Recent content by grapeman

This is pretty good advice here. The flowers are nice and the vines are very well grown, but you need them to develop more this year. Marquette is a very prolific early grower and will produce the second year and even more the third year. Don't be tempted to grow the grapes this year although a...

You will have a number of options being on Long Island. Double A Vineyards is a good source of vines but be sure to give them a call and ask for recommendations specifically for you there. A few years ago now Cornell released its first graduate of its no spray breeding program called Arandell. I...

I had bought from George for 15 years and had always looked forward to talking with George when I could before being active in this forum , I was active on the Fine Vine Wines forum and eventually became co-administrators of it with Wade Evans. Many members transitioned over here when George...

Yes you could let them bear some fruit next year. A third to a half crop should be alright for them. If the vines begin to look stunted after growing with a light crop just drop some of the fruit to get them going again alright.

Yes green goo is real for elderberries. When you rack the wine, be sure to leave it behind. The hard part is getting you fermenter and carboys clean from it. Put a bit of vegetable oil in the water when you wash them and it will dissolve and come out. Then you can use a bit of mild detergent to...

This back and forth discussion is good but I want to point out that the point of this thread is to document the way I used here in upstate NY where we have high disease pressure and extremely cold conditions. While there is no right or wrong way to do most things, this is how I did it here and...

Sorry Havlikn that I missed your call. I haven't ever made a Marquette Rose so I didn't comment here before. That said you could harvest around normal time and just press the grapes at crushing to keep the color and tannin level down. I would ferment with a yeast that accentuates the fruit in...

Sorry to check in so late here, life has been a perpetual soap opera for the last year or so for my family. I would almost guarantee it is 2,4-d or dicamba damage. The finger-like projections on the leaf edges are a tell-tale sign of it. It is funny how some vines can be affected and others...

If the water is 18 inches down after heavy rains and it is spring I would assume it likely dries out quite well being on a hill. I don't think it will be a real problem.

Sorry I did not chime in on this sooner. Friday we had a very nice day until the evening. Storms developed in the area and we were under tornado watch - a rare event here. About 8 PM the winds went from 0 to probably 40 mph. It kept building until at 10:45 the power went out. Some in the...

Hard to tell what they are. Your picture doesn't show up here to see the,.

One thing I see nobody mention here is potassium metabisulfite either in powder form or the pre-measured and pill shaped campden tablets. That inhibits bacterial and other microbial growth in the wine and is generally used in conjunction with the potassium sorbate. One tablet is usually...

So here is the Guide to Propagating Grapevines Using Two bud Cuttings I created for sharing with everyone.

Sorry to see you give up Bob. Please check in from time to time.

I want to bump this thread back up now. I haven't had time to keep it updated properly. My wife and I have both been sick especially recently so time for working on it has been limited. I have been working on the little booklet/guide I mentioned earlier and will put it here soon. I just...