new experiences, learned some tricks, still more to learn

[Chuck-crisler]

For the last few years critters have eaten my grapes just before harvesting (naturally). Last year I got 6 gallons of wine, this year 16. But it was a race against 'the critters', though most of the grapes were ~21 B, the Frontenac and Marquette were ~24. I thought that the 'critters' must have been skunks, opossums or raccoons because a lot of fruit would disappear in a single day. I have an electric fence and deer have not been a problem since I installed that. I use bird netting, so they weren't to blame. I constructed my new fence this year which includes 3' of chicken wire at the base (1' horizontal on the ground, 2' vertical) with the electric wires above that. Critters still ate my fruit! I finally saw the culprits - CHIPMUNKS! They can easily go through the chicken fence. Long story short, the ending of my harvest was better than the start, the chipper population took a nose dive. Just a note for other small home growers - it isn't always the larger animals that cause the problems!

I also did 2 cultural tricks this year. First, I dropped a fair number of clusters after fruit set. Then, in mid July I did a significant leaf pluck. Sugar was significantly higher on all varieties. I am not sure which action had the largest effect. Some of the varieties had an amazingly low yield. However, that could have also been due to the fertilizer I put down in the spring. I have 6 Frontenac vines, harvested about 220 clusters but only got about 30 lbs (from memory, the notes aren't accessible now). I would expect to get ~100 lbs from 6 vines (is that reasonable?). The Foch had a better per vine yield, but suffered more from the chippers. I didn't think that I put down that much nitrogen (~20 lbs 10-10-10 and ~10 lbs 48-0-0 in ~6,000 sq ft). I did get a lot of vine growth, which might point to too much nitrogen. I am thinking about putting down ~10 lbs of 10-10-10 next year, if anything.

If you drop too much fruit can that contribute to excessive vine growth? Of course, putting some more size on the vines this year probably helps next year..

Another thing that I realized this year is the value of rough pruning in the fall. I have never done that. The last 2 years I have had significant damage to the trellii and just couldn't understand why. The wires are only 100' long and the shrinkage from temperature change should only be ~ 1", but wires were broken and fastening screws bent, though the wires are not stretched tight. In July it dawned on me what was happening. I had a huge pH problem for years, so the vines didn't grow well and I learned most of my cultural practices then. I have corrected the pH and now they grow better, so I have more vines on the top wires to catch snow all winter and it is the weight of the snow (>100" last year without any melting until March) that was causing the damage. I rough pruned all of the vines this fall, so let it snow! More lessons learned.

With all of the mistakes I have made, I should be the smartest person in the world! The frightening thought is how many more will I make this year??? The mistakes just seem to get smarter and find new ways to get me.

All comments welcome, especially if I can learn from someone else's experiences for a change.

 

[JohnT]

This is the whole process of learning.. Make a mistake, figure the cause, then take action to prevent it from ever happening again.

I do have one comment.. My guess is that the cluster drop was most responsible for your higher sugar....

As far as those chippers, may I suggest that you install gun towers to enhance that electric fence???