Champlain Valley - Grapemans' vineyard - Planting to small winery

[Waldo]

Great looking vines appleman. The fruits of your labor will be quite rewarding.

 

[NorthernWinos]

I bet they root real nice in the sand and easy to dig....They look great.


You sure are going to have a lot of grapes someday.....You've got a great vision there...congratulations.


Looking forward to more photos.


I lost some vines this past winter....One older tender vine [Kay Gray]broke off when I stood it back up this spring...It had heavy wood and didn't like being laid down and and covered with straw for the winter....so far no growth from the root. I am suppose to keep younger vines on the wire panels to keep them more pliable for bending in the fall.


Also theoldest Swenson Red vine that produced so heavily last year has no signs of life yet...still hoping...the young ones are leafing out.


Planted out some rooted cuttings from last year as replacements....also planted some of those tinyvines between the big ones....so will have fuller rows....You guys all have your vines closer together than I did.


I have to stick to the more hardy vines up here on de-tundra.....This is justmy test plot and I am finding out what to plant more of. The Edelweiss is doing the best of the tender vines...actually it is semi-hardy. The Candice wintered over...amazing. All the hardy vines made it with not much tip die back.


Like starting over again.

Edited by: Northern Winos

 

[grapeman]

Spring has definitely sprung around here now. A couple days ago it was windy and mid 50's. Today it was 86 and sunny again. I've got the spot ready for some of the little vines I planted in a little nursery last year to root better. I marked out the locations for the Niagara and Buffalo vines. I dug the Niagara vines tonight and put in a tub of water for rehydrating the roots well. They aren't as big as the bareroot from Double A Nurseries, but they are well rooted. I will get some pictures tomorrow night before I plant them. Here is a picture from last year first.

Finally I can post the picture before planting these above vines-remember the picture above is from last year, the following is as budbreak arrived. I had computer problems the camera was tied to, thus the delay.

And a Double A from last year to compare to.

Here are a few pictures from one of the smaller orchards in Peru NY. This is a fairly small block just beginning bloom. Notice the ample supply of Dandelion Wine.

The last picture is a bad one- those are trees in the background and the field in the front is prepared for tile drainage and replant next year. There are about 2 million bushels of apples grown within 15 miles of my place.Edited by: appleman

 

[Wade E]

Very nice apple.

 

[NorthernWinos]

Thats a lot of apples....are they pressed for cider??? Do you make a lot of apple wine and cider???? Pies????

 

[grapeman]

NW, That isn't my orchard. I no longer have a lot of apples- only about 100 tree nowdays. It's just one of the smaller orchards nearby. Some of them are in the 1000 acre range, that one only a few hundred.

 

[grapeman]

Well I feel like a kid in a candy store! The lady in the brown shorts just left a big box at my place!

Contents
25- Noiret
25-Sabrevois
25-GR-7
25 Steuben
25-Traminette
25-Corot Noir
25-St Croix
25-Cabernet Franc on 3309


My latest babies from Double A Vineyards


We are getting a few showers today. I'm planting the Frontenac I dug up last night and soaked overnight and will plant these newest additions ASAP in the next few days.


Here's what they look like when they arrive. More later. For reference the box is about 4 feet long.

Edited by: appleman

 

[Wade E]

Nice, youll have that land filled soon the way your going.

 

[NorthernWinos]

Sorry to bother you when you should be busy...but are they plants or rooted cuttings....??


WOW!!!!! You are going to have some vineyard really soon. Very impressive...Post as many photos as you have time for...


I feel so inadequate with my 45+ vines...

 

[grapeman]

The vines that came today are 1 year bare root plants. I got all the 1yr-1 vines I could this year instead of the 1yr-X since they are so big they require a 2-3 foot hole and I'm digging them in by hand this year.


The Frontenac were the ones I started last yearas rooted cuttings and it was too dry by the time they got big enough to set out. I got the Frontenacall planted this evening -48 of them with 2 extra small ones I'm going to replant in the nursery. It was sprinkling the whole time I was planting, so they enjoyed that. Tomorrow it is supposed to rain 1-2 inches. We can use it with only a quarter inch of rain so far this month. If it doesn't rain too much tomorrow evening, I will start on planting those 200 vines that came today.

 

[Wade E]

Thats a lot of vines there apple!!!!!!!!

 

[NorthernWinos]

Rain...you lucky guy.....we have 20% chance this weekend...that's as good as no chance around here.

