Archive | April 2015
April 18, 2015  

Fruit thinning and I might need stitches

Sad day in vineyard today!  Not supposed to let the fruit set the first two years on you grapevines.  I had to go through and pinch off all the small bunches of grapes.

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Technically these are just the pre-bloom buds, and not grapes yet.  First they flower then start making fruit.  On the bright side the vines are producing hundreds of these little guys.  I bet I just pinched off what would have been the equivalent of several hundred pounds of fruit if left to mature.

And while not paying attention in the tool shed, I slipped and fell on my bush axe.  I had my gloves on so minimal damage.  On the bright side, I didn’t lose an appendage and I learned how to superglue my cut shut.  Of course I used some hydrogen peroxide first to clean it up.  The glue really does work.  I was able to get right back to work.  No trip to the ER today!

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April 10, 2015  

Shoots are growing well. Time to start spraying.

The shoots are growing well and you can see small grape clusters forming.  Time to start spraying.  Below is the regiment I plan to follow.  I didn’t spray enough last year as I thought I didn’t need to because it was first year and no fruit growth.  Major mistake.  The Black Spanish had several issues that I’ll be fighting to fix this year.  Spray all your plants even the newly planted vines to help them get a great start.

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Early spraying with fungicides and insecticides will keep disease and pests off your plants.  Use a sprayer with a higher PSI pressure for better leaf penetration.  The PSI should be greater than 60 PSI (80-90 PSI is better).

New shoot sprays:  Begin when shoots are 4-6 inches long and repeat 7 – 10 days later.

  • Use Captan at a rate of 2 tbsp per gallon or Mancozeb at a rate of 3-4 tsp per gallon of water in a sprayer
  • Also add Malathion to the sprayer at 2-3 tsp per gallon for insects (don’t need much for mites and smaller pest) later in the year when the Japanese Beetles show up I bump up to 1 tbsp).

Pre-bloom:  When first blossoms start to open.  Most damage from black rot occurs from pre-bloom through 4 weeks after bloom.

  • Use Mancozeb (better than Captan at this stage) at a rate of 3-4 tsp per gallon of water in a sprayer
  • Also add Malathion to the sprayer at 2-3 tsp per gallon

Post-bloom:  When most of the bloom caps have fallen off the vine.

  • Use Captan at a rate of 2 tbsp per gallon of water in a sprayer
  • Also add Malathion to the sprayer at 2-3 tsp per gallon

Cover sprays:  7 – 10 days later, then at 2 week intervals until harvest

  • Use Captan at a rate of 2 tbsp per gallon of water in a sprayer
  • Also add Carbaryl 4L (same as Sevin but 2x stronger) to the sprayer at 2 tsp per gallon
  • NOTE:  Must wait 7 days after last spraying before harvesting fruit when using Carbarl/Sevin!
  • NOTE:  Must wait 66 days after last spraying before harvesting fruit if using Mancozeb!
April 4, 2015  

Fertilizing new and older plants

Much discussion out there about if/when to fertilize grapevines.  Much easier to find info on Muscadine vines.  Last year, I put more fertilizer on the muscadines than I did on the grapes.  I only put one application on the Lomanto and they struggled later in the year.  The Black Spanish did pretty good with one application.  I also had some Muscadine die back this spring as I did not make all applications. So I decided to treat both grapes and muscadine the same this year.  Below is what I plan to adhere to:

On April 1st, May 1st, June 1st, July 1st
1st year rate of 4 oz of 10-10-10 per plant 12 inches from plant in circle, work into soil
2nd year rate of 8 oz of 10-10-10 per plant 12 inches from plant in circle, work into soil

On

April 15th, May 15th, June 15th, and July 15th
1st Year rate of 4 oz of 34-0-0 (Calcium Nitrate) or 2oz (Ammonia Nitrate) per plant 12 inches from plant in circle, work into soil
2nd Year rate of 8 oz of 34-0-0 (Calcium Nitrate) or 4oz (Ammonia Nitrate) per plant 12 inches from plant in circle, work into soil

3rd Year Use 3 lbs of 10-10-10 on May 1st

4th Year Fertilize as needed depending on growth of your vines

Don’t make any applications after mid July as you will get too much growth going into winter that will result in injury to the plants.
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This is a good time to remove any weeds that grew over the winter.  Work the fertilizer into the soil so it doesn’t wash away with the rain and the moist soil will help break it down better.

Alabama soils can be low in magnesium, foliar magnesium deficiency frequently becomes noticeable in mid-summer. You can spot this deficiency by the yellowing between the leaf veins on the older grape leaves. If the soil pH is low enough to need lime, use dolomitic lime to help prevent magnesium deficiencies.

You can also use magnesium sulfate (epsom salts) to counter the magnesium deficiency. Young plants should get 2 ounces applied around each vine, keeping the salts 6 or more inches away from the trunk. Apply 4 to 8 ounces per mature, bearing vine. It may require 2 to 3 years of magnesium application to bring the level up for best plant performance.

Reference source:  http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-0012/ANR-0012.pdf

 

 

April 4, 2015  

Bud Break in the Vineyard

This is probably one of the most exciting dates in the vineyard especially after you just planted a few hundred dollars in new plants.  This is the first sign that all that hard work will pay off with new growth.

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These are second year Lomanto and Black Spanish vines.

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and these are the new Blanc Dubois vines.  So far it looks like all new plants are coming out of dormancy.