Champlain Valley - Grapemans' vineyard - Planting to small winery

[Dean]

Man, I wish we would get rain! I'm from the west "wet" coast, and this past June was the most dry that we've had since 1965. My lawn is dead pretty much since middle of may due to lack of rain. My grapes however, are doing GREAT! We had a very slow start to spring, however, it seems like we had a very early start to summer.

We have too many wildfires around the area and our forestry people are going to face their biggest challenge in decades this season to keep forest fires down.

 

[Wade E]

Everyone I know around here that has a garden is saying that their crops arent doing good at all.

 

[Waldo]

Same here in our area wade. We got way too much rain this spring

 

[Wade E]

We are still getting it everyday. In the last 33 days we have had rain about 28 of them and cloudy almost everyday. We have had some sun but not much and all the plants around here are showing that. Normally when we get this much rain the grass needs cutting at least once a week but Ive been doing every 2 - 2 1/2 weeks. Ive never waited that long to mow my lawn ever.

 

[farmer]

We had the third driest May on record, June was average but it is getting dry here and the grass is drying up. The crops are ok so far but we could use a good soaking.If we don't get a good rain in the next week I will be watering my new vines and thetrees I planted last year.

 

[grapeman]

Here are some pictures of the vines involved with my SARE Research Project. The Leon Millot and Frontenac are trained to both Vertical Shoot Positioning (VSP) and 4AK (4 Arm Kniffen). They are at my canopy training starting point so I thought I would record them here for you. All I did was tie the VSP upright and clip the ends of the lower arm shoots so I can spray next chance I get. Now as time permits I will be adjusting the number of shoots in one treatment and the number of clusters in another and the third will get neither, except for adjusting to a maximum 50 shoots per vine.

Leon Millot- VSP and then 4 AK

Frontenac VSP and then 4AK

LaCrosse TWC and then 4AK

Then JW was asking about the StPepin so here is a shot.

And here is a quarter of my new vines

And then a few bunches of some small grape variety. The bunches are really early, blue and have small clusters. Very sweet. It was a mislabeled variety and was supposed to be St. Croix.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures. See what a bit too much rain can do? I am playing catchup with the vigor and weed control, but I made a lot of progress today so I feel better (and a sunny day helped).

 

[Wade E]

Thats looking pretty good there!

 

[grapeman]

Here are a couple quick pictures of the sprayer for Willsboro almost completed. The first picture show a bit of my "Vine Yard" I planted last year. I will describe it better later in another post under Willsboro.

 

[R Ziegler]

just curious - are the lower nozzles angled or can they be? So they can get up and under the canopy more.

 

[AlFulchino]

not gona speak for Rich here..he can answer you best...but most nozzles spray in a fan downward, straight out and upward, so he would be hitting the ground a bit...the trunks and also up into the underside of the cordon and leaf area

am i right rich?...your spray pattern is similar to what i am doing

 

[grapeman]

Like Al says, the nozzles spray in a fan shape. They are offset 15 degrees so the droplets don't hit each other on the overlap between nozzles. They hit the underside of the leaves pretty good. By going up one row and down the next, you have to hunt to find a spot on any leaf not covered. If you look at the nozzle spacing you will see the get closer together towards the top. That puts extra spray at the top which is perfect for the vines at Willsboro using TWC. It is hard to see it in the pictures, but the booms slide in and out and go from about 4 feet wide to 7 feet wide. That compensates for growing canopy during the season.

 

[grapeman]

Here is a picture of my new vineyard (new field) after tilling crossways to get rid of in-row weeds. I normally disk between rows, but that leaves a strip of weeds and grass. The normal figure 8 I do around the vines didn't do the job I wanted so I spent 6 hours tilling an acre sideways.

The vines are growing, but need more sun to really take off. Maybe they will get some one of these months.......

 

[grapeman]

Will the weather ever improve before winter? It sure does not seem at all like July andy more than it seemed like June in June. The days have been very cool for this time of year. Highs have been in the 70's most days except for some 60's. Rainfall and clouds are discouraging. Normally July is a dry mont with our average at 3.23 inches. Yesterday , the 16th saw us break that amount, with heavy rain later tonight expected, again.


Growing degree days are an indicator of the warmth for a growing season. We typically get around 2500 in a year (base 50). Normally at this point we are about half way there, but again are lagging about 20 percent behind normal. It will be interesting to see how this years vintage turns out! SHould be memorable.

 

[AlFulchino]

Rich...is that a wet spot out in the middle of that field? i got me one of those

will you be planting a cover crop for wind erosion?...i have not done so because i get an incredible amount of heat absorbed into and them later release from my soil.....but i am considering planting an annual cover in my moisture laden area to sop up some extra rain when we get it

 

[rrawhide]

Just so everyone is clear on the grow days that Rich is referring - here is the easy explanation:


<H2>GDD calculation</H2>


GDD are calculated by taking the average of the daily maximum and minimum temperatures compared to a base temperature, T<SUB>base</SUB>, (usually 10 °C). As an equation:
<DL>
<DD>

</DD></DL>


GDDs are typically measured from the winter low. Any temperature below T<SUB>base</SUB> is set to T<SUB>base</SUB> before calculating the average. Likewise, the maximum temperature is usually capped at 30 °C because most plants and insects do not grow any faster above that temperature. However, some warm temperate and tropical plants do have significant requirements for days above 30 °C to mature fruit or seeds.


