Hid-In-Pines Vineyard

[grapeman]

Some of you guys have wondered who I am and so on. I have a small three acre vineyard in Way Upstate NY near Lake Champlain. It takes up a good share of my free time and energy but to me is worth it. I grow Hybrid grapes that must be fairly COld Hardy here. I was out working in the vineyard a bit today playing hookey from my normal drafting jobs and got a few pictures.

Here are a couple shots for you. For you guys in warm climates that had budbreak three months ago, ours was a bit more than three weeks ago and the following pictures are from this year. I have reached bloom here the last couple days and I have a ton of training and weed pulling to do. I am going to try to get the othe 200 or so posts in this weekend (or at least the holes dug) to finish up the rest of the trellis.

 

[grapeman]

Here are a couple more shots of some bloom.

 

[Runningwolf]

Rich, thanks for taking the time out to share. I always enoy your pictures and posts as you have a ton of knowledge to share with us. The grapes are looking awesome!

 

[Racer]

I agree with running wolf. thanks for sharing the pictures with us and thanks for all your participation on this site too. Hope you have a very bountiful harvest this year. The vines do look like they'll do their part for you.

 

[Wade E]

Rich, the vineyard is looking great. Hows the winery coming along?

 

[deboard]

Yes, thanks for sharing, those vines look great!

 

[xanxer82]

The vines are looking great Rich. I know I'm fairly active on another forum that we both use.
Glad to see you pop in this one too.

 

[grapeman]

Thanks guys. I figured I would throw some of the pictures Itook today on here so others can see what I am up to/against. I am quite amazed this year. Things have gone from 0-60 in 4.2 seconds it seems!

I'm supposed to get the post hole auger on a Bobcat track type ride on skid-steer like I used the year I planted these vines initially. I have an auger that mounts on a tractor, but I need to dig 225 hole among planted vines. The little Bobcat makes it a breeze. I called the guy this AM to rent and by the time I went to make arrangements for this PM, they had rented it out for the day. I really don't want to use the tractor to do it because I would need to take the stake out from each vine 3-5 feet tall and lay down in order to back over them to drill the hole. With the Bobcat, I can just drive between the vines crossways where the posts go. If I get it I will try to get a picture or two. Actually here is a picture of me using it the first time.

 

[Wade E]

Pretty cool although what you really need is that drill that Bruce Willis used in that asteroid movie(Armageddon)!

 

[grapeman]

That would work as long as he came to run it!

 

[NSwiner]

Great seeing your pics . Sure looks like you have lots to keep you busy .

 

[AlFulchino]

looking greeeeeeaaaaaaatttt! keep up the good work!

 

[Wade E]

That thing looks like fun to run.

 

[Julie]

Wow, your vineyard looks fantastic. Thanks for the pics.

 

[sly22guy]

looks awesome! That is the same post hole digger i was thinking about renting. i just planted my vines this spring (only 36) but it looks like it would work perfectly. looks like you used it to break up the ground where you planted? How close did you space your posts, and how long are your rows?

 

[grapeman]

It would probably be ovrkill for 36 vines. I dug almost 250 on Saturday in about 5 hours. I prepared the soil ahead of time in that picture. In the picture I dug both post and vine holes with it- this week just for posts. The digger would not work well for that. My vines are from 6 to 7 feet apart depending on vairety and posts are from 21-30 feet apart depending on vine spacing and 3 or 4 vines between them. I like about 24 feet between when I can get it. My rows are 9 feet apart to allow for my tractor size. The average row is 240 feet long between access roads.

 

[sly22guy]

Yeah it is a little over kill for my 36 vines but the soil is rocky and i also want to build a larger deck off the back of the house so i figured i can kill two birds with one stone! I have 12 vines per row approx 6ft between so i figure that i will put a post about every 3. so about 5 post per row, if that were all i were doing id just dig them but with the deck it should be worth while.