Missed a few posts, but nothing major going on. Sprayed roundup on section A, but may not have been strong enough, since I don't see results yet (after a week). May have to do it again.
We also replanted 22 Merlot with cuttings over the weekend. Used a bulb planter for the holes and dipped plants in rooting hormone, then marked with orange flags for visibility.
Just been tying vines as much as possible and have recently started thinning. For now, I am thinning all plants down to a single cluster per shoot. This is a time-consuming process, and I only got 3/4 of A8 done last night. This will be the activity for a while.
4.28.2010
4.21.2010
Problem Children
I've noted several health issues here and there in the vineyard so far that I wanted to post.
Probably the biggest issue is what looks like Eutypa in a lot of the Merlot. Budbreak saw a sizable number of these vines only pushing shoots at the very ends, with all the intervening buds staying closed. Not much I can do about it this season, but I have a feeling I'll have to cut these back severely next pruning season. Here's a good example of one of the affected vines (which Darlene calls the "special ed" vines, lol).
Next up we have an issue which seems to only affect 2 of my vines at this point, but unfortunately, one of those was one of the most robust I had up to this year. All of the foliage is stunted on these in a way that looks almost like herbicide damage. However, I had not sprayed any herbicide when symptoms showed, and these two vines are far apart in the vineyard, surrounded by other healthy vines. Scratching my head here:
For comparison, the vines directly next to the one above (panning the camera right) look like this:
Last, we have a couple of vines that seem to have some kind of deficiency with yellowing away from the leaf vasculature. This is something I saw in a few vines last year, too, and in the same area. Not water stress, so maybe nutritional?
Probably the biggest issue is what looks like Eutypa in a lot of the Merlot. Budbreak saw a sizable number of these vines only pushing shoots at the very ends, with all the intervening buds staying closed. Not much I can do about it this season, but I have a feeling I'll have to cut these back severely next pruning season. Here's a good example of one of the affected vines (which Darlene calls the "special ed" vines, lol).
Eutypa?
Next up we have an issue which seems to only affect 2 of my vines at this point, but unfortunately, one of those was one of the most robust I had up to this year. All of the foliage is stunted on these in a way that looks almost like herbicide damage. However, I had not sprayed any herbicide when symptoms showed, and these two vines are far apart in the vineyard, surrounded by other healthy vines. Scratching my head here:
This sad guy was one of my best vines last year :(
For comparison, the vines directly next to the one above (panning the camera right) look like this:
Sad Guy's neighbors seem just fine. Hmmm.
Last, we have a couple of vines that seem to have some kind of deficiency with yellowing away from the leaf vasculature. This is something I saw in a few vines last year, too, and in the same area. Not water stress, so maybe nutritional?
Some sort of nutritional deficiency?
4/19 & 4/20 2010
Monday (4/19)
Marked the end of three straight days of rain and a 9 days since my last spray, so I sprayed. Mix was the same as last time, minus the Sevin:
Tank mix was about 20 gallons and was just enough to cover all rows, one side. As the canopy fills out, I'll probably have to go 1.5x or 2x to get coverage on both sides.
The repairs to the sprayer worked nicely, and it was soooo much better getting this done when I didn't have to fight the equipment!
Tuesday (4/20)
Fixed the last bits of PVC in the vine shack and turned the water supply back on. Now I don't have to drive down to Dad's to fill up the sprayer or to create my bleach solution anymore. No problems with clogs this year, but there's a slow drip coming out of the pressure tank I'll have to fix.
Tried to start putting glyphosate under the rows after that, but only got 3/4 of A14 done before packing it in. The tiny 1 gallon pump sprayer wasn't going to cut it. (I ended up buying a 15 gallon spray tank from Lumber 2 the next day for $80 that I'll dedicate to herbicide).
So I spent the rest of the evening putting up wire 4 on B1, 2, and 3.
Marked the end of three straight days of rain and a 9 days since my last spray, so I sprayed. Mix was the same as last time, minus the Sevin:
2 lbs of Manzate ProStick
20 tablespoons of Sulphur
20 tablespoons of Sulphur
Tank mix was about 20 gallons and was just enough to cover all rows, one side. As the canopy fills out, I'll probably have to go 1.5x or 2x to get coverage on both sides.
The repairs to the sprayer worked nicely, and it was soooo much better getting this done when I didn't have to fight the equipment!
Tuesday (4/20)
Fixed the last bits of PVC in the vine shack and turned the water supply back on. Now I don't have to drive down to Dad's to fill up the sprayer or to create my bleach solution anymore. No problems with clogs this year, but there's a slow drip coming out of the pressure tank I'll have to fix.
Tried to start putting glyphosate under the rows after that, but only got 3/4 of A14 done before packing it in. The tiny 1 gallon pump sprayer wasn't going to cut it. (I ended up buying a 15 gallon spray tank from Lumber 2 the next day for $80 that I'll dedicate to herbicide).
So I spent the rest of the evening putting up wire 4 on B1, 2, and 3.
