I finally took a formal census of the losses resulting from the nasty winter and the terrible late freezes that hit in April, and the results are much worse than I noted in my post of April 24. I discovered that cordon and trunk buds were dead on 48 vines, with the Cabernet Sauvignon the hardest hit. I identified 22 vines with no signs of life in the cordons.
The death toll was reduced a week later to 36 vines when 12 of the apparently dead vines started pushing buds from the graft union. That growth has been vigorous. Those vines were pruned to the strongest single shoot, which was then tied to the bamboo pole.
I was able to order replacements for everything but the Baco Noir (2), Syrah (1) and Merlot (2). I'm told to expect some losses each year, but this was a surprising number Such is life on the farm.
The death toll was reduced a week later to 36 vines when 12 of the apparently dead vines started pushing buds from the graft union. That growth has been vigorous. Those vines were pruned to the strongest single shoot, which was then tied to the bamboo pole.
I was able to order replacements for everything but the Baco Noir (2), Syrah (1) and Merlot (2). I'm told to expect some losses each year, but this was a surprising number Such is life on the farm.
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