Recent content by Snafflebit

My bet would also be Concord.

Questions I would get answered are: Who pays for improvements? soil ripping, planting, trellis, irrigation, piping, access roads, removal of all of this if necessary to sell the land in the future. Lease length? it takes 5 years for vines to mature for winemaking. I expect they will ask for 15...

Hey it was fun while it lasted. I hope you find another hobby that brings you great enjoyment!

Yea! Success. I tried to order more Zin grafted on SO4 from Novavine this year but they were out. It seems that the Covid-19 supply chain issues still exist. So, I had to make my own vines. I bought an omega grafter from Amazon and used cuttings from my existing Zinfandel. I was able to get SO4...

I have not shown off my front yard planting yet. I am growing Zinfandel trained in the gobelet style. This is year 2 for the vines. These vines were allowed to grow freely last year and pruned back to 1 bud in April. We have very good growth from most of the vines but a couple of vines are...

@Smoke In Peru I saw many trellises like the wooden one you made. It was used for groing Quebranta grapes. The Peruvians make a liquor called pisco from the grapes.

Wow San Jose just got a frost warning tonight. Hope my buds survive!

I picked SO4 grafted to Zinfandel with hopes that the vigorous rootstock would help reduce millerandage on the clusters. I toyed with the idea of growing the Zin ownroot since it is a small planting and not commercial, but I finally chose this combination. I might plant a Zin cane somewhere in...

I expect that this soggy soil is temporary. I have dealt with crown gall on other rootstocks too. I have to deal with heavy clay soil here. I have had success with 1103P, disappointed in 1616C and now giving SO4 a try. I regularly ask growers about their selection of rootstock and rarely get a...

Wet is the new dry!

I also have a new planting of Zin by my house on the valley floor and it is soggy. I have never had to deal with such wet soil before. Zin is grafted to SO4 and that is a new rootstock for me also. I am expecting lush growth, or drowned vines.

@ovjock The pruning cuts will bleed if the cuts are made in the spring when sap is pushing. It is normal and harmless. The cut should be made to allow the sap to drip away from the buds below the cut.

They are murder on my springtime hayfever. I know that!

Welcome @SandiaSlice (watermelon slice?) It appears that there are many empty spots in your trellis. One thing to note is that many vineyards have areas where the vines thrive and other areas that struggle due to the unknown geology beneath the ground surface. Don’t be surprised if new vines...

Merlot has budbreak in San Jose, the Cab Sauv is slower but I have seen a bud pushing here or there. I pruned this week before shoots get out of hand. There was bleeding. My Zin plantings were pushing buds on the sunny south end of the rows and bled profusely when trimmed.