4.18.2010
4/17 2010
It's been raining all weekend. But it's a light, steady rain, so I spent some time yesterday putting up the rest of the 3rd wires in section B. They're all done now and I can start on 4ths.
Also spent about half an hour doing some random tying where the shoots really needed it. I'm going to need at least one more box ag ties before long.
As soon as this rain clears away, I'll need to spray ASAP.
Also spent about half an hour doing some random tying where the shoots really needed it. I'm going to need at least one more box ag ties before long.
As soon as this rain clears away, I'll need to spray ASAP.
4.16.2010
4/14 & 4/15 2010
Wednesday night, I ran wire 3 on B3 and B4 before the spool ran out. Spent the rest of the time tying and pinching suckers off of B3.
Finally just made a trip to Estes to get the fungicide I need. Rally 40WSP and Captan 50WSP. $117 total cost.
Thursday night, I picked up the parts at Atwoods I needed to fix my sprayer and replaced the switch wire and the hose clamp. Hopefully things will work better the next time I need to use it now. Also grabbed a 5lb. bag of sulpher and some rooting hormone. Also tied and pinched B4.
Snapshots of the three sections on Thursday, 4/14:
Obvously the 4 rows of section C are my stepchildren here, but hopefully they'll grow enough this season to justify putting up end posts and trellis!
Finally just made a trip to Estes to get the fungicide I need. Rally 40WSP and Captan 50WSP. $117 total cost.
Thursday night, I picked up the parts at Atwoods I needed to fix my sprayer and replaced the switch wire and the hose clamp. Hopefully things will work better the next time I need to use it now. Also grabbed a 5lb. bag of sulpher and some rooting hormone. Also tied and pinched B4.
Snapshots of the three sections on Thursday, 4/14:
Section A 4/14
Section B 4/14
Section C 4/14
Obvously the 4 rows of section C are my stepchildren here, but hopefully they'll grow enough this season to justify putting up end posts and trellis!
4.11.2010
4/9 & 4/10 2010
Well, the cab vines seem to have perked up some and most all of them seem to be growing again, with a couple of exceptions. I'll keep watching them, but whatever seems to have affected the leaves and given them "pause" seems to have passed, I hope.
I did manage to spray on Saturday, so maybe that had an effect, though I can't be sure.
Speaking of spraying, getting it done was quite a challenge because my sprayer seems to have developed issues over the winter. Tried to go out and get it done Friday night (the 9th), but when I turned the sprayer on with water only, liquid gushed from a 4" crack that had formed in the handle of the spray wand. Went to Atwoods and picked up a pair of new ones and hooked one up, only to find that the Y adapter coming out of the pump was cracked and spurting water too. I didn't need to the feed to the boom, so I hooked the handheld wand tube straight into the pump and that seemed to get things working fine. By then it was too late to spray, so I called it quits for the night.
Next morning, I came out and put my chemicals in as follows:
2 lbs of Manzate ProStick
20 tablespoons of Sulphur
28 ounces of Sevin concentrate
Got over to the first plant and found the sprayer wouldn't turn on! Fiddled with it for a few minutes and every time I'd flip the switch, it would spurt for a second and stop. THEN the connector for the wand slipped off and sprayed the mix all over me and the mower :(
After this going on repeatedly for a while, I finally figured out two things:
Last thing I did was put deer-off on the perimeter rows again since we'll be out of town a few days.
This is what the cab looked like Saturday:
I did manage to spray on Saturday, so maybe that had an effect, though I can't be sure.
Speaking of spraying, getting it done was quite a challenge because my sprayer seems to have developed issues over the winter. Tried to go out and get it done Friday night (the 9th), but when I turned the sprayer on with water only, liquid gushed from a 4" crack that had formed in the handle of the spray wand. Went to Atwoods and picked up a pair of new ones and hooked one up, only to find that the Y adapter coming out of the pump was cracked and spurting water too. I didn't need to the feed to the boom, so I hooked the handheld wand tube straight into the pump and that seemed to get things working fine. By then it was too late to spray, so I called it quits for the night.
Next morning, I came out and put my chemicals in as follows:
2 lbs of Manzate ProStick
20 tablespoons of Sulphur
28 ounces of Sevin concentrate
Got over to the first plant and found the sprayer wouldn't turn on! Fiddled with it for a few minutes and every time I'd flip the switch, it would spurt for a second and stop. THEN the connector for the wand slipped off and sprayed the mix all over me and the mower :(
After this going on repeatedly for a while, I finally figured out two things:
- The pump switch has a short. I have to ease it over to the 3/4 position and it stays on. Need to replace it.
- The clamp connecting the tube to the wand is too loose. Need something stronger. Otherwise I'm unable to use the trigger because everytime I release it, the pressure shoots the tube off and pours mix everywhere.
Last thing I did was put deer-off on the perimeter rows again since we'll be out of town a few days.
This is what the cab looked like Saturday:
4.08.2010
4/7 & 4/8 2010
Lots going on the last couple of days. First, the boring stuff. Pruning progressed and I only have one row left in section a and the four in section c left.
