Its a Jungle Out There

Today I got around to working on some much needed shoot thinning and vine training. I worked on the NY 76.0844.24 (Cornell hybrid). These are the vines I planted last year, which puts them in their "second leaf." I'm learning all kinds of new jargon now! Back in February, I pruned them all the way back to two buds. I only kept one spur from the best cane on each vine. This Spring, they vines took off with a vengeance. Most of the vines put out a half dozen or more shoots.

NY 76.0844.24 before shoot thinning

This year my main objective, for the vines planted last year, is to develop the cordons that will be fairly permanent structures in years to come. So I decided to shoot thin each vine back to the two most substantial and healthiest shoots. After thinning the shoots, I used the "weed whacker" to trim around the vines and under the trellis. I was VERY careful not to damage the trunk of the vines with the trimmer. This bit of maintenance made the vineyard look much neater and more professional.

NY 76.0844.24 after shoot thinning

I applied Roundup under the trellis in late winter, but now there's a good crop of weeds under the trellis. With the young vines and so much foliage close to the ground, I'm afraid to put down another application of Roundup right now. I have ordered some Rely, which should be available tomorrow. Rely is much safer than using Roundup at this point in the growing season because it is not a systematic herbicide. The Rely only affects the green tissue which it contacts. This means Rely is also great for sucker control in grapes. I plan to put Rely down in both the Spring Mill Farm Vineyard and Naked Creek Vineyard in the next few days.

Row 1 in the SMF Vineyard after a trim

The Chambourcin vines are soaring along in the Naked Creek Vineyard. Man the experts aren't lying when they say that Chambourcin over crops! Next week I'm going to have to start cluster thinning those vines.

Chambourcin clusters at Naked Creek on 6/10/09

We've had a very wet Spring this year which is usually a recipe for just about every fungal disease for grapes. On the other hand, we've had several drought years and the rain has been great for replenishing ground water supplies and for most other local crops, so I'm not going to complaining. So far, I've put down three sprays of Manzate and one Topsin M application this year. We are seeing a little black rot on leaves and very very minimal phomopsis on canes in the Chambourcin at the Naked Creek Vineyard. So far, our disease pressure is much lower than last year when we got a late start on our spray schedule. We've had about 5 inches of rain in the last 10 days but when I scouted the vines at Naked Creek, we still had some residual Manzate and Topsin M (after 4 inches of rain since application). All in all, I think we're doing pretty well in terms of disease pressure given the weather conditions this year.

Black rot spot on Chambourcin at Naked Creek Vineyard
Notice the residual fungicide after 4 inches of rain!

While were talking grape diseases, click on over to the Virginia Grape Disease Update Blog. This is a great source of up to the minute info on grape disease info based on current weather from Dr. Mizuho Nita, who is Virginia Tech's Grape Pathologist at the Winchester AREC. Dr. Nita's blog has been very helpful for me in making my IPM decisions this year.