Marquette

[harleydmn]

Just got done planting 20 vines. These were given to me today, now I need to learn everything I can about them. But I have at least 3 years to do it. My wife and I excited.

 

[grapeman]

Ask away if you get stumped. Somebody was very nice to give them to you.

 

[harleydmn]

The owner of the company I work for has a vineyard. Yes, it was very nice of him. It is hard ( expensive) for a small grape grower to buy just a few vines, if you can buy 50 or more the price really comes down. I couldn't thank him enough, he could tell that I was excited just by the look on my face. I did find the other thread on these and will have to start from the beginning and read it all....Thanks

 

[grapeman]

If you want to wade through 200 pages of posts, here is a link to about 5 or 6 years of growing grapes from planting to a small commercial vineyard.
http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/f25/champlain-valley-my-vineyard-19820/
or this one which is covering a new vineyard right from taking cuttings (one of which is Marquette)
http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/f25/vineyard-beginning-grapeman-30613/

 

[ibglowin]

You have your hands on some great vines!

 

[Runningwolf]

Since you started this thread, why don't you keep it going and keep tracking your journey.

 

[Deezil]

Jump start it with some pictures

 

[harleydmn]

I'm away for the weekend but will add pics when I get home. Thanks guys, will try to keep it going.

 

[harleydmn]

Ok back home, so I actually was given 31 vines last Wed. They were already 2 weeks since they were shipped. I didn't know about these at all but wasn't going to turn them down. No site prep at all, they needed to get in the ground and I was leaving Thurs morning to go out of town. Got 20 holes dug and vines planted before dark, or before I fell over. Put the other 11 in a bucket with fine mulch and added enough water to keep them damp. After work today, I planted the other 11 and put in some posts I had. This is a lot of work for an old man and doing it all by shovel. The vines are 6' apart with 10 vines in a row and rows spaced 10' apart. Hope I am doing some of this right.

Should I trimmed these to just 1 stem with 2 buds or let them go till next year?

 

[grapeman]

It looks like you did a good job. You could trim the vines back, but I would just leave the bigges one if you do and not trim it to 2-3 buds. That way it can form more leaves but the largest cane can grow bigger this year. They will do fine either way. If you use grow tubes for protection, you almost have to cut back to one main cane.

 

[Brian]

Looks good Man!

 

[harleydmn]

My posts are only going to be 5' above the ground. Will this work or should I try and put an extension on them?

 

[grapeman]

5 feet will work, but when using top wire training I perefer 6 feet because the wires always sag a bit. Extensions are the source of a weak point, so it is a tossup. What do others have to say?

 

[harleydmn]

Well checked my vines last night, the leaves are popping open......getting very excited. Going to have to start working on the trellis, think I'm going to rent a auger for this job.

 

[harleydmn]

Well the vines are looking good. The wife prune them back and put up bamboo stakes. She took the pruning s and put in top soil, will these root?

 

[grapeman]

A few of them might grow so it might be worth trying.

 

[harleydmn]

Thanks, Grapeman

I wish PA would allow shipping the wife and I would love to buy a bottle. One day we hope to get some time and take a trip up to see your vineyard.

 

[tatud4life]

Nice looking little vineyard you are starting there!!! The posts on my trellis' are 5'. I don't have a problem with them. I have some pics of mine in the vineyard gallery if want to have a look at them.

 

[harleydmn]

Looks like the vines are doing good.

 

[grapeman]

After they get a bit larger and bloom- yes those are flower clusters-you will need to snip them off this year. If you leave them they will stunt the initial development of a strong root system. They look great though.