Champlain Valley - Grapemans' vineyard - Planting to small winery

[grapeman]

It has been three weeks since I posted those pictures and the vines have certainly progressed, but the weather has been coolish. We had first bloom last year on June 10 an I don't think it will be quite there this year, probably a few days later. The 90 degree weather along with the two and a half inches of rain this last week will certainly speed things back up. The vines are smoothing out the uneveness better, but there are some real laggards. I took the growtubes off the 50 Marquette vines I planted a month ago before this very warm spell to keep them from cooking. They are looking pretty good in my new "WineYard". Now if the grass dies again after I replant it, there will be something on that spot of yard to look at-especially after I build the trellis.


I will try to take some pictures later today if time permits. We are taking our youngest son to the local college today for an orientation session. Then later we will be having our oldes son's birthday dinner. Not to mention tending the vineyard- oh and mowing the lawn that is starting to resemble a hayfield!

 

[Waldo]

What are you going to do in your spare time appleman

 

[grapeman]

I'm taking a break from working in my vineyard today right now. It is up to about 90 degrees before noon so I got a bit hot from running VSP catchwires and then training under the full sun. I decided to take a bit of a break for now and post a few pictures I took yesterday. It was a bit too sunny so I can't show what would have been some good pictures. They came out too bright.




First the currants continue to grow. The Titania are almost 4 feet tall now and covered with black currants.

The vines trained to the four arm kniffen are already starting to fill up. They are about a week away from bloom, but the heat may push that some. These are LaCrosse.

LaCrosse clusters not far from bloom. They stay pretty tight.

A bit too sunny, but this shows rows full length up to the little greenouse behind my office building-over 500 feet total. These are LaCrosse and St. Pepin with four arms(and in need of a bit of shoot pulling).

The Frontenac are going to be too vigorous for four arms. I trained 12 of them to four arms to compare with VSP. I want to see the difference in acid and brix comparing the two systems. As you can see the 4 arms is already getting thick.

The VSP will be much more manageable(these are some I strung wire for this AM)

Edited by: appleman

 

[grapeman]

I had to split up the post due to the pictures not going any more in the first one.... so continuing on....


Here is another Frontenac already on VSP partially trained.

Here is a shot with 3 year Frontenac on right and 2 year Frontenac on the left.

And then a picture of my "Vine Yard" where I planted 50 Marquette in a spot the grass keeps dying in- remember this is almost pure sand up here at this spot.

Another view...

And Finally a shot showing I am running out of room. I guess next year I will need to move on to a bigger and better location for any vineyard expansion plans.

Edited by: appleman

 

[NorthernWinos]

Appleman.....It all looks mighty professional...

On your 4 arm Kniffen grapes....
How old are those plants????
How far apart are the plants????
Do you make a totally new arm each year???? From the main trunk????
Do you ever start a whole new [renewal] plant from the base???
How tall are your wires????

Full of questions aren't I????

Thanks!!!!

 

[grapeman]

NW I will try to answer the questions:


On your 4 arm Kniffen grapes....

How old are those plants????
They are only 3 years old.
How far apart are the plants????
7.5 feet apart.
Do you make a totally new arm each year????
Yes in all liklihood from a renewal shoot this year to become the cane arm next year. St. Pepin will be a possible exception keeping the cordon and pruning to spurs.
From the main trunk???? Yes. See previous answer.
Do you ever start a whole new [renewal] plant from the base???
I have one St. Pepin and one LaCrosse that I will need to renew from the base for some reason. They didn't bud out very well high up, but are good and vigorous at the bottom.
How tall are your wires????
The top wires are at about 6 feet.


As far as looking professional.... The jury is still out on that.

 

[swillologist]

They look pretty professional to me. They all look good.


With all the rain this spring my vines are going nuts. I don't know how many grapes to leave on my new vines to slow them down. The wind is doing the pruning on my old vines. I think it has just about all the weak ones broke off now.

 

[BonnieJoy]

All I can say is WOW, what an impressive vineyard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


How many vines are you up to now? What do you want to expand to?


The heat indexin Indiana today was terrible. It drove meinto the shade in short order.We had some nice rains this weekwhich, coupled withhigher temps, sprouted the ryegrassI planted last Sunday.

 

[bilbo-in-maine]

It sounds like Marquette is a big hit in the Appleman household!

Things are looking great there Rich. What percentage of your vines were bothered by the orange goo, do you think? Has it settled down now with the heat you've had? The stuff finally has slowed its activity here, but only since yesterday with temps in high 80's. It looks like all of my Landot Noir are 90 percent dead, or permanently dormant. Frontenac are not much better. It is amazing to see the vigor on yours. I have to start to wonder if the lime-sulfur dormant spray in early April is the culprit. That application is the only difference between the health of the vines last year and this year. All in all, though, everything is slow this year, just as you've commented.

 

[grapeman]

Bonnie, I don't have an exact count right now of vines in the vineyard but it is around 750 between newly planted and 10 years old. The majority of vines has been planted the last three years. I finally have my Concord and Niagara vines trained semi-properly and the difference in grape clusters is amazing. The Concord especially is just absolutely loaded and the Niagara not far behind. These vines are about 10 or more years old. I moved them (actually I planted as cuttings from the old vines) here from my old vine location at that time, but neglected them until four years ago.


Bill, it has been a few weeks since I had the orange goo and it made the varieties with it worst very slow to bud out, but they are starting to catch up. The Landot at Willsboro were VERY slow to bud out also, but when they did, it was full speed ahead. Within 10 days they went from slightly raised buds to shoots up to six inches long.


