Pictures - I'll post thefew that I have when I get that resizer download done.
Soil - Clay churtwith limestone. Soft white limestones mixed in the clay down a couple of feet. These white stone clumps are easily broken up, so I think they are a good base for the vines. Soil is very poor and infertile butI never do any irrigation. Will start to add compost under the vines this fall and winter.
I'vehave the vines a 6 feet in the rows and row only 8 feet apart. Intentional to stress them a little since I'm not looking for harvest volume.
When each vine was planted I went in with a big post hole digger in the fall and put down a hole as deep a I could. Then put the new vine in the next spring. I never had to do any watering or irrigation with this method.
Next year I will do more leaf pull to open up 40% and do some light clusterthinning in hopes of getting a more even ripening.
I've finally developed a spray plan that is working fairly well and I have to spray the snot out of them. This year was not bad, I could go two weeks between sprays after bloom. I have to spray hybrids and vinifera the same, so hybrids may have more disease resistance in theory, but have no practicaladvantage over vinifera for me. When things get really dry here in August, I can quit the spray and let the vines ripen without the chemical on them at harvest.
I have about 100 vines. We had a very late killer frost afewyears ago and my vinifera vines were still very young, so I lost some.I also lost all of my NY73, but they were own rooted and suckered back. I've kind of been on hold while I decided whether to shift more to hybrids or shift to viniferas. Finally decided on going with more vinifera, soI'm in the process of filling back in for the vines that were frost killed. Plus I wanted to expand a little, so I planted Chardonnel and Marquette to see how they do.
This is roughly what I calculate from my harvest:
3 pail of grapes yield 6 gallons MUST.
6 gallons MUST yields
3+ gallons of white juice,
4+ gallons of red,
just 3 gallons of Norton juice.
9 Chardonnay vines - 3 pails of grapes, 6 vines 5 years old, 3 replanted this year.
9 Cabernet Sauvignon vines - 1 pail of grapes,5 vines 6 years old, 4 of the vines were replanted this year.
18 Cabernet Franc vines - 2 pails of grapes, 6 vines6 years old, 12 of the vines were replanted this year. 9 replace Merlot that were frosted out.
9 Norton vines - 3 pails of grapes
9NY73vines - Grapes lost to berry drop (always a problem) and critters.
12 Vidal vines - 7 pails of grapes, these vines are 8 years old
18 Chardonnel 3rd year vines - critters got every last grape
18 Marquette 2ndyear vines- pruned cluster out to let the vines develop one more year.
Challenges:
Black Rot, Japanese Beetles, Berry Moths,
Turkeys, Racoons, Deer
Frost, Heat, Drought, Hail, Rain
My temper
Of course, once the grapes are harvested, making the vinegar is easy.
Isn't this a loverly hobby. Good thing I'm retired and have a lot of time.