As I posted on FB, pruning last night kinda sucked. 35 MPH winds, temps at 45 degrees. Still got two rows done, though.
Also, I noticed that all of the cab already have dozens of little clusters, so should be able to count these to get and idea of crop load on every vine and adjust accordingly.
Last night, we had a cold snap and a frost scare. I checked min. temps on my thermometers and got these readings:
It was dark when I checked this morning, but I didn't feel any frost on leaves or on the ground.
However, when I came home and checked the plants tonight, I noticed all of the leaves look puckerd and wilty with gaps taken out.
I also noticed that a number of vines have little black mosquito-like bugs resting on them. Tried to take a picture tonight, but it was too dark :(
Something has happened within the last two days to make them unhappy. I checked the new pocket guide I got from OSU and the only thing that even looks close is phomopsis, though I don't really see the accompanying spots. Based on what's happened in the last 48 hours, candidates include:
Borderline frost damage
Wind damage
fungus
bugs (maybe the ones I saw?)
I'll check again tomorrow to see what the status is and I plan to spray both fungicide and insecticide Saturday or maybe even as early as tomorrow night....
As I posted on FB, pruning last night kinda sucked. 35 MPH winds, temps at 45 degrees. Still got two rows done, though.
Also, I noticed that all of the cab already have dozens of little clusters, so should be able to count these to get and idea of crop load on every vine and adjust accordingly.
Clusters are already on the cab
Last night, we had a cold snap and a frost scare. I checked min. temps on my thermometers and got these readings:
Bottom: 36.7
Mid: 36.9
Top: 38.7
It was dark when I checked this morning, but I didn't feel any frost on leaves or on the ground.
However, when I came home and checked the plants tonight, I noticed all of the leaves look puckerd and wilty with gaps taken out.
This has me worried. Leaves didn't look like this 2 days ago. What is it?
I also noticed that a number of vines have little black mosquito-like bugs resting on them. Tried to take a picture tonight, but it was too dark :(
Something has happened within the last two days to make them unhappy. I checked the new pocket guide I got from OSU and the only thing that even looks close is phomopsis, though I don't really see the accompanying spots. Based on what's happened in the last 48 hours, candidates include:
Borderline frost damage
Wind damage
fungus
bugs (maybe the ones I saw?)
I'll check again tomorrow to see what the status is and I plan to spray both fungicide and insecticide Saturday or maybe even as early as tomorrow night....
4.07.2010
4/6/2010
Continued pruning over the last few days. Now just have 3 rows left in section a and the 4 rows in section c to do.
The cab is really growing fast now. Since budbreak the shoots have gotten to as long as 4 inches in some places.
The Merlot have full budbreak now (probably as of about 4/3) and are starting to leaf out too.
I finished putting up all the deer line over the weekend and have also sprayed all the perimeter rows with Deer-Off. Since the grass hasn't really greened up, I need to be on the look out for deer snacking on vines during this time of the season.
Still trying to line up a supplier for the fungicides and pesticides I need. Finally got in touch with the grape guy at Estes after trying for 3 days. He's recommending Rally and Captan in addition to my Mancozeb. He also said I'd need to get a personal applicator's license for insecticides from the county extension before I can spray those, so I guess I'll have to look into that :(
The cab is really growing fast now. Since budbreak the shoots have gotten to as long as 4 inches in some places.
The Cab Franc is really starting to grow.
The Merlot have full budbreak now (probably as of about 4/3) and are starting to leaf out too.
I finished putting up all the deer line over the weekend and have also sprayed all the perimeter rows with Deer-Off. Since the grass hasn't really greened up, I need to be on the look out for deer snacking on vines during this time of the season.
Still trying to line up a supplier for the fungicides and pesticides I need. Finally got in touch with the grape guy at Estes after trying for 3 days. He's recommending Rally and Captan in addition to my Mancozeb. He also said I'd need to get a personal applicator's license for insecticides from the county extension before I can spray those, so I guess I'll have to look into that :(
4.04.2010
4/3/2010
Kasey was over for Easter festivities, so he came out and helped me prune. We did section a 11 & 12 together.
The cab is now leafing out while the Merlot is still moving along toward budbreak.
The cab is now leafing out while the Merlot is still moving along toward budbreak.
The cab on 4/2
The Merlot on 4/2
3/31 - 4/2 2010
3/31 Pruned section b 5 & 6 and repaired deer line in section a
4/1 Tyler was with me and wasn't too happy to be out in the rows while I pruned, so I worked on repairing the PVC pump feed in the vine shack. Got the inside part done and now just need to patch underneath to get the water on again. Put up smaller posts to reinforce the bottom deer line in section c.
4/2 Pruned section b 7-9 and put up rest of deer line in section c
4/1 Tyler was with me and wasn't too happy to be out in the rows while I pruned, so I worked on repairing the PVC pump feed in the vine shack. Got the inside part done and now just need to patch underneath to get the water on again. Put up smaller posts to reinforce the bottom deer line in section c.
4/2 Pruned section b 7-9 and put up rest of deer line in section c
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