Swill's Vineyard

[swillologist]

They are both in the same family. May be that has something to do with it.

 

[swillologist]

I just worked onthe slide show. You don't have to look at the same picture over again.

 

[swillologist]

I probably destroyed my grapes today.

I left a good amount but I took a lot off too. I may have to take a little more. It would probably help if I knew what I was doing.

 

[grapeman]

Grapes love to be prunes and try to overcome our shortcomings in pruning knowhow. I count about 80 buds on that vine- so you should be pretty good. If you want to cane prune, leave a few renewal shoots growing during the growing season to form next years canes. Prune out the heavy wood each year above the main trunk and replace with those renewal canes. If you want 4 canes, leave four- two each direction from the two wires. If you only have the top wire, leave two long canes for the shoots to grow out of. If it isn't raining too hard this weekend for pictures I will try to get some when I go to Willsboro to begin pruning at the grape trial. If it rains too much I on Friday, I will try to go to the other demonstration locally. If that doesn't work out either I will take some pictures as I am able to cane prune my 4 arm vines.


I like the VSP for pruning ease. Just establish cordons on the fruiting wire and train the growth vertically between catch wires. Then the next year prune to leave 2 to 4 buds on most varieties just above the cordon. It is quick and easy and leaves the fruit with better exposure.

 

[swillologist]

Thanks appleman! Pictures would be great. I hope the rain will hold off for you.
Ididn't take care of this vine like I should have when I planted it. So it looks kinda strange. This is a Fredonia. I like the grape from it. They are probably not the greatest for wine. But I made some decent wine out of them. I have other vines that I can removefrom the arbor. I laid a vine down last summer. I thinkI have a new vine started. I will know for sure when it buds out. I have an empty spot in my arbor rightnow for it. If this works hopefully I can replace all of the vines in time and do a better job of managing them.

Edited by: swillologist

 

[swillologist]

I took a little tour of the orchard/vineyard this evening. The old grapes are coming along nicely.

A coupe of the new vines took a pretty good hit this winter but they are coming back. They will be behind the rest though.

It looks like the apricots survived the frost.

There is going to be some sour cherries if we can beat the birds to them. The birds don't even let them get ripe.

It looks like a good crop of gooseberries this spring. Now to keep the birds and the coons out of them.

It looks like it is going to be a lot better year this year then it was last year. I might be able to get some wine made.

 

[Wade E]

Looking good over there Swill!

 

[grapeman]

It sure is nice to see all things coming to life and growing! Here's hoping everything stays well for you there with all the nasty weather going on. It's a wonder any of us ever get any food that Mother Nature doesn't destroy.


Are you seeing little flower clusters yet on the grapes? The young ones tend to take the cold weather harder than the older vines- the canes just don't have as long to harden off good before cold weather. Good luck with all.

 

[swillologist]

Thanks wade.


We missed most of the storms last night. We just got needed rain. Could have done without the wind. But it didn't hurt anything.Supposed to beanother round to go through this afternoon. We will see what that brings.


Yes appleman, there are flower clusters on every vine except the ones that were hit hard this winter. One of those may even have a cluster on it. I will take that cluster off. I am thinking of leaving one cluster on each of thenew vines just to have a taste. Is that a bad idea? The old vines have lots of flowers on them. I may have to thin them some. I will take a count one of these day. Then I will be looking for some adviseto see ifI need to thin them some.

 

[grapeman]

You could leave some clusters on for a while and see how the vines do. If growing conditions are great and you get too much growth, the clusters will help keep it in check some. If the vines struggle because of poor weather- drop all clusters on those vines.

 

[rgecaprock]

Beautiful pictures, Swill,
Your land is gorgeous!!!

 

[swillologist]

Normally the weather is good for growth here. A dry spell is about the only thing that will hamper it. The storm last night must have had some hail in it. There are a few holes in the leaves today. One of the old vines was blown off the arbor. I put it back up this morning. Here is a picture of a few of the flower clusters on one of the old vines.

Thanks rg! Here are a couple of pictures I thought you may enjoy. The are baby Bluebird in one of our houses.

Pop wasn't to happy with me messing with his home.

 

[rgecaprock]

They look so sweet and cozy in their little home.

 

[swillologist]

Look at what I beat the birds to today.

With more to come.

Does anyone still need some rain. We have some to share. The water is up to my sister's driveway and she is a half a mile from the river. We have another system coming through in just a little while. My poor grapes are getting beat to death. We have been having storms moving through about every other day. On the young vines just about every leaf has holes in them and they are also ragged looking. The old vines are losing shoots. I hope this weather settles down before long. I guess I should be happy. We have had tornado's on both sides of us. One on the ground right now in southern part of the state.Edited by: swillologist

 

[rgecaprock]

Swill,
Looks like I can reach in and take that biggest berry off the plate. Great picture......Ramona

 

[Waldo]

Looking good swill..our strawberry crop here in Arkansas was really good this year. They are just about all gone now though.

 

[grapeman]

I think I would throw some bird netting over all those berries Swill. Plenty of shortcakes and jam there - an maybe enough for some wine! We won't need that rain over here right now. We have been getting some also now- about an inch and a half in the last week- more on the way. It is actually approaching warm some days now.


Hope the grapes pull through alright and give you a nice crop.

 

[NorthernWinos]

Swill.....Nice looking berries....Looks like enough for a little wine in your future.

I also use bird netting for the birds...But I have more of a slug problem....

Last year I tried trays of beer...that did work, but, got expensive...Then found if I just leave the rotten ones they had chewed on in the row they will munch on those and leave the freshly ripened ones alone...so they ate on less of them that way....they ate the rotten ones till they were gone.

We got near an inch of rain last week, since then the storms have missed us...as well the big hail storms missed us...They sure had some beautiful clouds tho...but wrecked peoples crops and yards.

Might get rain the next 2 days...90% chance...know it will at least be cloudy, we are not usually in the rain belt....Need heat and sun.

 

[swillologist]

Thanks everyone!


Looks like it's going to be a good strawberry year here also. If after the shortcake, jams and jellies there are any left over. I get to make wine. Barring a hail storm or something there should be enough to go around. If the birds get to bad we will do the netting. I shouldn't say anything but we don't have a problem with slugs here. Now they will probably show up.


It looks like it is going to be a good year for everything here all of the trees are loaded. Now if I could get the weather to cooperate so I can spray.


I think the grape will be alright appleman.. It's just that every time that I loss a shoot I loss a couple of bunches of grapes. One storm this week I lost three shoots on one vine and a couple on some of the other ones.


We got another storm heading our way now. They don't seem to let up. They talk about tornadoes every evening. They are doing it again right now. They are not talking about watches. They are taking about them being on the ground. I don't know how long we can keep this up without one getting close.

 

[swillologist]

I'm done complaining about the weather. We dodged a bullet last night. The thing was on the ground about 20 miles southwest of us. It went back up, jumped over the top of usand dropped back down about 3 miles northeast of us. So as NW would say "life is good".