Wyoming Vineyard

[CowboyRam]

GR-7 or Geneva Red is too tender for you there. It will do alright to about -15F and below that will freeze to the ground. I ripped mine out here last year after having it freeze 3 years in a row. I replaced it with St Croix. St Croix is a very juicy tender variety so you need to pick it ASAP when it is ready- the next day may be too late and they split or at least mash upon picking.

I was thinking that the GR-7 was not hardy enough, but I thought I see what others had experienced.

I am more and more leaning towards the St. Croix.

Thanks, Grapeman

 

[CowboyRam]

I have made my decision on the grapes that I am going to grow. St. Croix, Valiant, and the Somerset ( to make the wife happy). According to Double A Vineyards recommended spacing between vines is 8' for the St. Croix and Valiant, and 6' for the Somerset; I am guessing that is the spacing that I should use.

I was also talking with the owner of Irvin Cellars and she recommended that I plant the vines at a 45deg angle to the ground; So they could be laid down and covered for the winter. It that something that I really need to do?

 

[grapeman]

Since you are growing cold hardy vines there is no need to lay them down in the winter so no need to plant on an angle. If you do you will get very crooked vines that can be more susceptible to crown gall. I'm surprised a vineyard recommended this to you. Burying was usually reserved for trying to keep vinifera vines alive in cold areas.

 

[CowboyRam]

Ok, thanks.

That is how she had all of her vine planted. I was not wanting to do it that way. We get a lot of mice in our haystack during the winter, and I know if I covered the vine with straw I would have them in my in my vines.

 

[CowboyRam]

Does it make much difference if I buy #1,or #2 bare root vines from Northeaster Vine Supply, or 1yr extra, or 1yr #1 form Double A Vineyards.

 

[grapeman]

All the vines from both of them will grow well. Even the #2 vines have a good root system.

 

[CowboyRam]

I am thinking that I would not see much difference in growth, or am I all wrong?

 

[grapeman]

The number 1 will grow a bit more, but essentially they are cut back at planting so you end up close to the same.

 

[CowboyRam]

I ordered my grape vines today; I decided to go with the St. Croix, Petite Pearl, and Somerset.

 

[cygnus]

Hi Cowboy
We live at Lovell and have about 400 vines 16 rows with 25 per row. They are 275 of Frontinac and 125 of LaCresent( I think) my wife is the expert and I am just the farmer. our vines were 4 years old this last summer and we got 90 gallons of red juice and 6 gallon of white. 5 of the rows were ony 2-3 years old and didn't produce.
We have made about every mistake we could because we learned at a vineyard in Yakama WA where they had heritage(European) vines and we put in hybrids.
The first year we put on grow tubes and left them on during the winter -35 deg and we lost about half the white and 35 percent of the red . We should have taken the tubes off and they would have hardened better,We had 100 of each that year.
The next summer we replanted and added 25 white and 75 red. The next year we added 100 red.
We put the cordon on the second wire and tried to make them grow up to the 3rd and 4th wire for 3 years and then went to a Univ of Wy seminar and found that with hybrids we should put the cordon on the top wire and let them grow down so this past summer we started retraining and they grew much better.
We put the rows 9 ft apart and planted a vine every 4 ft. should have planted them 6 ft apart. The soil is very fertile and the vines very hardy. We used steel post every 20 ft which worked well except I used steel post on the ends and the wire tension and vine load bent the end post so I have to replace them with wooden this spring.

We bottled 32 bottles of white today and have about 90 bottles of red We still have 45 gallons in the fermenter---anyone want some

Larry & Nancey
Lovell WY

 

[CowboyRam]

In the last two days I have got my St. Croix and Somerset vines planted. I did get a little bit of a surprise; I ordered 33 Somersets and got one extra. That makes 59 holes dug in the last two days, and 33 more to go tomorrow.

 

[byathread]

I'm guessing that vineyard operator suggested planting at an angle because even the hardy hybrids can suffer some years there. My favorite website for historical climate data is below. Looks like Riverton (downtown) has hit -46F and has a mean annual extreme minimum of around -30F. I think even the hardiest of hybrids would be damaged at 40 below. Might be worth considering, though it may only dip below -40 once every 15 years or more (and likely less often going forward).

http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/Climsum.html

 

[CowboyRam]

92 hole later: Left side 25 St. Croix, Middle 34 Somerset, Right side 33 Petite Pearl.

 

[grapeman]

That is looking great. Nice job.

 

[GreginND]

Very impressive. Great job.


Sent from my iPhone using Wine Making

 

[CowboyRam]

Thanks. 92 holes dug and no buried treasure. I enlisted my son to help plant; he thought it was an awful lot to work. If and when I expand, I am going to rent an auger next time.

 

[mgmarty]

Really looks nice!

 

[CowboyRam]

One week after planting. May 27 2014

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[CowboyRam]

Today I noticed that a few vines are developing what looks like grape clusters; should try and reach in the grow tube and clip off these clusters? Here several days ago I was thinking that out of the 92 vines planted that I was going to have 2 or 3 not survive, but it looks like every one is budding out. This is getting exciting watching these vines grow.

 

[grapeman]

Don't worry too much about the clusters. They generally wither up and fall off for one reason or another. Later in the year when you remove the tubes to allow the vines to harden off, clip the remaining clusters off.