hey guys
bad about the snow, but we all know that one of these days you will get that "balmy warm day" and all will be forgotten; kinda like after a woman has a baby. they become beatific and forget allthe screaming andpain. i don't think the husbands do, though. i never will.
appleman, i am not an expert;not even an amateur.
however, my 85 y/o dad grew lots of grapes in the old country [croatia] and i let him guide me realizing that we have different varieties than he did,but thatthe climate is similar, as is the soil.
he suggested that if the first year's growth reached about 2 1/2 tothree feet to let it keep growing without pruning. so, we cut back anything shorter than that and used the cuttings to propogate. basically, the cuttings ended up with 7 buds, 5 underground and two above [his advice]. i just stuck them in the mud. he thinks it will work just fine, but i won't know for quite a while yet. however, i can't see any reason to think it won't work. after all, these vines are basically weeds, and have you ever tried to get rid of wild grapes?? wehave lots of wild grapes in our area. in fact, our neighbor, the 72 y/o farmer [and gourmet cook-i'm serious] makes great jelly from the wild grapes. [this guy is a gourmet cook and baker: i caught him one day making beaver stew, from the beaver his son trapped. it was actually very good; like a good barbeque beef. however, when it cooled down it was slightly "metallic"; no other wild or off taste. in addition, he bakes wonderful things from his hickory and walnut and peach trees. can you believe this from a crusty old dairy farmer?]
so, i guess i ignored the advice of the nursery that said to cutALL second year vines back to 2 buds and relied on experienced growers. like i said, i am not even an amateur.
am looking forward to the zip sets.
best to all and thanks for the replies. it's nice to know i am not alone out there. let's keep in touch.
