuesday when the lightning blew up my phone next to me. Wednesday we had about an inch of rain in a half hour, but at least no close strikes. The rain is why it looks muddy in a couple pictures, it was.


First a before and after picture - first July 10 - same shot July 28 a little over 2 weeks. The vines on the right are Buffalo 1 year rooted cuttings planted June 7 this year and on the left Leon Millot this years rooted cuttings. I also had to install the trellis for that row last week-they outgrew the stakes.

A shot of the Buffalo from the other direction- the top wire is almost 6 feet.

Now the grapes on these vines....

Just kidding on that one- those are some Niagara grapes next to them.


Now some cuttings that rooted too slow to set out this year so I made a little nursery for them and will plant next spring.

How about a bean gone crazy- where is Jack?

Well maybe not- how about a wild multi-headed sunflower?




Finally, Salsa on the plant- almost ready - a variety of seet and hot peppers and tomatoes.

The little ones on the left are Kung Pao peppers- nice quick heat, but doesn't overpower.

Edited by: appleman

 

[NorthernWinos]

Everything is looking so great..

Can tell you put a lot time and love into your gardens.
What zone are you there????

 

[grapeman]

Thanks, it does take a lot of work to keep everything up. That's one of the reasons I grow all the stuff- for the exercise. Gotta get some exercise after sitting on my butt most of the day working on house plans at the computers. It's especially important since my treadmill got zapped in June. I've gotta get a new one soon. I've put on too much weight sampling all my good wines and beers this summer.


By the way NW it is on the cold side of Zone 5 here. Gotta pick my varieties carefully, but I think it is getting warmer in general. When I was a kid half a century ago, we would get to -25 F, sometimes colder. I had corn6 inches high get snowed on on June 4 one year. Frost would come Sept 15. Now it rarely gets below -15 F. Last few years the last frost comes very early May(this year April 28) and the first frost about October 15(last year October 25). Global warming or whatever- we'll take the warmer weather but could do without the severe weather.

 

[grapeman]

I went to a field day today for showing a field trial of 25 cold hardy varieties of grapes. If anyone is intersted I can post some pictures of them. They were planted last year and at this point aredoing very well. Almost all of the 300 plants are thriving. I will post one picture here to peak your interest.

Edited by: appleman