Vineyard in the Granite State

Brix on 9/1/2013

Brix measurements on 9/1/2013:
LaCrescent- 17
Prairie Star- 17.8
Marquette- 15.5

Yakhunter- here is a link for beneficial nematodes Hb:
http://www.arbico-organics.com/prod...yard/1220300?gclid=CK7Q85rgqrkCFQcB4godvCQADA

what's the purpose of the blue tubes? I assume it's for protection, but from what?
and...Where do you get them?

Blue tubes:
http://www.growtube.com/products/

thanks for the reply!

Updates 10/4/2013

Bottled 6 gal. of this year's dandelion wine. It turned out good enough to motivate me to make another batch(or two) next spring. It's really a lot like semi-sweet Reisling, but has tastes of grass, tangerine, peanuts(yes peanuts), has a little bite- these according to guests at a dinner party.

Racked a 6 gal. batch of Valpolicella, SG at 1.045.

Crushed and pressed a couple tubs of pears and got 3 gal. juice

Crushed and pressed a few bushels of Cortlands and Macouns for a 6 gal. batch of dry hard cider(Apfelwein).

Racked a batch of local Frontenacs, SG at 1.037

Drank a couple bottles of Jewell Towne's Marachal Foch- it's Excellent.
http://jewelltownevineyards.com/

Oh- Brix of our Marquettes was 21.3 on 9/25.

Frontenacs

Crushed Frontenacs on 9/25

yakhunter said:

total rookie question:

If you introduced some chickens when the grapes were green, would they eat the beetles before the grapes? Too late for an experiment? ALso, chicken poop makes great fert, and if it doesn't work...Coque au vain!!

Thanks for sharing the pics.

Click to expand...

If you want to get all sorts of 6-legged critters gone, buy a flock of guinea hens. They are relentless.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/home...g-guinea-fowl-zmaz92aszshe.aspx#axzz2hlAsaeh9

Broke sod for another 100 vines.

4-18-2014. Unbelievably rocky. This was forest 8 years ago and was cleared with a D-9 and rock rake, but most of the 200 lb. or less rocks were just ground in with the tracks. Planted it up with prairie grasses and wildflowers. Marquettes and LaCrescents are going in here.

Planting 100 more vines- Marquettes and LaCrescents- in the vineyard we are now referring to as Middle Earth, It sits halfway between the Lower Vineyard and Upper Vineyard. Beautiful Mother's Day up here for planting. 72 degrees and bright blue. Hummingbirds have arrived- and the black flies. Leaves are popping out fast. Honeyberries are blooming. Moose are wandering down off the ridges to the swamps. Very rapid transition from winter to summer this year. Spring was kind of a 5 day season.

Looking like things are moving along nicely!

Little 200 pound rocks? Why not just move them by hand with little ones like that?????

Good luck with the vines!

grapeman said:

Little 200 pound rocks? Why not just move them by hand with little ones like that?????

Click to expand...

Yeah, you could have called WineForFun! He'd do it for you!

LaCrescents on 5/6/2014

3rd year vines are looking good and have a lot of young clusters.
Here's a picture of a LaCrescent yesterday.

Thats gonna be some awesome wine soon!

Things are growing like weeds at 80 degree now. Looks good.

Cluster thinning

Cathy was out clipping and snipping and tying up. The 3rd year LaCrescents and Marquettes had about twice as many young clusters as they should.

Everything looks great!

So far so good Greg. Some Rose Chafers now and the Japanese Beetles will be hitting soon. We inoculated the soil with beneficial nematodes last year, so hopefully that will put a dent in the populations this year.
Our second year Marechal Foch are really growing out of control. I'm having a hard time with figuring out tying and training. The first year Marquettes are out of their 42" blue tubes already so I've got to get the bottom wires in this weekend.

How are you doing with your post planting?

Happy 4th!

People are telling me that the 4th weekend is all about swimming and boating and picnicking.
I thought it was about planting trellis posts.
But I did get them all in.
Also a picture of our 1 1/2 month old Marquettes reaching for the wire.