The vineyard team took advantage of the good weather this week to plant 350 LaCrosse vines at the north end of the Maple Woods Vineyard. These vines are replacing La Crescent vines that were not doing well.
The soil has a dry crust that is only about a ½ inch thick so digging the holes with a simple electric drill and a 4 inch auger was easy and fast. Gene got all of the holes dug in a couple of hours. Denise brought up plants from the shed where they were being kept in water and Heather and Tiffany planted them. By the way, the cuttings were already budding out. They also put the pencil rod (a piece of steel about the diameter of a pencil) in place. The trunks of the new vines will be trained up along the pencil rod so they are straight. Then, Heather and Tiffany put the grow tubes in place. The purpose of the grow tube is to act as a protective hot house for the tender, young vines.
From left to right: Tiffany, Heather, Denise with two vines, and Gene drilling a hole.
All vines are planted and in their grow-tubes.