 

[grapeman]

Well I managed to get in the 25 Cabernet Franc vines this evening in a drizzling rain. I was too wet to start another variety, plus the 100 foot tape measure was getting pretty muddy. I left a five gallon bucket empty outside where I planted the Frontenac last evening. There was 3 inches of rain in that bucket tonight. The spot where I got it ready to plant the new vines is downright muddy this evening. I put the Cab Francs on the drier side for better winter drainage since they may - butprobably won't live and ripen around here.


So NW , rain- yes we were lucky. Now if it doesn't pull another season like last year and rain for two months in excess. Sorry no pictures tonight- too rainy outside.
Oh- I checked on the nesting turkey. They are even harder to spot when wet. Even though I knew she was there, I had a hard time picking her out from 10 feet away!

 

[grapeman]

I'm done planting grapes for this year in the vineyard! Hurayyyy! It went a lot easier last year with the little skid steer post auger. I dug the holes by hand this year- all 300 or so of them. The Irish Banjo is effective, but hard on an old-timer. It went pretty good in the sandy ground, but 200 of them went in a heavier soil with some gravely spots. The rain came just about perfect this year so far. It was getting pretty dry, but just as I started planting we got the 3 inches of rain. After a days delay planting resumed. As I finished up this afternoon, it started raining again and we will have showers overnight and then start warming up.


Growth so far on last years vines has been a little sluggish. The Lacrosse are making good progress and the leaves are opening. The rest are from buds pushing to 1 inch buds. As they grow more I will post some pictures. I will also get some of the newer vines. Next up- trellising........... after I get the garden planted.

 

[NorthernWinos]

You lucky guy...your crop planted after a nice rain and more rain to settle in the plants.....it can't get any better than that.


Still no rain here...promises is all we get. It had been in the high 80's with strong winds...it just whipped many plants, damaged many leaves on trees, shrubs, fruits and vegetables....dirt drifting off the fields...pretty depressing.


The temp had dropped like a bomb the past 2 days as well the wind has subsided.....kind of a nice break..everything and everybody breathes better...actually chilly.


Tomorrow the heat returns for a day with chances of thunder storms, then a cooling trend...such a roller coaster. Jim quit planting his soybeans for a few days, the remaining fields are very sandy and he needs rain to firm up the seed bed as it is just fluffy...


So...send some rain our way...we desperately need it...too early in the year to be this dry.


Tomorrow has hope.

 

[Wade E]

Ill send some rain your way NW! I have nothing growing except grass and we just keep getting rain and I cant even mow it.

 

[OilnH2O]

Rich, I almost feel IRISH with my banjo! The posts are 45 minutes to an hour for every 2 feet (with more digging bar than PH digger) and it's 10 minutes just to get 6-8 inches for the vines! Lots of cobbles and rocks!
Can't wait to see more pic's of yours!


Dave

 

[grapeman]

NW Here's hoping you get some much needed rains for all the crops. It's discouraging when you just can't get any rains and everybody around you is getting pounded.


Dave, I thought you were in Montana not Moon-tana

That's a lot of work there. It will make the grapes taste that much sweeter when they get ready. Sounds like you could use the training method I saw on television one day. They were training the grapes on the ground, making them grow in circles on themselves. Then they would mound a pile of rocks near it to protect them from the wind. Percevere ther buddy.

 

[NorthernWinos]

Woke up this morning to thunder, got 11/100th's of an inch...we are rain gauge monitors for the county for this township...so have a good rain gauge and keep records to sent to the state...the end of March we got 1.68", April 1.14" and so far this month, including today .60"...so we sure are lacking in moisture.


We have a 70% chance for thunder storms for the next couple of days...keeping our fingers crossed.

 

[NorthernWinos]

Thanks for refreshing my memory about the vineyard on Page 5 of this your vineyard Topic...I like seeing the fan shape trellising sysytem...


I am going to try that on my newly planted vines....after loosing my old vines 2 winters ago due to the trunk splitting I am going to try having more than one trunk and always have a young one growing from the base. I had read in the book Northern Wineworks to always have a young vine coming from the base.


Old split vines...

Was a heart breaker to pull out those old vines this spring...but have my young cuttings set out and have a new start.


I planted one row to a more disease resistant variety [Beta] and the other to the more hardy variety [Valiant]...both are like a Concord grape....will be fun to watch them grow again.....Some of the vines had regrown last year from the roots, those are looking pretty good with little grapes on them.


Nice that you went back to that vineyard for another look. Thanks again for Posting that.....Your vineyard has come a long way since Page 1.