Marquette flowers on Monday, June 3. They look a little like Fourth of July sparklers.
Most of our vines are at one stage or another of blooming. Just prior to bloom, vines have “bunches” of tiny tight buds that look like little grapes. The outer casing on each bud will drop off, the stamen (pollen producing part of the flower) extends to make the bunch look like fireworks, and the corolla at the base of the stamen opens up. The stamen produces pollen that falls into the corolla to fertilize the flower and form the basis for a grape. A little wind is welcome but no gales, please. Think of how many individual grapes are being born in our 75 acres of vineyard. At this time of year, there is a lot of sex in the vineyard!
Our new vines are being shipped on Monday. They will include Itasca, Verona, and Steuben vines. We will receive them towards the end of the week and we will plant them next week. We’ll be getting the new plot at Tassel Ridge ready for planting by mowing and marking where the Itasca and Verona vines will be planted. The new Steuben vines will be used to replace vines that have died.
We will also continue tucking the Marquette and La Crescent vines that are trellised with Vertical Shoot Positioning (VSP) trellises. And, this time of year, we mow almost every day. When the vines finish blooming, we will spray fungicide.