For example, a day with a high of 23 °C and a low of 12 °C would contribute 7.5 GDDs.
<DL>
<DD>

</DD></DL>


A day with a high of 13 °C and a low of 10 °C would contribute 1.5 GDDs.
<DL>
<DD>

</DD></DL>


now - see how easy that was - huh?
as Walso says:


Bawahawaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!

 

[AlFulchino]

i will have to plug that in and start taking readings...because of the discussion i made a point to put four thermometers out in the viineyard...the air temp 7 ft off the ground away from the vineyard at 11am was 85 degrees

on the ground on the middle of the vineyard IN the sun was 110

4.5 feet up sitting on leaves IN the sun it was 100

in the shade on the same vine at the same ht it was 91 and at the other end of the same row sitting on leaves in the sun at 4.5 feet the temp was 99

as i said somewhere else my place is a heat sink WHEN the sun is shining

 

[grapeman]

First, Al, no that is not a wet spot- that would never likely happen in that field. It is a sandy ridge dropping off six feet on three sides and 12 on the other. I will not plant a cover crop for a few years to avoid competition for moisture. After that, yes it likely will be seeded to fescue.


Rawhide, I do the calcs in a spreadsheet and use Fahrenheit so
((H+L)/2) - 50 = GDD
((80+60)/2)-50 =20 GDD


Al UVM has a section in their cold hardy grape site devoted to statewide cummulative GDDs
http://pss.uvm.edu/grape/2009DDAccumulationGrape.html
sometimes it lags a bit behind.


I also use this site
http://newa.nrcc.cornell.edu/newaLister/wea_page
for monitoring temps and other weather. Our station at Willsboro is currently down. The weather station is about 100 yards from the vineyard, so when it is working, it is very handy.

 

[AlFulchino]

this is from a town adjoining mine.which base would you folks use?

<table align="left" border="1" cellpadding="5" width="48%"><t><tr><td colspan="5" align="CENTER"> <div align="center">Milford</font></font></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td rowspan="2" align="CENTER" width="161"></td>
<td colspan="4" align="CENTER">CUM Since March 1</span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="3" align="CENTER">Growing Degree Days</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="CENTER" width="161">For The Week Ending</td>
<td align="CENTER" width="121">Base 50F</td>
<td align="CENTER" width="70">Base 41F</td>
<td align="CENTER" width="168">Base 32F</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td align="CENTER">03/02/09</td>
<td align="CENTER">0</td>
<td align="CENTER">0</td>
<td align="CENTER">0</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td align="CENTER">03/09/09</td>
<td align="CENTER">3</td>
<td align="CENTER">10</td>
<td align="CENTER">30</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td align="CENTER">03/16/09</td>
<td align="CENTER">5</td>
<td align="CENTER">19</td>
<td align="CENTER">56</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td align="CENTER">03/23/09</td>
<td align="CENTER">7</td>
<td align="CENTER">32</td>
<td align="CENTER">97</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td align="CENTER">03/30/09</td>
<td align="CENTER">12</td>
<td align="CENTER">49</td>
<td align="CENTER">147</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td align="CENTER">04/06/09</td>
<td align="CENTER">18</td>
<td align="CENTER">76</td>
<td align="CENTER">224</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td align="CENTER">04/13/09</td>
<td align="CENTER">23</td>
<td align="CENTER">92</td>
<td align="CENTER">277</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td align="CENTER">04/20/09</td>
<td align="CENTER">43</td>
<td align="CENTER">142</td>
<td align="CENTER">369</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td align="CENTER">04/27/09</td>
<td align="CENTER">91</td>
<td align="CENTER">233</td>
<td align="CENTER">522</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td align="CENTER">05/04/09</td>
<td align="CENTER">159</td>
<td align="CENTER">354</td>
<td align="CENTER">702</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td align="CENTER">05/11/09</td>
<td align="CENTER">206</td>
<td align="CENTER">457</td>
<td align="CENTER">868</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td align="CENTER">05/18/09</td>
<td align="CENTER">259</td>
<td align="CENTER">562</td>
<td align="CENTER">1036</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td align="CENTER">05/26/09</td>
<td align="CENTER">359</td>
<td align="CENTER">726</td>
<td align="CENTER">1269</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td align="CENTER">06/01/09</td>
<td align="CENTER">389</td>
<td align="CENTER">796</td>
<td align="CENTER">1392</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td align="CENTER">06/08/09</td>
<td align="CENTER">467</td>
<td align="CENTER">936</td>
<td align="CENTER">1595</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td align="CENTER">06/15/09</td>
<td align="CENTER">532</td>
<td align="CENTER">1064</td>
<td align="CENTER">1785</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td align="CENTER">06/22/09</td>
<td align="CENTER">607</td>
<td align="CENTER">1199</td>
<td align="CENTER">1984</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td align="CENTER">06/29/09</td>
<td align="CENTER">710</td>
<td align="CENTER">1365</td>
<td align="CENTER">2213</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td align="CENTER">07/06/09</td>
<td align="CENTER">767</td>
<td align="CENTER">1515</td>
<td align="CENTER">2426</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td align="CENTER">07/13/09</td>
<td align="CENTER">888</td>
<td align="CENTER">1670</td>
<td align="CENTER">2645</td></tr></t></table>

 

[grapeman]

You would use the Base 50 generally. That is the one for warm season crops. The 32 degree base one is for cool season crops, especially grasses. I'm not sure what the 41 degree one is for.

 

[JWMINNESOTA]

Looks like your summer is similar to ours, except your getting more moisture. Will be interesting to see what effect it has on your yield and quality.