It's been two weeks since I last posted here complaining about the lack of rain. We've had a little luck in that some meaningful thunderstorms brought enough rain at the right moments to alleviate the need to water regularly. I turned on the drip system a couple of times as a preemptive strike, but all-in-all the weather has been a little wetter and cooler than June.
I did a little maintenance in the vineyard by spraying the rows with Roundup to kill back the grass and weeds that try to encroach on the 24 inches of open soil in the rows. In the process, I accidentally hit one of the four remaining Norton vines with the herbicide and produced another mortal blow to my Norton row.
The good news, however, is that the remaining vines are growing feverishly with now signs of weakness or disease. I now have only one vine, a Chardonel that struggled at first, that has now emerged from the 30-inch Blue-X grow tube. But its close to the top and could pop any day now. I went back through the vineyard and tied what I could to the bamboo stakes, but many of the vines—particularly the Zinfandel, Viognier, Cabernet and Syrah—have grown so much I have no place to tie them. I plan to install an additional bamboo stake for some of the most vigorous vines to avoid an uprooting should we get a nasty windstorm.
At this point there appears to be no real difference in the vigor and growth between the differing rootstocks. The grafted vines (all the vinifera) and the own-rooted varieties are pretty uniform in their growth. In the case of Chambourcin, where I have six own-rooted vines and two grafted on 3309, there is no difference in the performance of the vines. The own-rooted Seyval Blanc, St. Vincent and Baco Noir are right with the grafted vinifera.
This, of course, gets me to thinking about the trellis system. I'm about to buy my materials and get ready to start that exercise at the end of the month. I'm much more enthusiastic now now that I learned I can drive a steel line post with the bucket on my front-end loader. My friend and former co-worker, Bruce Coffey of Marietta OK, turned me on to that old farmer trick. I was worried my little John Deere tractor didn't have enough oomph to push a post into the hard ground, but a little test on one of my row markers proved there is more muscle in that little guy than I expected.
I plan to install treated wooden end posts and metal line posts, boring a hole for the ends posts and driving the line posts with the tractor.
I did a little maintenance in the vineyard by spraying the rows with Roundup to kill back the grass and weeds that try to encroach on the 24 inches of open soil in the rows. In the process, I accidentally hit one of the four remaining Norton vines with the herbicide and produced another mortal blow to my Norton row.
The good news, however, is that the remaining vines are growing feverishly with now signs of weakness or disease. I now have only one vine, a Chardonel that struggled at first, that has now emerged from the 30-inch Blue-X grow tube. But its close to the top and could pop any day now. I went back through the vineyard and tied what I could to the bamboo stakes, but many of the vines—particularly the Zinfandel, Viognier, Cabernet and Syrah—have grown so much I have no place to tie them. I plan to install an additional bamboo stake for some of the most vigorous vines to avoid an uprooting should we get a nasty windstorm.
At this point there appears to be no real difference in the vigor and growth between the differing rootstocks. The grafted vines (all the vinifera) and the own-rooted varieties are pretty uniform in their growth. In the case of Chambourcin, where I have six own-rooted vines and two grafted on 3309, there is no difference in the performance of the vines. The own-rooted Seyval Blanc, St. Vincent and Baco Noir are right with the grafted vinifera.
This, of course, gets me to thinking about the trellis system. I'm about to buy my materials and get ready to start that exercise at the end of the month. I'm much more enthusiastic now now that I learned I can drive a steel line post with the bucket on my front-end loader. My friend and former co-worker, Bruce Coffey of Marietta OK, turned me on to that old farmer trick. I was worried my little John Deere tractor didn't have enough oomph to push a post into the hard ground, but a little test on one of my row markers proved there is more muscle in that little guy than I expected.
I plan to install treated wooden end posts and metal line posts, boring a hole for the ends posts and driving the line posts with the tractor.
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