What is the world coming to? People stealing experimental grapevines from the U of MN? Hit the link to read more:
With last night’s heavy frost in my area, I decided to harvest the Frontenac and Prairie Star grapes this morning. The temps were in the upper 20s (F). All told, I picked 22 lbs of Frontenac and 8 lbs of Prairie Star grapes (one vine). Earlier I had picked 14 lbs of Valiant grapes. I spent some time before work sorting, crushing and sulfiting. The Frontenac went into my larger primary and the Prairie Star into a smaller backup primary. I covered the primaries and will let them sit until this evening.
Just in from a some time spent in the vineyard…
The vines are all doing great. Our weather has been unseasonably cool and very dry, so I’ve been watering the vines pretty regularly. Tonight, I fertilized the newer vines with a miracle-gro type of liquid fertilizer. The new vines and recovering vines are doing great. The two new Prairie Star vines are just past the bottom wire and have a good shot at getting to the top wire this season.
The recovering vines like the Foch are doing extremely well. Most are near or above the top wire. One of them that I trimmed to 2 buds this spring has already be cut off about one foot above the top wire and is working on building canes for next season! It’s HUGE!
The Sabrevois are making progress…since I first noticed them about a month ago as teeny-tiny shoots, they are all near 1 foot tall. My hope is to get them healthy enough by this fall that they over-winter well and can continue the comeback next season.
The Frontenac vines look great with alot of fruit. The Valiant vine is also going well. Last week I noticed some signs of disease on it so I applied a liquid fungus treatment that seems have to done the trick.
Well, we’re very much in the middle of summer here in MN and the vines are certainly responding to the warmth – as long as I keep them watered. It’s been so dry I’ve even been watering some of my most mature vines that wouldn’t normally need it. Everything is doing great. The Foch are all catching up nicely, the Marquette vine has exploded this month, the surprise Sabrevois vines are doing well, the Frontenacs are huge and are carrying a nice crop, the Prairie Stars are coming back nicely. The one remaining Valiant vine is loaded with fruit. It’s battling some disease pressure at the moment due to our humidity, but I think the worst is behind us.
Hello and first off let me say that it has been far too long since I wrote my last newsletter. I won’t bore you with the details, but just let me say that sometimes life gets in the way of even grape growing! Please read on to get the latest about my vineyard. If you have any comments or questions you may post them below as comments to this post.
The Latest From The Vineyard
Over the last 2-3 years the vineyard has suffered in one form or another for a variety of reasons. The result has been that most of my Foch and Sabrevois vines had been reduced to near nothing. My focus last season and this has been to revive any sickly/stunted vines and replant where vines have died altogether. One lesson I have learned is that my vines need more water than I initially realized. The interesting thing is the way I learned this lesson…over the last 2-3 years, I’ve been trying to get a maple tree in my yard to grow. Through the use of fertilizer tree spikes and the real key – regular watering, this particular maple tree put on 3 feet of growth in it’s canopy last season. Watching this happen taught me something – maybe, just maybe I should be watering the vines at an interval similar to my trees. Well, lo and behold, the vines have really responded. Especially the younger vines.
Vine Status
Marechal Foch – initially I had 12 Foch vines ( 6 in each of two rows). But with recent drought conditions and lack of attention over the last 2-3 years, six of the vines died off completely. But this year I’ve focused on rejuvenating the remaining six Foch plants through fertilization, regular watering and even grow tubes on most of the vines. At this point, all six vines are doing well and have reached at least the first trellis wire. At their current growth rates, I expect them to reach the top wire in about two weeks.
Marquette – after planting three Marquette vines 3 years ago, at the end of last season, I was down to one surviving plant. As with the Foch, I pruned this vine down to a couple of buds and put a growtube on once it had leafed out. I has just reached the top wire and will likely be due to be pruned about 6″ above the top wire in another week.
Sabrevois – going into this season, I was convinced that my Sabrevois vines were gone due to drought and gopher’s nibbling on their roots. But in early June, I detected three very small grapevine-looking plants growing where one of the Sabs had been planted. After another week, I was convinced it was a grapevine and put a growtube on it to help it along and protect it from rabbits.
Frontenac – currently, I have 5 full-size Frontenac vines that have all fruited well this season. My main objective with the Frontenacs is maintenance and keeping them healthy. I am attempting to replace a 6th vine but it remains to be seen if the replacement will survive.
Prairie Star – the Prairie Star vines are doing better each season. I have one vine that is mature and ready to produce a full crop this season. A couple of others are rec0vering from issues and were pruned down to 2 buds and growtubed. These are both doing well with one of them having already been pruned after it grew up past the top wire. Additionally, I had success getting some Prairie Star cuttings to root and they are currently acclimating themselves to life in the vineyard.
Valiant – and last but not least, is one of my oldest vines – the last of the Valiant vines I planted back in 2002. This vine is doing quite well – especially with the dryer conditions of the past 2-3 years. The vine is loaded with fruit this year and should produce quite a crop. I don’t expect to propogate any more Valiant vines but more likely will replace them with more Prairie Stars.
Weather – the weather in the vineyard has been slightly less dry this year than the past few. But only slightly. Our spring started off cool but has remained dry into the summer months. I’m hoping for a long, warm fall season to ripen the grapes fully.
Future Plans - my main plan for the future is to get the vineyard back to full production mode. This will mean propogating a few more of each variety of vine and tending them closely from here on out.
Winemaking – At this point, my winemaking plans are fairly modest. My main objective is to get enough fruit to make a few batches of wine. I may have enough for a batch this fall. In addition, I have a white wine kit I plan to ferment this fall.
That should do it for this latest newsletter. Please contact me if you have questions or would like to talk grape-growing. In the meantime, happy growing!
Don