I guess we have had more of the heat the last week than you have. We got nice and warm almost a week ago and have set new daily records the last two days and probably will again today since the old record is 92. It was pretty tough working in the heat the last couple, but I'm in the nice air conditioned office today. Both days made it to 95 here at our place with a bunch of humidity. I took the cuttings out of the greenhouse to give them a breather since it was well over 100 in there - my guess would be about 125 or more. It would take your breath away when you went in the door. I will plant the rest of them in the nursery as time permits in the next week. I have about 750 planted so far in the nursery and have about 750 more to plant.

 

[NorthernWinos]

So...what's this orange goo?????

Appleman....You'll have your winery/vineyard up to top production very soon and be the envy of the Forum....Hope you will still have enough time to keep us informed.

My oldest Frontenac vine is slow coming around...It was one of the ones that dripped from the ends the most. The King of the North and the oldest Beta were also drippers....I think it was because the arms of the Kniffen style training are very old and woody and I really lopped of some heavy woody ends....so will try and make new arms from the main trunk..or make a whole new vine.

I am a bit concerned that maybe Frontenac are a little tender for up here and leave hanging on the wires...now that I just planted a full row of them....only 9. All of my other vines with hardiness to -30 to -35* are grown on wire panels, lay down and cover with straw, they don't seem very productive either and am beginning to think I'd best replant with all the old fashioned extremely hardy vines.....So, it's waiting game...Wait another year and see how they grow.

 

[OilnH2O]

Looking great, Rich! And, considering how late things seemed to be earlier your vines have just gone great guns! (A far cry from here where it's "rain, rain, go AWAY! - only 55* so far today!)

 

[grapeman]

I took those pictures on Saturday afternoon. Here it is 2 days later and most of the vines are about a foot longer now. The Frontenac on VSP really took off. Some shoots are within inches of the top wire at 6 feet up. This morning they were just past the second wire- a difference of 10-12 inches since 10 AM today! I have a bunch of training to get done soon.......

 

[bilbo-in-maine]

Holy #*@&! That's some amazing growth. Well, I'll hang on and maybe be pleasantly surprised to see growth begin on the Landot Noir and Frontenac.

NW - the orange goo I mentioned was (is) some sort of fungal infection that occurred at the pruning cuts. The cordon ends that you talked about on your vines were where I saw this happen very often, and also at many of the pruned spurs on the cordons. Even today a small number of cuts still ooze. Any buds that come in contact with the seepage just shrivel. Very frustrating.

 

[grapeman]

Holy #*@&! That's some amazing growth. Well, I'll hang on and maybe be pleasantly surprised to see growth begin on the Landot Noir and Frontenac.

That's what I said when I looked at them. I checked them out with the binoculars at about 10:00 AM and the tallest shoots were up to the next to last catch wire. I looked again at 4:30 and the same shoots were just short of the top wire 14 inches higher. Then I went out after dinner and the same canes were about 4 inches above the wire. HELP! I don't know how I will control these monsters! I better be careful if I go out there at dark, especially as I feel the tendrils wrapping around my neck!

 

[BonnieJoy]

Oh my gosh, that growth rate is unreal. If anyone can figure out how to tame those monsters its gotta me you. Good luck with that.

 

[grapeman]

One day later than last year- I have initial bloom in the vineyard. About 1/3 - 1/2 of the Frontenac shed their caps today and opened up in bloom. There is spotty bloom in the Leon Millot and LaCrosse. WHooo Hooo!!


It cooled down after the thunderstorms late yesterday. This morning was beautiful after the 3/4 inch of rain we got about 7:30 last evening in about 15 minutes time. By afternoon it was getting more humid again and in the low 80's- not bad!


I was trying to train some of the Leon Millot into the fixed catchwires of VSP. It was just too hard, so I took the staples out and attached a foot and a half of chain to the ends of the catchwires on one end. I attached bent nails at about 8-10 inches above the fruiting wire and hooked the chains as tight as I could pull them. Then I lifted the wires up to the nail and viola, most of the canes were trapped in the catchwires. I will retrofit the other rows in the next couple days and then do the upper wires the same way. There are still a few stray canes, but it is much more manageable now. Some of the Leon Millot canes measure(literally with a tape measure) 3 feet long.


I am also getting there with the nursery only 3 more rows(100 each) of vines to plant. I have 10 rows planted so far. I tilled between them this evening since the lambsquarter weeds were forming a carpet.

 

[OilnH2O]

I assume you're planting to a plan -- what and how many do you figure you'll have when you're fully planted? And, how many acres will that be? (Just curious -- it sounds great!)

 

[grapeman]

I assume you're planting to a plan -- what and how many do you figure you'll have when you're fully planted? And, how many acres will that be? (Just curious -- it sounds great!)

Plan?

I'm supposed to have a plan?

I will keep enlightening you all as I go. I need to keep just a couple things to myself

Basically I know some of the varieties I want to grow. I am expanding those numbers from cuttings but it will take a few years to get there. I'm hoping to plant two acres of vineyard next year. The the real fun continues.......


I am sipping on a nice off-dry fuity aromatic white wine right now from one of the varieties I am expanding. SG of 1.002.

 

[grapeman]

Bloom continues on with more and more blossoms shedding their caps, especially under the Frontenac. This afternoon to ground was green with shed caps and the air was full of an overpoweringly sweet pollen. I sweated out in the vineyard all day stringing extra catchwires, training and a bit of hoeing. Maybe I will get caught up in November! The humidity was overbearing today and I would break out in a sweat doing the least little things. The temps were only in the mid 80's, but the relative humidity and dew point were atrocious. Then at the stroke of 5:00 PM, the skies decided it was time to shed some of the moisture. We got 1.54 inches of rain in 40 minutes time- a very steady moderate rain that really added up!
I guess I won't be doing much else outside this evening.............