Without some human intervention, vines will grow anywhere they can and usually that means on the ground. During the first two years after planting, we work to make sure they grow up onto the trellis and develop straight trunks. In the second year, we make sure that each vine has two arms at the top wire. Our buds and fruit will form along the arms. We accomplish this by tying the vine to a piece of pencil rod (like thin rebar) and then to the top wire as it develops. We use a biodegradable jute twine instead of a plastic, rubber, or metal tie. Plastic, rubber, and metal ties are faster and more permanent but they can strangle the vines and/or come off during harvest. We don’t need metal pieces in our grapes. The varieties we are tying include Itasca and Verona at Tassel Ridge, Steuben at Meadowcreek, and Foch at Newport Lane.
We are spraying herbicide at Tassel Ridge and Maple Woods and fungicide at Meadowcreek and Tassel Ridge this week. We will get our V-Mech configured for hedging VSP trellises (Marquette and La Crescent at Meadowcreek).
