First year vines, fall maintenance help

[Dennis Griffith]

Didn't you say all your vines were grafted? If so, then wouldn't that imply that shoots emanating from the ground are rootstock suckers and not shoots from the variety you planted?

H

Good catch. You may have lost your graft. Sorry.

 

[Kilohertz]

Dennis, Thank you again for the advice. My rows are already set at 8' apart because of the original transplants, and it's enough space to get my excavator in to do some weeding.

I will look at my layout again this weekend and probably go with 8' spacing between plants. I can always put more vines in a different area.

I don't want to hijack the thread any further, thanks for your guidance.

JC you are not the only one to mess up planting....From another torturer of fine vines. Check out my thread from 2017 about transplanting old vines.

https://www.winemakingtalk.com/thre...nts-stumps-with-new-shoots-help-needed.57335/

Cheers

Paul

 

[KevinL]

Odds are your Marquette are not grafted (I'm not aware of any reason to do so in your region, and not aware of any nursery that sells grafted Marquette vines). I'm not as familiar with Foch. I know you can purchase them grafted. If you still have it, you can check your original order receipt. It should indicate if it was grafted, and what kind of rootstock it is on (IE 101-14 or 3309). If it is grafted, and you have shoots coming up from the ground then you're getting the rootstock and not Foch.

A lot of my hybrid vines pushed out vigorous shoots from the ground level in their second year. It's not uncommon to see this. I turned a few of those shoots into trunks. Good luck!

 

[BigH]

Double A does not currently list grafted foch or marquette, so hopefully he is ok.

update: I was wrong, they do list grafted foch : https://doubleavineyards.com/marechal-foch-grafted

H

 

[JCBurg]

Didn't you say all your vines were grafted? If so, then wouldn't that imply that shoots emanating from the ground are rootstock suckers and not shoots from the variety you planted?

H

Yes probably! I had thought of that but, with a new baby I really couldn’t afford to buy new vines nor did I want to plant them. I thought they were dead and I figured I would just replant next year... but since they are growing I am enjoying the mystery! I won’t have anything off of them this year though, they are still tiny and weak and may still die yet

 

[JCBurg]

Odds are your Marquette are not grafted (I'm not aware of any reason to do so in your region, and not aware of any nursery that sells grafted Marquette vines). I'm not as familiar with Foch. I know you can purchase them grafted. If you still have it, you can check your original order receipt. It should indicate if it was grafted, and what kind of rootstock it is on (IE 101-14 or 3309). If it is grafted, and you have shoots coming up from the ground then you're getting the rootstock and not Foch.

A lot of my hybrid vines pushed out vigorous shoots from the ground level in their second year. It's not uncommon to see this. I turned a few of those shoots into trunks. Good luck!

They are my Foch grapes! I got them from doubleA and I think they are grafted, but I don’t remember. I planted them 2 years ago as a trial, not knowing anything and just sort of learning by beating my head on the wall so to speak. I then promptly poisoned them with weed killer sprayed much to close... poor little bugger have been through hell and are still coming back for more! Would seem a shame to get rid of them.

 

[JCBurg]

Thank you for your complement. After all the hard work, the best one can hope for is notice from your fellow grape growers (and a few grapes). Spacing depends on variety. All of my TWC vines (America, Buffalo, Concord, and Sheridan) are set at 7.5 feet apart. They could be anywhere from 6 to 8 feet, by the book. You would set them at 6 foot if you wanted to push for quantity, or at 8 foot for quality. I set my Cab Franc at 5 foot apart. If you google Double A vineyards, they have great info on spacing, trellis type, fighting disease and pests, etc. But they are an eastern outfit and you may want to look for someone more familiar with your region. Spacing will be the space regardless of where you are. A wise person once said (on this forum) that you can make bad wine from good grapes, but you can't make good wine from bad grapes. This is indeed sage advice and one of the reasons i allow for more space.

BTW Dennis, I just want say I agree, your grapes looks splendid my friend!