Well I just realized I haven't updated this story for a while....last year was a blur. I landed a large contract and didn't really have time to do much with the plants except water them by hand a few nights a week. So by last summer I had about 8 or 10 that showed hope but the hot summer months were hard on them and by fall most had lost leaves, the weeds had invaded and it was really just a sad state of affairs, a nightmare to keep weeded and I finally gave up. I haven't been out yet this year to even look to see if anything survived a second winter, the weeds are 4' tall and I am contemplating dozing the whole area under and starting again with new plants. I found a local supplier selling 1 gallon pot size plants for $15 each. I may just buy a number if varieties and do it again, with a nice grass between rows to keep the weeds down, drip lines, proper poles and supports.
Anyway, that's the update for now. I will hack my way thru the weeds to see if any of them show life, but the John Deere 450 is 100' from the vineyard and ready to clear the area for a new start if they are dead.
Thanks all for the support and guidance, I learned a lot, and if I ever find another vineyard parting with their plants, I will get them in the ground within a a few days.
Cheers
Four hours to dig the holes and plant 26 plants, they were all in by 5pm today. About 3/4 look promising with new fine roots growing from the old big roots, not a lot of fine roots but hopefully enough to get them going again. Still need to do the final leveling but the plants are in and covered. I'll give them this year to show some life and the ones that don't produce new shoots or show any life get pulled, and the holes will be filled with some new vines.
and I found all the traffic cones I had used as markers to indicate healthy plants last year, and most of them had bloody big leaves and tall shoots growing out of the stumps of the old plants, bloody amazing. I couldn't believe it, maybe the weeds created a sort of greenhouse moist environment for them, whatever it was, I am going to bring my excavator home this weekend and weed the entire area. I bought 5 new plants today as well and will incorporate those into the vineyard. Very cool, it's been very hot for 2 weeks but now we are in a cool spell and if I can get the whole area cleaned up, I can transplant the new vines into the vineyard, setup the drip lines and plant some poles and wires.
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