First year vines, fall maintenance help

[JCBurg]

I'm not too far from you and had similar temperatures. My Frontenac has shown a little damage thus far. The Itasca and Petite Pearl I have barely looked like it took any damage from the cold. I don't have any Foch or Marquette for comparison, but you may be in better shape than you think. Prep for the worst, and hope for the best!

That’s good news, my friend! Thanks for the encouragement! I’ll let y’all know what happens

 

[JCBurg]

So to anyone watching this thread I am wondering if this is powdery mildew on my buds? If so what should I do about it or how do I treat it?

 

[Dennis Griffith]

To be honest, the vine looks dead. Try cutting back a little at a time and see if there is green under the bark. Or scratch a few places, starting from the top down looking for green. You wouldn't see mildew at this time of year. It's kind of like me and prefers warmer weather.

 

[JCBurg]

To be honest, the vine looks dead. Try cutting back a little at a time and see if there is green under the bark. Or scratch a few places, starting from the top down looking for green. You wouldn't see mildew at this time of year. It's kind of like me and prefers warmer weather.

Well that’s good news about the mildew, as for the vine they got hit hard by the Arctic temps this winter. I am trying to wait until we don’t have freezing temps over night, but then I will trim them back

 

[JCBurg]

To be honest, the vine looks dead. Try cutting back a little at a time and see if there is green under the bark. Or scratch a few places, starting from the top down looking for green. You wouldn't see mildew at this time of year. It's kind of like me and prefers warmer weather.

Well so I pruned one back and sure enough had some nice green wood! My 2 year old vines not so much though. I’m hoping there might be a fresh bud under the soil but time will tell. I’m thinking about going ahead and pruning them all back. Frost danger seems past.

 

[Dennis Griffith]

Let us know how the season progresses. Are any of the vines grafted?

 

[JCBurg]

Let us know how the season progresses. Are any of the vines grafted?

All of them, from double A vineyard, I’m pretty sure. I don’t think I inspected them very closely when they arrived though. I’ll update again when the buds break!

 

[Dennis Griffith]

make sure to pinch off anything below the graft.

 

[JCBurg]

make sure to pinch off anything below the graft.

Is that because it’s a different grape?

 

[Dennis Griffith]

Is that because it’s a different grape?

Yes, you don't want to allow the root stock to send up it's own canes. The root stock would prefer to use it's own growth and not that of the graft, especially if the graft growth is stressed. So make the vine use the grafted section. It may not be as vigorous as nature would prefer, but it should produce the proper grapes.

 

[Dennis Griffith]

At this point, you should focus on root and cane growth. Train the canes to the trellis system used, and pinch off all inflorescence (baby grapes) found. Make the vine do what you want it to do, but making it healthy is your highest priority. A healthy vine can tolerate a lot, but a sick one can not. Since you are growing varieties suitable for the Top Wire Cordon system, start training them to the top wire. I'll include a couple of pics I took of young, second year vines. These are a series of 5 images taken over the season showing good growth. These vines are second year vines planted last year (May 2018). Hopefully, this will help visualize for you. (Same vines shot from different angles and the back fence did move during the season).

 

[JCBurg]

So for anyone still watching this thread, I am very happy to report that ALL of my vines made it! Although 2 of them didn’t actually come out of the ground until early July (imagine my elation when they did) they all survived the ridiculous winter and even more ridiculous planting they were subjected to. Talk about a hearty plant, I love grapevines even more now!

 

[JCBurg]

So for anyone still watching this thread, I am very happy to report that ALL of my vines made it! Although 2 of them didn’t actually come out of the ground until early July (imagine my elation when they did) they all survived the ridiculous winter and even more ridiculous planting they were subjected to. Talk about a hearty plant, I love grapevines even more now!

 

[Kilohertz]

At this point, you should focus on root and cane growth. Train the canes to the trellis system used, and pinch off all inflorescence (baby grapes) found. Make the vine do what you want it to do, but making it healthy is your highest priority. A healthy vine can tolerate a lot, but a sick one can not. Since you are growing varieties suitable for the Top Wire Cordon system, start training them to the top wire. I'll include a couple of pics I took of young, second year vines. These are a series of 5 images taken over the season showing good growth. These vines are second year vines planted last year (May 2018). Hopefully, this will help visualize for you. (Same vines shot from different angles and the back fence did move during the season).

Hi Dennis,

I love the look of your vineyard, nice flat acreage and well laid out. What is your plant spacing? From the pics it looks like about 6' but could be an optical illusion. I am planting this weekend and figuring out what to put where. I have a plethora of posts, wire and irrigation, but not the wide open space you have. It's 20 acres but broken up into small sections with about 1 acre uasable, with a steep unusable mountain to the back.

Just curious, thanks.

Paul

JC glad your plants made it thru the winter, sounds like it was brutal. We have -20C here for a few days a year, otherwise it's -10C or so for Dec/Jan, then hovers around -5C +/- 8 or so Feb/Mar.

 

[JCBurg]

Thanks buddy, I appreciate it! Poor plants didn’t just tough out the (yes very brutal) winter, but they did it with the poorly established root structure of a dangerously novice viticulturist

 

[JCBurg]

Thanks buddy, I appreciate it! Poor plants didn’t just tough out the (yes very brutal) winter, but they did it with the poorly established root structure of a dangerously novice viticulturist

 

[Dennis Griffith]

Thanks buddy, I appreciate it! Poor plants didn’t just tough out the (yes very brutal) winter, but they did it with the poorly established root structure of a dangerously novice viticulturist

Good news. Keep it up and you'll have grapes.

 

[BigH]

Although 2 of them didn’t actually come out of the ground...

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

 

[Dennis Griffith]

Hi Dennis,

I love the look of your vineyard, nice flat acreage and well laid out. What is your plant spacing? From the pics it looks like about 6' but could be an optical illusion. I am planting this weekend and figuring out what to put where. I have a plethora of posts, wire and irrigation, but not the wide open space you have. It's 20 acres but broken up into small sections with about 1 acre uasable, with a steep unusable mountain to the back.

Just curious, thanks.

Paul

JC glad your plants made it thru the winter, sounds like it was brutal. We have -20C here for a few days a year, otherwise it's -10C or so.

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.

 

[Dennis Griffith]

PS. I also set the rows 15 apart so that I can move my tractors and different mowers through easily.