So this is the first year that my vines are going to be giving me something to work with come February. We don’t have a lot of things that ruin your crop down here, but we do have powdery mildew and we do have birds. Lots of them.
The nets will have to come out from Christmas onwards, but I have a couple of basic questions as I haven’t done all this before on my own, and I’m a bit confused about a few things.
1. Do nets increase your susceptibility to PM, given the cuts down on air circulation? I realise that the berries are mostly immune to it after verasion, but I imagine it could still be an issue.
2. Which leads me onto this one, how do you spray if you have the nets on? Surely you can’t just leave the canopy for a month or I would imagine you’re setting yourself up for another big fight the following growing season.
I live near Heathcote (Victoria) and things are pretty dry and hot most years, but word is we’ll have our fourth wet summer in a row, so it’ll be another long fight. Just a couple of things that have been on my mind even though it’s bearly budburst here.
The nets will have to come out from Christmas onwards, but I have a couple of basic questions as I haven’t done all this before on my own, and I’m a bit confused about a few things.
1. Do nets increase your susceptibility to PM, given the cuts down on air circulation? I realise that the berries are mostly immune to it after verasion, but I imagine it could still be an issue.
2. Which leads me onto this one, how do you spray if you have the nets on? Surely you can’t just leave the canopy for a month or I would imagine you’re setting yourself up for another big fight the following growing season.
I live near Heathcote (Victoria) and things are pretty dry and hot most years, but word is we’ll have our fourth wet summer in a row, so it’ll be another long fight. Just a couple of things that have been on my mind even though it’s bearly budburst here.
