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.

Make Hay While the Sun Shines

There is so much to get done this time of year. At times I don't know how we get it all done especially with day jobs! In the last couple of weeks, we've had about three sunny days with the rest rainy and glum. Not that I'm complaining about the rain. Over the last few years, we've been increasingly dry in late summer. I guess we're going to have more of a wet season in the Spring, at least in this weather pattern. My grandfather has told me since I was a child that the weather goes in cycles, often time the cycles last well more than a decade.

Last week I brought home another new addition to the farm tractor fleet. I've been making do in the vineyards with the tractors we had and while it worked when it had to, I would put off mowing and spraying because the Massey Ferguson 245 was really too large for the Naked Creek Vineyard. The rows there are spaced 8 feet apart. Now imagine vines hanging towards the inside of the rows and try to drive a tractor that's 6 feet wide down the rows. At very least, the tires gently caressed the vines on the way through. So, I've been looking for a small tractor that would suit both my needs and my tight budget. I've found a Kubota L245H, which is only 5 feet wide. I mowed the Spring Mill Farm Vineyard on Friday and the Naked Creek Vineyard on Saturday. The little Kubota was AWESOME! I sprayed my second round of Manzate in the Naked Creek Vineyard Sunday evening.

getting ready to spray fungicide at the Naked Creek Vineyard with the "new" Kubota

After what seems like weeks of rain, the weatherman is forecasting blue skies all week, so Dad and I headed to the hayfield today. Dad mowed with the Massey Ferguson 245 and I mowed with the John Deere 2010 (which is about twice my age). It seems like all the neighbors watched the same weather forecast as we did. I met Danielle at Napolis for pizza tonight and it seemed like in every field along the way (13 miles) there was a tractor mowing hay. Everyone's first cut hay crop is looking great. All the rain has really helped. Hopefully the rain will hold off for the rest of the week now. This time of the year when the daytime temperatures average in the mid 70's, it will take most of the week for the hay to dry. Hopefully we can begin baling maybe on Thursday, but more likely on Friday.

hay on the ground

I managed to snap a couple pics of the Chambourcin vines in the Naked Creek Vineyard. Things are looking great there. I've been scouting for evidence of fungal disease and haven't noticed anything to be alarmed about. I did notice a light amount of spotting on a couple canes of one Chambourcin vine that looks like phomopsis. Considering how much phomopsis we've seen there in the last couple of years, I'm expecting to see some occurrence. I'm trying to be very proactive in preventative measures this year.

Chambourcin vines at Naked Creek Vineyard 5/18/09

Chambourcin flowers forming in the Naked Creek Vineyard