Recent content by dwhill40

I had one Cab Vine of many turn red and die after around three years while under stress. I came to the conclusion it was a virus from the nursery. All vines around it were fine.

2022 looking good so far here in North Alabama. The Cab vines pictured here were planted in 2013. The gulf steam plume finally moved a little west. Good luck!

Greetings, Third year in a row specific vines get hit hard with downy mildew. Same vines, no difference in the surroundings, ground is clean, the downy seems to radiate from one area. Other vines of the same variety and more susceptible varieties remain clean. I use copper sparingly and do two...

I catch the beetles early when they do the pheromone cluster thing on the vine tops and spot spray sevin. The spraying is minimal. I've seen assassin bugs, spiders, and preying mantis since.

Eight yr old cab sauv vines. Even on a split trellis 16 ft canes aren't unusual and I don't fertilize except last fall I spread a 40lb bag of organic fert and a couple bags of black cow down the middles of about 80 vines. The growth is more based on the root stock and sandy soil. I have several...

Fungicides. There are curative fungicides. I cycle several throughout the year. Research Google for your options. Mancozeb, myclobutanil, strobulirines, captan, copper. All have different PHI's and costs. If you don't take the time to understand fungicides then plant muscadines...seriously.

Rain rain... Weekly thinning.

Full sun is required.

I have never seen PD or sharpshooters.

A yearly small dose of imidacloprid in the drip irrigation when the shoots are 6 inches and I haven't seen PD since I began eight years ago.. I also grow vinifera on its own roots. I'm south of Huntsville so practically the same macro climate as yourself.

50x100 nets from Valley orchard supply. Covers three 10 ft spaced rows with enough to pile on the ground. The birds don't even try.

I use the web mostly amazon, domyown, keystone, etc.

Here in the rainy south the best predictor of black rot, anthracnose, downey mildew is when you wake up and the earth is still rotating the conditions are right (unless we are in a drought) I've watched and tested closely and the end result is preventative spray. Black rot and anthranose come...

The Cab Franc issue is interesting. I just planted 8 as a test. I'll keep you posted. *I rarely see freeze damage

I've used pots of sand with good luck. Gotta keep them moist. Don't be fooled by the buds sprouting, they have little to do with roots. In fact, I keep them out of direct sun in an open garage until the roots grow then introduce them to light. Btw, some root stocks don't propagate easily.