Greg's North Dakota Vineyard
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Yes, I just need to find out who it is. It's not so easy. The guys who own the field west of me were out tonight and I talked to them. I don't think it was their fault. They are very careful. They gave me some info on the folks who work the field to the south that I think is the main culprit. These are large farm plots and the folks who work them don't live on their land. There are no houses. So it's not like I can just walk down and talk to the neighbors.
BobR
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Well, after becoming quite tired of broken and underpowered equipment to dig my trellis posts I decided to pony up the rental fee for some real help. We brought out a big skid steer with a good auger. At first it was slow going as I was tying to heavy wet clay off the drill after every hole. Then we realized it worked fine to just keep going and tamp the posts in some after drilling the holes. With a little help from friends we got 200 posts planted today. I still have to fill in the holes and tamp em in, but this is the real hard part that I was struggling with. I'm glad it's done.
Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do! Looks like the right tool for the job. Glad you got-er-done!
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The mounted augers really do speed things up immensely. Still lots to do so get to it!
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HillPeople
Senior Member
From the looks of the vines you got them in none too soon! Quite a few hundred feet of that nasty high tensile wire to string now! Glad you got them planted. I think I'd prefer clay over rocks, but I wouldn't know.
As a way to document my vineyard development, I now present the story of the trellis posts in pictures. I'll update as I add my H-braces and wires later.
It starts with posts. A friend and I were able to source treated posts for a reasonable price and after a number of delays, they finally arrived. I am using 10 foot posts and plan to sink them 4 feet in the ground to make a 6 foot trellis. The end posts are 5", the H-brace support post is 4" and the posts in the middle are 3" treated wood. I am using 8-foot x 3" posts for the horizontal H-brace.
Naively, I thought "Oh, I'll just borrow a 3-pt auger for my old 1952 Ford 8N tractor and dig away". So, I started digging holes:
Things seemed to be moving along well until . . . disaster! The iron gear box on the auger where the pin holds it to the lift arm shattered. Of course the auger was buried completely in the ground when it happened. I took a bit, but I was able to finally pull it out of the ground.
Well, that put an end to the hole digging for the day. But I had a few holes dug. So, the next morning I set about trying to plant some posts. Little did I realize that old tractor, without a live PTO, spun the drill as I pulled it out creating pretty wide hole and a lot of the dirt and heavy clay fell back in the hole. No problem, I thought. I'll just use my post hole shovel and pull out the "loose" dirt. After 8 posts I realized there was no way I would finish this year. The clay was wet and stuck to the shovel. Every scoop had to be painstakingly scraped off the shovel before I could dig the next scoop. BUT, 8 posts were in, the holes were backfilled, tamped in by hand, and were tight!
After giving up on the hand digging idea, we decided bigger and better equipment was needed. So I arranged for a skid steer on another day. In the meantime, that old 8N came in handy to help me distribute all the posts throughout the vineyard ready to be put in.
Last Friday morning, the skid steer (and my good friend to operate it) showed up. It was a pretty nice morning but by the end of the day, the temps were climbing near 90 degrees. I drank about 2 gallons of water and was still dehydrated. We finally got into a groove and found that we could dig the hole, immediately put the post in and tamp it a little bit with the skid steer to set it to the right depth. After a good long day's work with a little help from friends we had 183 posts in the ground ready to backfill.
I mentioned that these posts needed to be backfilled and the dirt tamped in. You'd think that would be pretty easy. But, I also mentioned that under the topsoil was a lot of heavy wet clay. You know what happens to heavy wet clay after it bakes in the sun for a while? Yes! Cement. What a job this is. Not only did I need to pound the dirt back into the holes, but I had to pound the clay lumps by hand to break up the "cement" before it could go back into the hole. The lumps I was too tired to pulverize ended up on the top of the pile. Four to five hours a day for four days and I have 143 of the posts backfilled! UGH, what a job. I certainly do not need to use my gym membership this week. My arms and shoulders are going to be HUGE without taking any steroids. But, the east vineyard is done. I just have 40 more posts to do in the smaller south vineyard. It's a good feeling to see the vineyard taking shape. And I keep telling myself that the hard work is good for my soul.
It starts with posts. A friend and I were able to source treated posts for a reasonable price and after a number of delays, they finally arrived. I am using 10 foot posts and plan to sink them 4 feet in the ground to make a 6 foot trellis. The end posts are 5", the H-brace support post is 4" and the posts in the middle are 3" treated wood. I am using 8-foot x 3" posts for the horizontal H-brace.
Naively, I thought "Oh, I'll just borrow a 3-pt auger for my old 1952 Ford 8N tractor and dig away". So, I started digging holes:
Things seemed to be moving along well until . . . disaster! The iron gear box on the auger where the pin holds it to the lift arm shattered. Of course the auger was buried completely in the ground when it happened. I took a bit, but I was able to finally pull it out of the ground.
Well, that put an end to the hole digging for the day. But I had a few holes dug. So, the next morning I set about trying to plant some posts. Little did I realize that old tractor, without a live PTO, spun the drill as I pulled it out creating pretty wide hole and a lot of the dirt and heavy clay fell back in the hole. No problem, I thought. I'll just use my post hole shovel and pull out the "loose" dirt. After 8 posts I realized there was no way I would finish this year. The clay was wet and stuck to the shovel. Every scoop had to be painstakingly scraped off the shovel before I could dig the next scoop. BUT, 8 posts were in, the holes were backfilled, tamped in by hand, and were tight!
