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May 27, 2016  

End of May update

Vineyard starting to look like a jungle. Need to pluck the suckers and spray some roundup. Learned the hard way to make sure you don’t have any suckers. Round up against the vine wood isn’t an issue, but a green sucker shoot hit with some roundup will kill your vine.

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The clusters are really starting to grow now. This is a Black Spanish vine. I’ve been spraying every other week since the shoots were 2-4inches long. Lomanto and Black Spanish have shown no signs of fungus yet. Blanc Dubois does show signs on the tips of the laterals. Working to get it under control.  Just got to spray every 7-10 days.

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February 21, 2016  

Pruning the oldest muscadine vines

That time of the year again when we start our pruning.  These are the oldest vines of the farm.  They were a mess when we purchased the farm with years of neglect.  After cutting them way back and two years of training, they should do well this year.  Here is a before and after shot of the vines.

Old Vines before

Old Vines after

Last year I had some dieback on some of the younger vines.  After some research it appears I mades some mistakes last year with my pruning.  First mistake, always dip the pruning sheers in 10:1 water/clorox solution (10 oz of water 1 oz of clorox) between each vine you prune.  This will help prevent passing issues from one vine to the next.  Second, spray or paint on Topsin after you prune the vines.

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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!