Installed T-Post and pruning new vines today

Today was a great day in the vineyard.  It was like a spring day, 60deg and not a cloud in the sky.  Added the remaining 7 T-Post and tightened the wire. After lots of research I decided to use high cordon trellis system on the new Blanc Dubois vines. Plus that’s what I’m using on the other vines.

The wire is held in place with a clip.  Pretty simple system that is easy to work with.

Decided to go ahead and prune the new vines I planted a couple of weeks ago.  When you get new vines, they can have 1-3 years of growth that need to be trimmed to a single strong vine.  I put the strongest of wood trimmed from vines in a bucket of water so they don’t dry out.  I later planted these in potting soil after dipping in root hormone to promote rooting.  I’ll keep them in the shop with no light so they don’t break bud too soon.

Here’s the same vine partially trimmed.

Done with all the cuts and nicked out all but the top three buds.  After bud break I will select the strongest bud and pinch off the other two.  I only need one to grow up to the top wire.

This is a Lomanto grapevine I planted last year.  That is a huge vine from one year of growth.  I planted 10 but after seeing the vigor of this vine, I decided to add more Black Spanish this winter as it’s not near as vigorous.  This means I wont need to trim and train the vines near as much.  I’m still searching for the right vines for the terroir of my farm.

I also planted several types of Muscadines.  This is a Noble vine.  They are very vigorous but still not near as much as the Lomanto.

Turned the garden over just before it got dark.  Long good day on the farm.