After giving up on the hand digging idea, we decided bigger and better equipment was needed. So I arranged for a skid steer on another day. In the meantime, that old 8N came in handy to help me distribute all the posts throughout the vineyard ready to be put in.
Last Friday morning, the skid steer (and my good friend to operate it) showed up. It was a pretty nice morning but by the end of the day, the temps were climbing near 90 degrees. I drank about 2 gallons of water and was still dehydrated. We finally got into a groove and found that we could dig the hole, immediately put the post in and tamp it a little bit with the skid steer to set it to the right depth. After a good long day's work with a little help from friends we had 183 posts in the ground ready to backfill.
I mentioned that these posts needed to be backfilled and the dirt tamped in. You'd think that would be pretty easy. But, I also mentioned that under the topsoil was a lot of heavy wet clay. You know what happens to heavy wet clay after it bakes in the sun for a while? Yes! Cement. What a job this is. Not only did I need to pound the dirt back into the holes, but I had to pound the clay lumps by hand to break up the "cement" before it could go back into the hole. The lumps I was too tired to pulverize ended up on the top of the pile. Four to five hours a day for four days and I have 143 of the posts backfilled! UGH, what a job. I certainly do not need to use my gym membership this week. My arms and shoulders are going to be HUGE without taking any steroids. But, the east vineyard is done. I just have 40 more posts to do in the smaller south vineyard. It's a good feeling to see the vineyard taking shape. And I keep telling myself that the hard work is good for my soul.
All I can say is wow, wow, wow. That is one heck of an undertaking in those types of (soil) conditions. Who knew North Dakota soil was so wet! Well done!
Now about that "little" Mallow problem you have…..
Now about that "little" Mallow problem you have…..
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Greg what a great pictorial update. Thanks for sharing.
All I can say is wow, wow, wow. That is one heck of an undertaking in those types of (soil) conditions. Who knew North Dakota soil was so wet! Well done!
Now about that "little" Mallow problem you have…..
Yes, I am located in the bottom of ancient Lake Agazssiz. I have almost 3 feet of black lake bottom silt with heavy clay loam underneath. We had a really wet June and some of these holes were still filled with a foot or more of water.
About the mallow - yes. I'm always battling something. If you notice in the last few pictures that mallow is turning yellow. Last weekend I spent one day carefully spraying the weeds by hand. It was tedious and I didn't want to spray herbicides, but I really had no choice. Now that the posts are in I will try to find a disc, break up the soil a bit and get some grass seed planted. I do NOT want to deal with trellises OR mallow ever again.
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Isn't having a vineyard a fun job? I had someone ask me today if I was retired now that I had the vineyard and winery. This was at one of the 7 markets we do a week. Lots of spare time for reading, boating and swimming, golfing and fishing..............................................................
I tried to find a pounder but couldn't get one. That would be so much easier. But, don't you need pointed posts for that? I suppose I could always buzz the ends to point them myself.
Rich, the work never ends. But it is satisfying. However, you think you are getting ahead and then you get hit with more. I came out to the vineyard this evening and found 30 mph winds and half my vines laying on the ground. The bamboo poles just snapped right off. Mother Nature is an impatient b***. She couldn't wait for me to finish my trellises before blasting us with more wind. *sigh*
Rich, the work never ends. But it is satisfying. However, you think you are getting ahead and then you get hit with more. I came out to the vineyard this evening and found 30 mph winds and half my vines laying on the ground. The bamboo poles just snapped right off. Mother Nature is an impatient b***. She couldn't wait for me to finish my trellises before blasting us with more wind. *sigh*
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The winds did the same to me in the new vineyard before I got the wires in- twice. It was so nice to be able to tie the stakes to the wire and not worry about them tipping over and breaking.
HillPeople
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Nice job Greg! We certainly have the complete opposite soil types. You get clay- I get rocks- Rich has something completely different. It's a lot of hard work no matter what soil you have. But it sure is nice when you can finally tie off those young vines.
Gotta go pick Jap Beetles...
Gotta go pick Jap Beetles...
Very nice Greg! Great pictures. Yes it never ends, I'm headed out irrigate now!
Baco Noir and Seyval Blanc in Utah
Baco Noir and Seyval Blanc in Utah
spaniel
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If I were 1500 mile closer I'd loan you my 60-yr-old auger....built much heavier and would not break like that.
Problem I have with heavy clay/loam is that it does not want to dig, it just clogs. It only works when the ground is really dry. So I have had to dig all my holes by hand. Fortunately, fewer than you are doing by far.
Can't imagine trying to get vines up without the wire, I use UV-rated conduit zip-tied to the wire for the vines to climb. Cheap and works great, but a no-go without wire. We get high winds here and nothing would work without the wire up.
Problem I have with heavy clay/loam is that it does not want to dig, it just clogs. It only works when the ground is really dry. So I have had to dig all my holes by hand. Fortunately, fewer than you are doing by far.
Can't imagine trying to get vines up without the wire, I use UV-rated conduit zip-tied to the wire for the vines to climb. Cheap and works great, but a no-go without wire. We get high winds here and nothing would work without the wire up.
Here's a little video of my wine making area. I am just starting to produce and have a lot more equipment to get and setup to do.
http://youtu.be/Z-Nsst45yKU
http://youtu.be/Z-Nsst45yKU
Very nice, Greg! It cracks me up to see a space with huge sacks of sugar AND a miter saw!
