Kennell Estates Vineyard & Winery

[grapeman]

That is the first step in this crazy obsession. You are now a step beyond the obsession of making wine- you are starting at the source. In a few years you will be doing crazy things like clearing land to plant vines on because you ran out of cleared land! Actually I think you have that well covered being from the plains. I know you have plenty of cleared land where you live!


Way to go!

 

[fivebk]

Thanks for all the replies . Now all they have to do is grow

BOB

 

[chiefmike]

Looks good Bob. Nice work!

 

[NorthernWinos]

Looking GREAT!!!!

 

[AlFulchino]

you dont have to worry about them growing....especially in year two you will be suprised....what you will have to worry about is your ability to keep up.....then as you become use to the routine, you will find it easier

 

[fivebk]

Hi everyone,
The new vines I planted april 20th are starting to grow. There are leaves on almost every vine with a couple being a little slower ( but with several buds showing). Now comes some questions.Do I just allow the vines to grow the first year without any training, or is there something I need to do as the vines begin to grow??

I have three Edelweis vines that I planted last year, so this would be year 2. I pruned the smaller 2 vines back to about 2 1/2 feet from the ground and they have come on real good this spring with many buds. The larger vine ( the one I am standing by in a earlier pic ) I cut back to just below the top wire. I am wondering if I did something wrong when I pruned this vine because it has been a lot slower to show bud break and the only buds that I can see are within about 8 in. from the ground. What do I do with these 2 year old vines to start training them? Do I need to rub them off and leave only 2 vines to grow ??? When The vine that is slow to growtakes off will I be able to cut back the rest of the dead vine and grow 2 new vines??
Sorry about all the questions but I want to try and do things right and I know absolutly nothing about this.
BUT AM WILLING TO LEARN.

I have grass seeded between the trellis rows and it is up and growing too. I will try and get some photos of the vines and vineyard later today

BOB

 

[grapeman]

First a little terminology-


vine- the whole grape plant


nodes- the bumps along the canes where the buds form


shoots- the new growth during the current year growing from the buds


canes - as the shoots harden off in the fall they become canes and you hope for a copper color not dark or black (bad).


trunk - the same as a tree complete with bark after the first or second year.


Next up - the Edelweiss. You don't want all those buds growing the second year- they will divide the nutrients from the roots/ etc asnd overall growth will be less. I would keep just two or three buds down low and let these become 1 or 2 future trunks. They will grow fast. Let them grow to a few feet past the top wire if you go with top wire cordon. If it is only like July when they get there, cut them just below the top wire (make sure they are bigger than a pencil at that point. That will force a few buds to begin growing and make some summer laterals (shoots that grow from this years shoots). After they grow to a couple feet long and are a bit hardened you can train them down the top wire just like the first picture. What probably happened with that one is it grew big but developed late in the year and it didn't get a chance to harden properly before frost - and it died. Just pick up where you were and deal with what you have.


New vines- two trains of thought here. One - get rid of all but a couple shoots and train them- and end up cutting off next year anyways OR


(and you can probably tell what I lean towards) let most of the shoots grow this year to make a nice strong root system. Next year you would cut back to a couple buds and begin trunk formation.

 

[fivebk]

When you say a couple buds , do you wait for bud break so you know what is going to grow or prune when dormat , and how do you tell what will produce buds and what won't

Thanks for all the help

BOB

 

[grapeman]

I prune dormant. If you see a bud down low, chances are very good it will push at least one shoot from the node. There are actually three buds per node. Count 2-3 nodes as 2-3 buds and you will easily get 2-3 shoots from it. You can wait until they start to grow but they will bleed more profusely before healing up.

 

[AlFulchino]

Since Rich ishelping you wthe pruning, let me cover something else...


since the buds are pushing right now....and since most of your vines are less than one year, you will have a bit of a pass early on as far as insect and disease pressure...but the pass doesn't last long ....have you developed a disease and insect defense?

 

[fivebk]

No, The only thing I thought about doing right off the bat was to start spraying with some seven. Last year when I planted the Edelweis insects were attacking them before I knew it.

As far as disease I would like to know what to watch for and what to treat with. Is there a preventative spray program that I should start so as to get in the habit of spraying

Thanks BOB

 

[grapeman]

I think I will let Al answer this one better for you, but think of disease control like you would in humans or animals.
Prevention -You can do all you can to prevent it with sanitary practices and avoiding exposure (keep the canopy open and airy).




Curative- Once you get a disease, you need to get rid of it.


To further my analogy, there are separate camps for attaining these things. You can practice homeopathy (?) or conventional medicine. With plants you can use either organic practices or conventional spray programs.


Please advise us of your personal preferences. We don't want to tell you to pump the sprays to the vines if you only eat organic!


Take it from here Al.

 

[fivebk]

I have no problem with sprays. nothing at my place comes off being organic.

BOB

 

[fivebk]

It's been eight weeks since my new vines were planted. Since then I seeded grass in between the trellises. Thought I would share some pics of how things look.

Pics of new vine that was planted in April.

Pic of 2 year old edelweis

 

[grapeman]

Picture perfect vineyard. Once the vines get grown more it will look great!

 

[AlFulchino]

looking great!



what will be your strategy vis-a-vis the encroachment of the grass into your rows and weeds






did you get a sprayer?


what is your wire height(s)? and what trellis style did you end up deciding upon?

 

[fivebk]

My weed control will probably be a hoe and maybe round up if I can use it around the vines. I have chosen to use the GDC trellis system. Top wire will be between 5.5 and 6 foot. I have a hand sprayer that I just purchased and it will only be used for insect control. I will get one for weed control and one for desease control

I would like to know if the subject of this thread can be changed as my wife and I have finally decided on a name for our vineyard. I would like to change it to Kennell Estates Vineyard & winery

Thanks BOB

 

[Waldo]

My weed control will probably be a hoe and maybe round up if I can use it around the vines. I have chosen to use the GDC trellis system. Top wire will be between 5.5 and 6 foot. I have a hand sprayer that I just purchased and it will only be used for insect control. I will get one for weed control and one for desease control

I would like to know if the subject of this thread can be changed as my wife and I have finally decided on a name for our vineyard. I would like to change it to Kennell Estates Vineyard & winery

Thanks BOB

That should be easy Bob
Just go back to the original 1st post. Click edit and change it to whatever you wish


Oh by the way.....Your vineyard looks awesome !! Great job

 

[grapeman]

It has been changed Bob. Your wish is my command, even if I am a bit slow responding lately. It is hard wearing 47 different hats!

 

[fivebk]

It's been a hectic year. I finally got around to taking some photos of my new vineyard. All but three of these vines were planted in April of 2009. Here are the photos.

BOB