Spring !?!?!? *#&#*@#

[GreginND]

Xerxes hit us hard with 10 inches of heavy wet snow. And the next storm, Yogi, is expected to dump another 6-8 inches on Wednesday. And we have a record flood coming as soon as it all melts.

*sigh*

 

[Norske]

Tis a mighty fine winter we are having this spring.....

 

[GerardVineyard]

Global Warming, Ha Ha Ha.....

 

[GreginND]

Global Warming, Ha Ha Ha.....

Actually, it's "Climate Change" I think.

 

[grapeman]

Let's hope Yogi stays in Jellystone instead of heading your way Greg. We had some nasty stuff Friday -rain, snow, sleet, freezing rain and then finished up with more snow. We had more inches of accumulation of sleet than we did snow. It's gone right now and about 60 out right now.

 

[jswordy]

90 here by Wednesday. Way too early for that, by at least 2-3 weeks.

 

[jswordy]

Actually, it's "Climate Change" I think.

Actually, yer correct.

 

[ibglowin]

We got a rock......

 

[Brew and Wine Supply]

record flood coming[/B] as soon as it all melts.

*sigh*

Thanks for the warning, we'll be expecting it.

 

[Runningwolf]

Greg sorry to see that. I can joke about it during the winter but enough is enough. Hopefully you don't get the extra snow before the big melt down.

 

[Hokapsig]

Hey, Greg, just for my own curiousity.....

How does a late spring snow storm affect the grapes? I'm guessing on a shorter growing season, but is it cold enough to kill the buds or have the grapes acclimatized and don't throw buds this early? Also, does this cause the grapes to ripen sooner (shorter season) or are your Brix readings lower at harvest?

Just wondering....

 

[ibglowin]

Not going to try and answer for Greg but we had a speaker this February at our state winemakers conference who explained how a vine will basically achieve maximum cold hardiness as it sees increasingly cold temps over the winter and then it will actually lose its cold hardiness as the weather starts to warm up at the end of winter and spring begins. The absolute worst thing for a vine is for it to experience an early warm up followed by a real hard spring freeze. More buds are killed over this than an extreme (low) cold spell during winter.

 

[Hokapsig]

will the grapes re-bud later the same season or one shot and they're done for the season?

 

[grapeman]

Don't worry too much about grapes where Greg is or where I and other cold hardy grape growers are. The vines are still mostly dormant. To us, a late snow is in June. Last year after an extremely early spring with temps reaching the 70's in March, we had snow flurries on June 2. The vines shrug these things off, but occasionally we get a freeze that kills the primary buds- the main first buds of the year. Grapes have three sets of buds. The first are very fruitful, the second slightly fruitful and the final buds if needed are naturs safety net to ensure the vines survive. Here we have barely begun to get a few buds swelling so far.

 

[GreginND]

Yes, grapes are still dormant and in no danger. Delayed bud break will risk a shortened season. Grapes still need to get ripe before the fall frosts. Last year was different for us as well. The golf courses opened on march 13 last year. With all of the snow this year we are also facing record flooding, a more grave concern.

 

[fivebk]

Greg, Just pray for a slow warm up (and melt) I know all too well the woes of flooding and wish that no one would have to go through it.

BOB

 

[GreginND]

I kid you not, our city's Spring clean up week has been postponed until September. Perhaps spring may arrive by then?

In the meantime, the flood cometh:

 

[BobR]

Hope things work out for you up there Greg. Have been watching everyone getting ready with all of the sandbags.

After two years of drought, this spring flooding seems like a lot of water, but it has been much worse. So far, I have bud swell, but no bud break yet. I hope that it holds off....still cold night here.