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Where are people buying Captan and other sprays required to keep these grapes healthy? A quick search of the big box stores near me isn't turning up anything yet. Maybe its a seasonal and out of season... I'm in Central Illinois.

I'm hopefully planting out vines this coming spring in Central Illinois (halfway between Chicago and St. Louis). The plan is to plant the area west of the shed with vines. Rows would run N/S. Rows could start at 72' and go up to 144'. I have a few questions: 1: Without getting into an...

I’m in the process of building a new house and moving to an acreage. One of the benefits of the new site is the opportunity to have vines of my own. The house is expected to be finished Fall 2024. In the spring 2024 can I buy some vines and keep them in containers at my current place until the...

In our travels we’ve stumbled across a few very very small “wineries”. They seem to be doing 6 gallon batches. They all seem to offer custom wines where the winery consults with the customer about what the goals for the batch are, ferment and age on site, then when it comes to bottling, the...

I'm still in the process of planning a 500 case winery/vineyard in Central Illinois. One of the factors that seems to influence a lot of decisions when starting from a blank slate is tractor selection. Basically the way I see it in the vineyard you need horsepower for mowing row middles...

Are there any sickle mowers that mount to front end loaders instead of a bucket? Since sickle mowers require less hp than disk, drum, flail, or rotary mower it could allow a smaller tractor to mow row middles in one pass. I've found sickle mowers, but they're all offset to the side and wont...

I'm looking at the possibility of converting some of my Central Illinois corn/soybean farm to grapes. I have large row crop tractors, but nothing that would easily fit down rows of grapes, especially in the summer. I also have a Kubota RTV for scouting fields. I'm fairly certain at 9 foot row...

We started our first batch of Dragon Blood 2 weeks ago. When SG was 1.000 we racked to glass carboy (Sunday). Racked off lees tonight and sampled. Wife says it smells and maybe tastes yeasty. I added k-meta and sorbate as we will sweeten before bottling. What is causing the yeasty taste...

If you're in Dayton and want to sell a carboy, I'll buy. I found one on craigslist, talked to the man, we agreed I'd buy it, and now I cannot get in touch with him to get it. I'm assuming he sold it and doesn't want to admit that he didn't honor his word. I started a batch of dragon blood in...

I started a dragon blood recipe Friday night. Pitched yeast Saturday morning. Followed the 15 day recipe to a t. SG started at 1.084. I thought it was low but hopefully the fruit would break down and provide extra sugar. 12 hrs later there was a small layer of foam, all the fruit was...

I'm so new that my introduction is still probably on one of the latest pages of the introduction post, but I have spent many hours searching the forums and haven't found an answer to a question. If it has been answered please point me to it. Unfortunately I picked started this new and...

I'm very new to this. I just graduated from the Air Force Academy, got married, moved to Dayton Ohio, and picked up a new hobby. I have a friend who makes his own beer, but since my wife likes wine more, I thought I'd give it a try. Right now we have 3 gallons of cider fermenting away. We...