Hello From Long Island, NY

[Vacirca's Organics]

Hey everyone. New to this board, but looking forward to speaking with everyone.
My name is Chris. I've been an organic gardener for the last 24 years, and this year we have decided to grow grapes to make juice, wine, jams, and obviously table grapes to eat.
I have a shipment of vines coming in within a week, and I am greatly looking forward to growing in a much larger scale. In previous years we have grown a grape vine or two here or there, but only on fences, and other unorganized trellis systems. Usually without the vast harvest you get from organized and proper skills. So, for the last 4 to 5 years I have been learning extensively on the different training systems used, and which grapes require which training system. This year, I will have Cabernet Sauvignon, Frontenac, Frontenac Gris, Frontenac Blanc, fredonia, NY Muscat, Osceola Muscat, Baco Noir, Mars, Marquis, Marechal Froch, La Crosse, Gewurtztraminer, as well as reliance, Himrod, Concords, Seedless Concord, and white niagara. I finished setting up my 25' VSP trellis for the Cabernet and Gewurztraminer, and a 24' Top Wire Cordon system. Got a few more trellises to build, but it'll all be ready by Tuesday (6/13).
So this is a little bit about me, and my experience with grapes. I still have so much to learn regarding grape vines, and I am lookign forward to meeting people who I can learn from, and become a better grower. I'm always looking to learn more, hence why I am here. Thanks everyone. I look forward to speaking.

 

[Ohio Bob]

Welcome! Have you made wine before or are your grapes going to be your initiation?

 

[Vacirca's Organics]

Welcome! Have you made wine before or are your grapes going to be your initiation?

I've made wines before, but only very small amounts, and I've experimented with raspberry wine, grape wines, and blueberry wines. This will be the first year growing grape specifically designed for wines though, and the first year doing spur pruning.

 

[Ohio Bob]

You may want to start with a kit just so you can get a start on learning the wine making part of the process. I don’t grow grapes, but your local agricultural extension will be a great resource for managing your vines.

 

[ChuckD]

Welcome to WMT. Lots of wine making knowledge here. There is a grape growing page as well but I’m not sure how many are organic growers.

 

[Vacirca's Organics]

You may want to start with a kit just so you can get a start on learning the wine making part of the process. I don’t grow grapes, but your local agricultural extension will be a great resource for managing your vines.

Definitely going to look into the local places as well. Up to this point, I've never actually spur or cane pruned before. Just letting them grow on our fence or an a-frame trellis. So I'm going to look into meeting up with some local Vineyards to learn hands on. The only experience I have with cane and spur pruning is from watching videos. But hands on is always better.

 

[Vacirca's Organics]

Welcome to WMT. Lots of wine making knowledge here. There is a grape growing page as well but I’m not sure how many are organic growers.

Thank you. And any information I get from here will be utilized.

 

[Jovimaple]

Welcome to WMT!

 

[David Violante]

Welcome to WMT! Looking forward to hearing your progress. Great place here with lots of friendly folks.

 

[Rice_Guy]

Welcome to Wine Making Talk
NewYork has humidity, (like Midwest) organic is a tough road but there are a few who get bordeaux spray and do it. Good luck on the venture.

 

[BigDaveK]

Welcome to WMT!

 

[Vacirca's Organics]

Welcome to Wine Making Talk
NewYork has humidity, (like Midwest) organic is a tough road but there are a few who get bordeaux spray and do it. Good luck on the venture.

Thank you. Never done that before. Definitely will try it. I use a lot of organic fungicides and pesticides (they aren't cides, but they do the same thing organically). The only thing that I won't use is a weed killer, because I have not found any functional organic weed preventatives. But that being said, I placed the vine training systems on the opposite part of my property away from the gardens, strictly so if the organic stuff doesn't work, I can use the commercial products to help maintain beautiful grapes. So, if I have to, I don't mind. No point in growing something for it to just be destroyed by something that's preventable. What products do you suggest as being productive, given my growing zone?

 

[sour_grapes]

Welcome!